Video Nasty #11
Unhinged
1982
VIOLENCE BEYOND REASON, VICTIMS BEYOND HELP...
THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS WHEN YOU WAKE UP.
NTSC Running Time: 79:38
Directed & Produced by Don Gronquist
Written by Don Gronquist & Reagan Ramsey
Starring: Laurel Munson, J.E. Penner, Sara Ansley, Virginia Settle
Body Count: 4
Availability: On Region 1 DVD from Indie DVD (2002) and Brentwood Home Video (2005) ... currently also available two inches up from where your eyes are now!
BBFC Status
Why it's a Nasty: Because of the lurid cover art. Seriously.
What was cut: Not a frame.
Current BBFC Status: Unhinged was granted an 18 certificate for cinema release on May 4, 1983. A video certificate of 18 was awarded on June 11, 2004.
Availability: Region 2 DVD from Platinum Media Corp.
Unhinged was seized, but escaped prosecution.
Have you watched the video up there yet? Noticed that it's not a trailer? Yep, that's the entire film posted up there. You're welcome. Enjoy. It's okay, I'll wait.
Actually, I'm not going to assume that you've watched the film. While having the entire film at the top of the page would give some justification for doing so, I will not give away any spoilers in the text. It's rude to do so (still looking at you, Jim Harper) and having to write around the film's secrets provides a fun challenge and gives me a slight amount more class than someone who will just throw down with the ending.
You see, Unhinged has an incredible, intense ending. It's just too bad that the first 68 minutes don't match the last 11.
Three Oregon girls head for a big jazz festival on a stormy weekend. The get into a wreck and wake up in a creepy old manor house. Terry (Laurel Munson) and Nancy (Sara Ansley) are basically okay, their friend Gloria (Barbara Lusch) is worse off and we don't see her much. Occupying the mansion are Mrs. Penrose (Virginia Settle) and her daughter/servant Marion (J.E. Penner, the J is for Janet). They're isolated and far from any roads. Mrs. Penrose hates men with a psychotic fervor and constantly accuses Marion of having men in the house. It isn't long before Terry and Nancy flip a coin to see who has to hoof it through the woods to town to call their parents...but then the loser doesn't come back...
Shot entirely in the Portland, Oregon area (prominently using Pittock Mansion, a historic landmark owned by the city of Portland) with local cast and crew, Unhinged is well done in several respects and awful in others. I very much enjoyed the editing, which may include the largest number of smash cuts to black screens than any other movie I've ever seen. The camerawork is good, though sometimes underlit, which is common for movies like this when the lighting budget is only slightly more than bus fare. The more experienced cast members (Settle, Penner and John Morrison as handyman Norman Barnes) did a wonderful job, but the three younger girls seem to have been chosen based on their willingness to do shower scenes (there are two), rather than any acting ability. Indeed, Munson and Ansley have no other screen credits. Penner, the most talented member of the cast, is still working, I'm happy to see, most recently on the television show Leverage (interestingly, her first film was Unhinged and the second, a TV movie called The Haunting Of Sarah Hardy, also used Pittock Mansion as a location).
In the world of exploitation horror, Unhinged is a bit of a red-headed stepchild: The film is long on atmosphere and short on shock. The first kill happens halfway through the picture and the remainder of the violence is saved for the final 11 minutes. The rest is exposition, with one pretty good scare to liven it up. This is a classic example of distributors hyping a modest horror effort into a bloodbath of debauchery, promising things that the picture cannot deliver...but all is not lost. As I said above, the climax is incredible, a riveting end to a movie that is at times boring. If the intensity and ominous feeling of doom given by the final scene had been matched by the rest of the picture, Unhinged would be a minor classic. Alas, it was not to be...but it's enough, because thanks to the moral watchdogs of unregulated UK videotapes, Unhinged is now immortal, and it's a damn good thing, because it deserves to be seen, no matter the shortcomings.
Besides, after catching Elvira hosting a showing of Teenagers From Outer Space late last night, it's easy to see that even the smallest of films can find their true audience. And as someone who had seen it before and been underwhelmed the first time (much like Death Trap, see Video Nasty #9), I'm happy to say that I am definitely a fan of Unhinged, and if you take the time to watch it on its' own terms, maybe you will be, too. I hope so. That's why I write this thing, in the hopes that others will find their own favorites in the detritus most sweep under the rug. Because that's where I've found so many jewels. And always check the shed. It might not contain what they've told you it does. Best to make sure. Because my name's Justin. JustinCase.
In the world of exploitation horror, Unhinged is a bit of a red-headed stepchild: The film is long on atmosphere and short on shock. The first kill happens halfway through the picture and the remainder of the violence is saved for the final 11 minutes. The rest is exposition, with one pretty good scare to liven it up. This is a classic example of distributors hyping a modest horror effort into a bloodbath of debauchery, promising things that the picture cannot deliver...but all is not lost. As I said above, the climax is incredible, a riveting end to a movie that is at times boring. If the intensity and ominous feeling of doom given by the final scene had been matched by the rest of the picture, Unhinged would be a minor classic. Alas, it was not to be...but it's enough, because thanks to the moral watchdogs of unregulated UK videotapes, Unhinged is now immortal, and it's a damn good thing, because it deserves to be seen, no matter the shortcomings.
Besides, after catching Elvira hosting a showing of Teenagers From Outer Space late last night, it's easy to see that even the smallest of films can find their true audience. And as someone who had seen it before and been underwhelmed the first time (much like Death Trap, see Video Nasty #9), I'm happy to say that I am definitely a fan of Unhinged, and if you take the time to watch it on its' own terms, maybe you will be, too. I hope so. That's why I write this thing, in the hopes that others will find their own favorites in the detritus most sweep under the rug. Because that's where I've found so many jewels. And always check the shed. It might not contain what they've told you it does. Best to make sure. Because my name's Justin. JustinCase.
I wonder if Janet Penner works outside of Portland, since that's also where they film Leverage. (I think she played Sophie's aunt.)
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