Tonight’s YouTube movie was the 1989 slasher Offerings. A young boy named John Radley is living with his abusive Mom. Since his father abandoned him, John hasn’t spoken, so the kid is clearly having anger issues, like killing his pet turtle. One day his friend Gretchen invites him out to play. Some bully kids show up on their bikes and start making fun of John. They ask him to prove himself by walking around the ledge of a well, but then scare him and John falls in. 10 years later, John is in a mental hospital and is regularly sedated to keep his violent impulses at bay.
John eventually escapes the hospital and returns to his home town. Meanwhile, his old friend Gretchen is now a college student. When her parents go away on vacation, she invites friends over for the weekend. These were the same kids who bullied John as a kid and were responsible for his accident in the well. Little do they know, John is back and starts to stalk them. Whenever he kills someone, he leaves a body part for his old pal Gretchen as an offering of his devotion.
The movie is a blatant ripoff of Carpenter’s Halloween, copying much of the plot, scenes and even the synthesizer score. I guess writer/director Christopher Reynolds thought he could duplicate Halloween’s low budget success. The only problem is that John Carpenter is imaginative and creative, and he cast his film with real actors. This flick plays like a poor man’s copy with people who couldn’t act their way out of a wet paper bag. The actress who plays Gretchen is the worst. Jamie Lee Curtis she’s not; most of the time she looks bored, and delivers her lines like she’s half asleep. The murders are decent, so that’s its one saving grace.
John continues to murder his ex bullies, getting closer and closer to Gretchen, while a useless sheriff investigates the body parts, and a college professor, who knows John has escaped, goes looking for him ala Dr. Loomis. He searches for him at his old abandoned house, and the cemetery where his mother has been buried, only to discover that the grave has been disturbed. Sound familiar?
Despite its low budget and gross lack of talent, it still manages to be entertaining. At least this one keeps the murders coming. I’ve seen much worse slashers than this. It’s worth checking out if you’re curious about this lesser known title, or want to see how not to do a homage to a more popular film.
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