Redeemer: The Son of Satan!
aka Class Reunion Massacre
Director: Constantine S. Gochs
Writer: William Vernick
Starring: T.G. Finkbinder and Damien Knight
Body Count: 9
Review: Okay...given the fact that the original title of this film was Redeemer: The Son of Satan!, and given the way the first ten minutes played out, the makers of the this film would be lucky if viewers didn't just shut the thing off right there. However, if they didn't, they'd be treated to a mixed bag of slasherisms and religion (I know, it doesn't make any sense to me, either!).
The film opens with some sort of biblical-ish (I'm not sure if it actually comes from The Bible, but rather it seems like something someone made up to seem like it did) quote about The Redeemer coming out of hell to punish the sinful. This is soon accompanied by images of a young boy emerging from a river, sneaking into the house of a sleeping priest, and then suddenly we're inexplicably in church the next day, and the guy is preaching and going on and on about sins....and then we're at a high school reunion! I'm not kidding, it plays out that ludicrously--without any thought given to story cohesion or continuity. For the first thirty minutes, you are literally lost in a sea of slasher celluloid. Now, once the class reunion starts (or should I say, the killings), the film starts to follow a more classic (i.e.--understandable) formula, leading up to the inevitable climax, and the ridiculous ending (whereby the boy from the beginning goes back to the river (after all, the guilty have been punished!).
I can't say I didn't enjoy some of Class Reunion Massacre. Once the slashing started, I found myself pretty interested. There's also a few creepy sequences (this one shot of all the people locked behind the gates of the school and the killer dressed like the grim reaper swingin his scythe at the gates--doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's creepy!), and these scenes and images lend a very dreamy, acid-trip quality to the flick that I liked, but it's not necessarily one that can carry the rest of the movie.
And it doesn't. After a while we lose ourselves in the pointless story and outrageous morality tale, and pretty soon we just don't care. Maybe the Redeemer needs to come back one more time and do something about the people that made this movie!
