11 December 2024
Stage Fright (1980)
82 min.
Directed by John Lamond.
With Jenny Neumann, Gary Sweet, Nina Landis, Max Phipps, John Michael Howson, Edmund Pegge, Sue Jones.
A rather spunky Australian slasher.

As a child, little Cathy caused the accidental death of her mother after she discovered her mum getting intimate with someone who wasn't her dad!

Flash forward 16 years later.

Now all grown, Cathy (Neumann) dubs herself "Helen" and joins a professional theater company rehearsing a contemporary comedy.

At the urging of the theater director, Cathy, er, Helen is told to dig deep into her psyche in order to "feel" her part.

That proves to be a problem. Because deep inside Helen's psyche could be a dormant psychotic killer!

Soon, someone is using a shard of glass to brutally slash the other actors to death.

Could the re-opened scars from Helen's traumatic childhood be to blame? Or is the killer someone altogether different?

A generally transparent plotline is further marred by erratic editing and some uneven performances.

Still, the bloody murder sequences are executed with panache (most notably the naked slashing in the rain). And there's a nice score by Brian May who composed scores for Patrick (1978) and Road Games (1981).

Also known as Nightmares.

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