- Directed by Harold P Warren
- Written by Harold P Warren
- Stars Tom Neyman, John Reynolds, Diane Adelson
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z67AdC2y44
Spoiler-free Judgment Zone
It’s a choppy low-budget romp with mediocre acting and minimal effects. But it’s got a story, and it was watchable in a sometimes-cringing way. If you’re a fan of movies you can make fun of, this one’s for you.
Spoilery Synopsis
A couple and their child are on vacation, but they may be lost. They sing and drive on as credits roll. The police pull them over for a broken tail light, but they get off with a warning. They drive to the lodge, and we get lots of shots of… driving.
We cut to two teenagers in a car drinking and making out. The police stop them, break up their action, and send them home.
Mike, Margaret, and Debbie are still driving, and they’re clearly lost. They stop and ask a creepy-looking man for directions. “I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away. The Master doesn’t like children.” He says there’s no way to the lodge, so Mike asks if the family can spend the night there. Torgo seems to struggle walking and moving and has weird legs, but for some reason, Mike makes him carry all the luggage inside.
Torgo says the Master has left this world, but he’ll be coming back soon. “He is with us always.” They look at a scary painting of the Master and his evil-looking dog. Not long after, Mike’s own little dog gets out, and something in the desert kills it. Margaret screams, “What kind of place is this?!?” (It’s the desert, little dogs get eaten there). Mike tells Torgo to load their luggage back into the car, “Fast!” The car doesn’t start. Torgo tells Margaret that the Master wants her as his wife. Torgo then limps all the bags back to their room again.
Debbie suddenly goes missing as the three adults talk. All the doors are bolted, but she has to be outside. She comes back with the Master’s doberman in tow, but she’s fine. She says she found the dog in a “big, dark place.” She leads them to a place with a bunch of women against pillars standing around an altar with a body on it.
Torgo comes by and yells at the comatose women about them being the Master’s wives, and plays with the first wife’s hair. Torgo then comes back to the house and watches Margaret undress until he knocks Mike out and drags him through the woods.
Back at the altar, the Master awakens and sits up. We cut to the two teenagers getting run off by the cops yet again. The Master prays to Manos over the fire; it’s a whole ritual. He wakes his wives, and they’re a talky bunch. The women complain about the presence of a female child, Debbie. They want to sacrifice Mike, but not the child. The Master insists that the child die, but the six women argue and disagree. There’s a whole slapstick catfight-wrestling match.
Meanwhile, the Master wakes Torgo up back at the house and confronts him about playing with his wives. Torgo wants Margaret, and the Master says Torgo must die. He then stares intently at Torgo.
One of the Master’s wives kisses unconscious-Mike in the woods but doesn’t untie him. The fighting between the women is still going on, so Torgo and the Master arrive to break it up. He orders the sacrifice of the lead troublemaker. Oh, and he wants to sacrifice Torgo as well. The girls apparently slap him to death.
Mike finally wakes up and gets out of his bonds. He tells Margaret they can hide in the desert. The Master makes Torgo get up, put his hand in the fire, and it falls off. Torgo runs off, his arm on fire as the Master keeps Torgo’s hand. After this, he beats one of his wives.
Mike, Margaret, and Debbie run through the desert and fall down a lot. The Master and his wives go looking for the missing family. Out of nowhere, Mike shoots the Master repeatedly, but he just stares at them.
We cut to a pair of women heading to the lodge as well, and we see it’s the same route Mike’s family took. There’s a great deal more shots of them driving. They stop at the same house and are greeted by Mike, the new caretaker. We see Debbie and Margaret up against pedestals– they’re both new wives for the Master.
Commentary
The entire film was shot silently, and all the voices and sounds were dubbed later. The camera used could only record 32-second segments at a time, so there aren’t any shots longer than that. The music is loud, screechy, and incredibly annoying; it’s almost painful to endure at some points. The Master has a cool cape with hands on it, but otherwise, the costumes and sets are all pretty lame.
Debbie, the little girl, was given a bicycle for her participation in the movie, while all the adults took a share in the profits. Who knew a child could outsmart everyone? The actor playing Torgo is said to have been on LSD throughout, which is why he’s so twitchy in every scene. He shot himself in the head and died a month before the premiere of this film.
It’s pretty bad, but what really puts this at the over-the-top point is the godawful screeching music. If they hadn’t had to dub everything and if they had used more appropriate music, it might have been tolerable. Or maybe not.
It’s still better than “Skinamarink.”