Death Valley (1982)

This 1982 horror film stars Paul Le Mat, Catherine Hicks, Peter Billingsley, Stephen McHattie, Wilford Brimley and Edward Herrmann. This begins in New York where we meet young boy, Billy (Billingsley) and his father, Paul (Herrmann) who is divorced from Billy's mother, Sally (Hicks). Soon, Billy travels to Death Valley, California to spend time with her and get to know her boyfriend, Mike (Le Mat). McHattie (Beverly Hills Cop III) plays serial killer, Hal who soon terrorizes them and Brimley (The Thing) plays the Sheriff. This isn't bad, Billingsley (A Christmas Story) is great in it and McHattie is a good villain.

"Death Valley" is the film that introduced the world to little Peter "Ralphie" Billingsley of "A Christmas Story" fame. "Death Valley" centers on a young boy named Billy who accidentally stumbles upon a murder scene while taking a road trip with his mother and her new boyfriend. He unknowingly picks up the only thing that can tie the killer to the location of the crime - a necklace dropped during the struggle with the victim. Billy's mother and her boyfriend attempt to bring the psychopath to justice before the murderer tracks the child down.This is one of those forgotten films of the 1980s. It's not bad by any means. It just didn't make enough of an impact on moviegoers to grant it cult classic status. Many would consider it a slasher film and they have every right to. There are graphic scenes of blood and violence, but not enough to place it in a category with "Friday the 13th" or "Halloween."The cast of "Death Valley" is relatively impressive in hindsight. Many of them hadn't hit their successful strides yet and were still on their journey to stardom. Catherine Hicks ("7th Heaven," "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home") plays Billy's mother. Veteran actor Edward Herrmann ("Gilmore Girls," "The Lost Boys") has a bit role as Billy's father. Wilfred Brimley ("The Firm," "Cocoon") plays the town sheriff."Death Valley" will provide genre fans and ordinary movie viewers some thrills and entertainment. It's interesting to see Peter Billingsley perform in this type of atmosphere after spending so many years seeing him as baby-faced Ralphie in the safety of "A Christmas Story." I might have to have a "Three Degrees of 'A Christmas Story'" party this year and screen "Death Valley," "A Christmas Story" and "Black Christmas," which were both directed by Bob Clark.

"Death Valley" is a really underwhelming slasher film with a few things going for it.**SPOILERS**Getting a divorce, Hal, (Stephen McHattie) talks his son Billy, (Peter Billingsley) into going with ex-wife Sally, (Catherine Hicks) while she goes to California. Meeting with old friend Mike, (Paul Le Mat) upon arriving, they decide to visit Death Valley together. As they spend more and more time together, upsetting him more, they start to believe that a serial killer is loose in the area after a series of accidents along the way. The local Sheriff, (Wilford Brimley) feels that a notorious madman is still loose and offers them safety in a nearby Wild West novelty town. Taking a while to realize that the killer has followed them back to their hotel and has targeted them, they race to save him and stop the murderer before it's too late.The Good News: There wasn't a whole lot here that actually worked. One of the few things it does do right is it's stalking scenes. They're wonderfully done, have an appreciable length, and at times are actually suspenseful. It's hard to pick which one's are the best, as there's lots of good ones. The big one in the hotel could be one, as there's a lot of interaction between the killer and intended victim that leads to a couple really nice confrontations between the two. A romp through a museum of Wild West memorabilia isn't that bad, and it also manages to really get in some unknown confrontations with the two early on than most. The most suspenseful is a pretty eerie walk-through of a supposed abandoned motor-home, that just has all sorts of vibes and atmosphere running through it. There's also a really big finale that is quite nice to see. A lot of action, all the pieces to the puzzle fall into place for every opportunity, and a lot happens that manages to really entertain to a big point. This is also when it goes into full overdrive and manages to showcase all it's slasher elements, including it's several confrontations and put in some really nice stalking scenes into the mix along with a couple of great confrontations and fights. These here are all the movie has in it's favor.The Bad News: This here doesn't have a whole lot wrong, but they are major flaws. The biggest one is the sheer minuscule body count. It's almost not even right to consider this a slasher as there's nearly no slashing going on. There's a half-dozen deaths in here, several are off-screen and never found out what happened, one is run over in a car, and the others are so cliché and uninteresting that they don't deserve mentioning. These methods really decry the fact that this is a slasher film with pretty much easy picking. Another really big flaw is the really slow pace on hand. This takes forever to get going, spending most of the early going concentrating on the developing romance between the friends and how the son reacts to them. It's almost from out of another film entirely and doesn't really seem to be indicative of a slasher at all, as there's almost forty-five minutes until the first kill takes place on-screen, and with it's puny death-count, that leaves a lot of boredom in the early sections of the film. The other really big flaw is that this offers up no motivation for anything that happens. We never know why the killer is going on the rampage, what the reason is or why the targets where selected. They were simply out-of-contact with everyone around and there were no witnesses around, leaving only a state of confusion as to why they were inflicted. All these reasons drag the film down considerably.The Final Verdict: This one isn't all that spectacular a slasher film, and by most standards is hard pressed to be called as such. Really only recommended to the curious or the most die-hard fanatic, while more casual ones can skip this and get requirements elsewhere.Rated R: Violence, Language and children in danger

...a movie without a script totally bombs. From the writer of "Universal Soldier" (1 & 2) and "Hard to Hold", it's a wonder this movie is even as good as it is. The actors and director do a remarkable job despite the drivel they are forced to work with. If they did a total rewrite of this movie, it would probably be pretty good, but as it is, it is somewhat boring and just BLAH. It has some moments but I wouldn't bother unless it is on TV and you are bored anyways.