In addition to the usual reviews and comments you would find on a horror movie blog, this is also a document of the wonderfully vast horror movie section of the video store I worked at in my youth.

Friday, August 9, 2019

If You Go Out In The Sun Today...


This week's VHS is Harry Falk's 1989 TV movie High Desert Kill.


Three men on a hunting trip in the desert encounter an unseen force that preys upon their weaknesses.

This one's a bit of a strange beast, in that I wasn't sure what I was actually watching for a good chunk of the running time. More specifically, for the first hour the antagonist was completely ambiguous, only appearing as sudden silences and Predator vision. Keeping the viewer in a state of confusion only works for so long and this one tottered on the verge of annoyance. It's a bit tough to stay engaged when the scariest thing in the movie is this guy's dance moves.


Fortunately, the movie has Chuck mothafuckin' Connors! And while High Desert Kill might not be as wild as Tourist Trap, he certainly makes the most of his screen time. Another face I was happy to see was that of Marc Singer. I haven't seen him in ages (I don't watch Arrow) and I was transported back to a time when The Beastmaster and V were constantly spooling through my top-loading VCR.

Chuck Connors (channelling Tim Thomerson) in High Desert Kill.

High Desert Kill was a tad dry, but at least it was an interesting idea – once it finally gets around to letting us in on it – even if said nugget felt like an abandoned Twilight Zone script padded out to feature length. You could do a lot worse though.


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