Grotesque (1988) Review

A gang of crazed Punkers head to the mountains with plans of robbing a rich Hollywood bigwig's vacation home, once inside they slaughter the entire family except for their daughter Lisa (Linda Blair) who escapes into the woods. Unaware of a creature housed within the home they mistakenly set it free, once it sees that its family has been murdered it goes into a fit of rage wanting only revenge on the punkers who committed this horrible act against his loved ones.

I had never heard of this film and ran across it randomly one night and my obsession with punksploitation films got the best of me and the fact it featured scream queen Linda Blair sealed the deal that I would be viewing it for the site. Going into "Grotesque" I knew nothing beyond it involved a group of 80's looking punk rockers which was enough to peak my interest seeing as I myself am a Punk and have been since I was a very young boy. I really enjoyed this film, it's an great example of 80's horror at its finest a must see for any era fan of the genre, if you love 80's horror and are a fan of Linda Blair you will walk away from this movie very satisfied and more than likely you'll want it to have a home on your movie shelf.



"Grotesque" is a blend of many 80's clichés rolled up into one compact film, You get the 80's slasher / exploitation feel from the punks and their violent acts against an innocent family, and you also get a taste of 80's creature feature from the deformed creature, and at the same time they find a way to squeeze in a moral of "Don't judge a book by its cover" in a very after school special way if you pay close attention to a few key scenes. The story holds up till the end even through a few plot twists that I feared would end up dooming the film but in the end panned our well enough leaving me happy with the film as a whole.



The special FX's in "Grotesque" are all done with practical effects and are your typical low budget 80's slasher Varity, this should bring a smile to the face of any retro horror fan who grew up with old fashion latex and buckets of fake blood. The cheese ball stereotypical characters mixed with the flawless display of old school make-up combine perfectly to produce a perfect example of what I loved about 80's horror.




On behalf of The Liberal Dead I give "Grotesque" a well earned 7 out of 10 another great watch featuring the infamous Linda Blair.

7/10



Ted "Ritualistic" Brown