Customer Reviews

Point of Terror

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If you know what you're getting and don't expect much horror 'Point of Terror' is a REALLY fun movie! It's a classic 'bad' 70s movie that is a TREASURE TROVE OF CHEESE for cult movie fans! Lots of unintentionally hilarious dialog, bizarre dream sequences, jaw-dropping outfits, charmingly awful music and overwhelming psychedelic color schemes. This is uniquely 70s retro strangeness! The print for this edition is excellent so you can easily see all of the weird textures and details. Give this one a chance if you're a fan of 'bad' movies. It's constantly hilarious!

Though marketed as a horror movie, "Point of Terror" is better described as a prototypical erotic thriller (i.e., skin is bared; people are killed). Star Peter Carpenter is Tony Trelos, a struggling singer who meets Andrea (Dyanne Thorne) while sunbathing on the beach--her beach, as it turns out. Andrea is quick to forgive Tony his trespassing, especially if it will lead to more intimate invasions, her paraplegic husband Martin be damned. ("Martin is a wheelchair," Andrea snarls to her drinking buddy Fran.) She catches his show down at Lobster House, where, on a stage that looks like a tin foil cave, Tony pelvic thrusts his way through a craptastic pop anthem (his entire act, apparently). Lucky for Tony, not only does Andrea have an ear for pelvic thrusts, that paraplegic husband she despises owns a record company. She's more than happy to help Tony realize his dreams of becoming a third-rate Tom Jones if he'll help alleviate her sexual frustration. Tony eagerly obliges. Sure, he has a girlfriend, but she meekly steps aside when Tony explains how Andrea can advance his career ("You don't know what it's like to want to BE SOMEBODY.")

Inevitably, things get complicated. Martin not-so-accidentally drowns in the same pool in which Tony and Andrea had athletic sex just hours earlier. Things are further complicated when Andrea's beautiful blonde--and bland--stepdaughter Helayne (Lory Hansen) shows up at her father's funeral. Well, you can pretty much guess where this is going, and the movie goes there, then goes a little further.

When I first saw "Point of Terror" -- on a rented copy of a "Horrible Horrors" disk -- I felt too guilty to fully admit to its pleasures. It was cheesy fun, sure, but for the most part I thought it was primarily of interest to those who wanted to see Dyanne Thorne before she achieved her She Wolf infamy. But the movie stuck with me, and I began to realize it was so bad it was wonderful. I didn't just want to see it again -- I had to own a copy. By this time "Horrible Horrors" was out of print, but fortunately my desire to return to the "Point of Terror" coincided with Scorpion Releasing's returning the movie to the DVD market.

So what brought me back? Thorne is still a big draw to be sure, but Carpenter brings plenty to the table, too. Daytime TV handsome and almost as talented, Carpenter--who also co-produced and shares a story credit--really throws himself into the role of Tony. Not content to just bare his soul, Carpenter also bares his body, be it wearing tiny white swim trunks or, in a couple instances, nothing at all. Thorne, on the other hand, is swaddled in turtlenecks for most of the movie, though the top-heavy vixen's rack does get a scene stealing moment when Carpenter helps her out of her bikini. Speaking of scene stealing, Leslie Simms is priceless as Andrea's alcoholic friend Fran, providing some genuine comic moments. Adding to the (intentional) comic relief, albeit less successfully, are a bartender and barmaid at the Lobster House who trade sexual innuendo while perpetually drying glasses.

The disk's meager extras include a phone interview with Dyanne Thorne, who sounds so sweet it's hard to believe her name's synonymous with Naziploitation, and an on camera interview with Leslie Simms, who recalls working with the late Peter Carpenter on this movie and "Blood Mania." She also seems determined to shoot down any gay rumors regarding Carpenter (news to me), and in the process succeeds only in starting them. According to IMDb, Carpenter died in 1971; Simms puts his death in the early '80s. Personally, I think the 1971 date is correct. Carpenter was clearly too ambitious to bow out of the movie business after only a handful of films.

Though pointless and terror-free, "Point of Terror" is awesome for the over-the-top performances of its stars; the sleazy storyline; Alex Nicol's direction that reaches for the stars while never quite touching the ground; and the abundance of early '70s kitsch. In short: a camp classic.

Point of Terror (1971) is a vomit throw back from way, way back.

This movie bored the living hell out of me when I first saw it. I couldn't even go into the bathroom for a week without vomiting it out thoroughly.

The villain is just boring and dull, played with bad intentions by Dyanne "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS" Thorne but failing to incite any kind of terror or fear after you realize she doesn't even kill that many people and barely does anything besides have a pool nude scene (surprisingly good).

This is a strong candidate in the most boring movie I've ever seen category.

The story says nothing of terror; so the plot falls apart as soon as the blond Dyanne "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS" Thorne becomes a suspect.