Class Reunion Massacre | Through the Shattered Lens

A truly odd film that was first released in 1978, The Redeemer opens with a young boy named Christopher (Christopher Flint) emerging from a country lake, fully clothes and also completely dry. Christopher walks to a road, where he’s picked up by a church bus. He’s dropped off at the church, where he sings in the choir and then listens as a preacher (T.G. Finkbinder) delivers a fire-and-brimstone message about the nature of sin and how six 1967 graduates of a nearby abandoned high school have all grown up to live a life of nonstop sin.

Those six graduates all receive invitations to a reunion at the old high school but, when they arrive, they discover that, with the exception of a janitor, they’re the only ones there. The janitor allows them to enter the high school and to celebrate their mini-reunion. Of course, it’s not long before one of the graduates stumbles upon the rotting, maggot-covered corpse of the real janitor.

The Redeemer of the title has invited the six graduates back to the school specifically so he can kill them as a way to punish them for representing what he considers to be the sins of the world. John Sinclair (Damien Knight) is a criminal defense attorney who will defend anyone as long as the price is right. Terry (Nick Carter) is a lazy mooch who still doesn’t have a real job. Roger (Michael Hollingsworth) is an impossibly vain actor. Jane (Nikki Barthen) is a superficial, upper class housewife. Cindy (Jeanetta Arnette) is still too busy partying to grow up. And finally, Kirsten (Gyr Patterson) coldly refuses her girlfriend’s request to attend the reunion with her because she doesn’t want her former classmates to know that she’s a lesbian. The six of them find themselves being pursued by a killer who can apparently change his appearance at will, going from being the janitor to a seemingly friendly hunter to even a clown. This is definitely not a film to watch if you have a thing about clowns.

As I said at the start of this review, The Redeemer is a bit of an odd film. On the one hand, it’s a slasher film, complete with the usual collection of victims, a masked killer, and an isolated location. On the other hand, because it was released the same year as Halloween and before the success of films like Friday the 13th defined the rules of the genre, The Redeemer is a bit different than some of the other slashers of the era.

For one thing, the killer is considerably less quippy than some of the slasher killer who would follow. There are no snappy one-liners in The Redeemer. Instead, the killer spends most of his time ranting about “avarice, lust, decadence” and everything else that he considers to be a sin. Compared to the slasher film that followed, The Redeemer is a grim film, one that offers little in the way of deliberate humor and next-to-no-hope for the prospect of a final girl who will somehow get the upper hand on the killer. If other slasher films were defined by the stupidity of their victims, the unfortunate people in The Redeemer die not because they were stupid but because this is a film that offers up absolutely no chance of survival. It’s a dark and ominous film, with the a supernatural element giving the film a surreal edge. It’s a film that requires a bit of patience on the part of the viewer, especially since the opening few minutes are so disjointed that it’s next to impossible to know what’s really going on. But the kills are memorable and the acting is adequate, particularly when compared to some of the other low-budget, indie horror films of the era. The Redeemer is a memorable villain. Horror fans will find much to enjoy here, even if they’ll also probably find plenty of things that will leave them scratching their head.

As was often the case with films like this, The Redeemer was released under several different titles. It’s also known as Son of Satan, which I guess is a reference to the mysterious Christopher emerging from that lake. Finally, The Redeemer has been released on video under the title Class Reunion Massacre. Personally, I prefer The Redeemer as the film’s title. As a title, it’s enigmatic …. just like the film itself.

It’s time for another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers. This week’s edition has no set theme beyond the fact that, in-between typing up the six trailers featured here, I was also trying on different outfits. Multi-tasking!

1) Performance

From 1970, it’s the debut film of Nicolas Roeg (though technically, he co-directed by Donald Cammell). Reportedly, acting in this film led to costar James Fox having a nervous breakdown.

2) Twitch of the Death Nerve

This is the trailer for Mario Bava’s infamous, trend-setting giallo. Bava’s preferred title for this film was Bay of Blood though it was released under several titles, including Carnage and my personal favorite, Twitch of the Death Nerve.

3) The Comeback

This 1978 film is from the criminally underrated director Pete Walker. The trailer has a similar feel to Lamerto Bava’s A Blade in the Dark. Who is Jack Jones and was he actually an international singing sensation? So many questions.

4) The Class Reunion Massacre (a.k.a. The Redeemer)

What an odd little trailer. It starts out all slasher-like and then suddenly, it decides to go all Omen.

5) The Corpse Grinders

Yup, that’s what it is alright. From directed Ted V. Mikels.

6) Candy

This trailer is from 1968, which — if you’ve seen the trailer — is kind of one of those “well, duh” facts. Based on a book by my fellow Texan Terry Southern (hence, the tag line), the film features Walter Matthau, Richard Burton, Ringo Starr, Marlon Brando, and James Coburn all taking advantage of Ewa Aulin (who, much like James Fox in Performance, reportedly had a nervous breakdown as a result of making this film). The film was directed by Christian Marquand who, years later, would play the main French Plantation Guy in Apocalypse Now Redux.