By Geno McGahee
I have seen the first 10 minutes of this film about fifty times, but I finally decided that I was going to watch it through rather than just say “it sucks” and find something else to watch. So I sat through 90 minutes of POINT OF TERROR and realized that I should have followed my initial instincts and quit after the first 10 minutes or maybe 10 minutes was too much to being with.
Tony (Peter Carpenter) is a night club act that is pretty full of himself. He dances and sings for the first few minutes of the film as they run the credits. He meets the hot and rich blonde Andrea (Dyanne Thorne) on an isolated beach and tells her about his show, leading to another 10 minute spree of his best Tom Jones impression. They must have had the hope that this film could launch the singing career of this dude, but I don’t think that happened and the film suffered in the end from it.
Andrea’s husband, Martin (Joel Marston), is wheelchair-bound and miserable. He had to hand over control of his music recording business to his wife, but he’s very pissed about it. Without question, Marston is the star of this film. His angry overacting was quite enjoyable. When Andrea hanged up on him, he sneered and said “dirty bitch.” It was hilarious delivery.
Andrea sees Tony as her boy toy, but he’s aspiring for bigger things. He leaves his ex-girlfriend to pursue the relationship with Andrea and cement his future as a rock star, but when he finds out that he’s just a piece of meat, he revolts and reveals that he knows a secret. The night before (spoiler), Andrea had a big fight with her hubby on wheels, leading to his death and a great death scene. He falls into the pool and just makes funny faces underwater and screams. It was great.
When the money comes in, Tony sets his sights on Martin’s daughter, Helayne (Lory Hansen), and the two hit it off, but step mama, Andrea isn’t having it. This leads to the death of Andrea and with nothing in their way, the happy couple set their sights on a vacation and eventual marriage. Unfortunately, the old flame comes knocking and when Tony goes to see her, she shoots him to death…or does she?
Tony quickly jolts awake, apparently dreaming the entire thing. What the fucking hell did I just watch? First, this is not a horror film. There were ZERO horror elements in this one. They must have thought that a bad drama would not sell, but a bad drama pretending to be a horror film will make bundles. Shame on them.
POINT OF TERROR is wretched. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it didn’t. The only highlights were the absurdity of Tony’s performances and the scenes with Joel Marston. Other than that, this is a big miss and not worth a watch at all.
Rating: 1.5/10
