By Geno McGahee
The 1980s was a good time for horror movies. The whodunit – slasher films were all over the place and they were mostly great…far better than the found footage and torture porn that we are subjected to today. The years of the slasher were great and in 1988, a low budget film of this sort was released. FATAL PULSE is an interesting and fun slasher/whodunit that is certainly worth a watch.
Jeff (Ken Roberts) is leaving Stephanie’s (Kitty) place. When he leaves, a killer in black gloves arrives and proceeds to kill and rape Stephanie, making Jeff the number one suspect. Jeff’s girlfriend, Lisa (Michelle McCormick), is not having a good time with her man. She doesn’t like the fact that he was with Stephanie and suspects that he may have been nailing her on the side. Making the situation more difficult is Jeff’s former friend, Brad (Steven Henry). He’s had it bad for Lisa for a long time and feels that his friend took her away from him.
The gloved killer continues to strike and all signs point to Jeff. Brad even goes to the police and notes that he saw his ex-pal leaving the home of Stephanie on the night of her death. He is so sure that he knows who the killer is that he gets together a posse to beat down Jeff and take him to the authorities.
The oddball character in the film is Mark (Blair Karsch). He is the best friend of Jeff and every time that he enters a scene, there’s a “boing” sound effect. I guess it’s to show that he is a zany character, which he is, but it was a distraction. Outside of the sound effect, the character is relatively enjoyable and I considered him a top suspect merely because he seemed so harmless. Although he is the most unnecessary character, I did like how he saved Jeff in the end, dressing like a superhero and calling himself “Captain Marvelous.” It was pretty amusing.
Another good character that was thrown in just to add another suspect was Ernie (Joe Estevez). We are introduced to him as he sits there hearing the bullets and screams that he encountered during his war time days. He is obviously disturbed and he owns the house that the girls all reside in that are being killed. For a slasher/whodunit newbie, this guy may have been their selection as the killer, but if you’re a veteran, you’ll figure this one out pretty quickly.
Although this movie is pretty predictable, it’s fun. I was amused throughout and I always enjoy watching a normal character turn crazy at the end of the movie when they are finally revealed. The insane side is uncovered to the shock of the audience…well, maybe not to the audience in this case, but to the characters at least.
Another thing that I want to mention before I end this review is Ken Roberts and his wooden acting. I loved it. He reminded me of Joe Montana Sports Talk Football for Sega Genesis. He spoke just like the announcer did. It brought back great memories.
FATAL PULSE is a fun slasher/whodunit film. If you are fan of this time in horror history, then you should check this one out.
Rating: 6/10