SWEET SIXTEEN (1983)

(Director: Dmitri Sotirakis, billed as Jim Sotos. Screenwriter: Erwin Goldman.)

Review

In a small Texas town, the recently arrived fifteen-year-old Melissa Morgan (Aleisa Shirley, her cinematic debut) is flirty, lonely, and lusted after by many of her male peers and a few of the older men. This isn’t much of a problem until that the last guy she went out with (Johnny Franklin) is found stabbed to death the next morning. The most likely suspect is a local Native American bad ass, Jason Longshadow (Don Shanks, HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS, 1989), who’d almost gotten into a bar fight with aggressively racist Johnny, his older brother Billy, and one of Johnny’s friends the same night Johnny was murdered.

Easy-going Sheriff Dan Burke (Bo Hopkins, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 2: TEXAS BLOOD MONEY, 1999) begins investigating the crime even as the violent Billy Franklin, riling up local ire, looks for Jason Longshadow. More murders happen, all of them centered around Melissa, culminating in a bloody, deadly showdown that’ll likely be talked about in that town for decades.

More a well-written drama with an almost Seventies feel than a slasher film, SWEET is a solid, if sometimes oddball work. Slash-and-stab scenes occasionally punctuate the steady-build drama, with full-frontal female nudity (Aleisha Shirley), mostly solid acting, effective foreshadowing, a shoehorned and character-unlikely shock ending, and scenes that recall better movies (FRIDAY THE 13^th, 1980, and HALLOWEEN, 1978, e.g., the shot where Tommy Doyle, holding a pumpkin and being bullied, is watched by Michael Myers). And if you’re a fan of cheesy Eighties ballads, Joel Wertman and Mark Wertman’s “Melissa’s Theme” (which plays during certain Melissa-focused shots. . . foreshadowing?) might be your briefly heard favorite new tune.

 

Other actors (beside Bo Hopkins and Don Shanks) who stand out:

Dana Kimmell (FRIDAY THE 13^th PART 3, 1982) as Marci Burke, Sheriff Dan Burke’s murder mystery-reading teenage daughter;

Steve Antin (THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN, 1982) as Hank Burke, Sheriff Dan Burke’s teenage son;

Patrick Macnee (THE HOWLING, 1981) as Dr. John Morgan, Melissa’s protective, archeologist father;

Susan Strasberg (BLOODY BIRTHDAY, 1981) as Joanne Morgan (née Platt), Melissa’s protective mother;

Don Stroud (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, 1979) as Billy Franklin;

Logan Clark (NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN, 1972) as Jimmy;

and

Michael Pataki (GRADUATION DAY, 1981) as George Martin, a shady politician.

You might enjoy SWEET if you’re looking for a solid (sort of) murder mystery with occasional, slasherific kill scenes. Anyone wanting an edgy thriller should seek something else.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb: Leslie Nielsen (PROM NIGHT, 1980) was originally set to play Dr. John Morgan, Melissa’s father, but bowed out because of scheduling conflicts.

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979)

 

(Director: Stuart Rosenberg. Screenwriter: Sandor Stern, screenplay based on Jay Anson’s book of the same name.)

Storyline

A dysfunctional, cash-strapped family move into what they believe is a demon-possessed house.

 

Review

1975. A year after the gruesome murder of the DeFeo family, the Lutzes─in emotional and financial distress─move into the cursed murder house, later revealed to be built on a Native American burial ground.

From the get-go, the briefly shown, melodramatic DeFeo murders set the tone for this atmospheric, blood-in-your-popcorn demonic house-possession flick. If you’re a viewer like me, you might laugh a lot, occasionally jump during the barrage-rush of AMITYVILLE’s miasmic mood and obvious-horror-trope terror scenes, which really put the unreliable in unreliable narrator, supposed occurrences that, if they happened, have easily spotted, non-supernatural explanations.

Some of these tropes include: flies swarming inside the house and on windows; demon-stalked Catholic priests and a nun, made sick by an unseen force; extreme, in-a-second temperature changes within the house and doors that slam by themselves, without warning; George Lutz (James Brolin, THE CAR, 1977) has trouble sleeping and routinely wakes up at 3:15 a.m., the exact time Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed his family (in real life he claimed he “heard voices”); the hidden, bizarre “red room” behind a basement wall; animalistic, glowing eyes appearing in windows; and so much more!

What makes this potboiler devil-haunted abode flick work is the talent involved in its making. Camera shots are seen in extreme closeups or from a distance, as if characters are being watched by an unseen someone or something. Lalo Schifrin’s constant-state-of-alarm score maintains the film’s pulse-racing tempo (whether those emotions are laughter or terror), Robert Brown’s editing further enhances Sandor Stern’s brisk, constant-jolts screenplay while Stuart Rosenberg’s direction matches its mood and pacing.

The cast, who often scream and yell at top volume at the drop of a penny, is great.

James Brolin’s George Lutz is a man under visible strain, pale and creepy as he stalks around the yard and house with a constantly sharpened axe. Margot Kidder (BLACK CHRISTMAS, 1974) is excellent as Kathy Lutz, an argumentative, passionate Catholic who hums the love theme to SUPERMAN, 1978, while washing dishes. Their name-changed kids, Greg (K.C. Martel, THE MUNSTERS’ REVENGE, 1981), Matt (Meeno Peluce, Dio’s  "THE LAST IN LINE" video, 1984, directed by Don Coscarelli) and Amy (Natasha Ryan, THE ENTITY, 1982) are appropriately reactive, especially Amy who’s enthralled by her imaginary, satanic-porcine friend, Jodie.

Rod Steiger (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, 1967) is volatile and loud as Father Delaney, who’s repeatedly attacked by the long-range demon. Don Stroud (SWEET SIXTEEN, 1983), as Father Bolen, imbues his secular psychiatrist-priest with quiet, urgent humanity. Murray Hamilton (JAWS, 1975) once again plays a bureaucrat (this time as Father Ryan, a church administrator) who puts maintaining the status quo above obvious human safety.

Other notable players include Helen Shaver (THE CRAFT, 1996) as Carolyn, the Lutzes’ psychically sensitive, basement-exploring acquaintance. Val Avery (FRIDAY THE 13^th:THE SERIES, 1988 episode) is his usual solid and understated self as Sgt. Gionfriddo, who’s called to 112 Ocean Avenue, after George reports a break-in, which appears to be a breakout.

AMITYVILLE’s climax is wow-cataclysmic, with an abrupt and crazy-shots finish. Based on Jay Anson’s supposedly nonfiction 1977 book, this is a risible, fun, and iconic late-Seventies flick.

Suggestion: if you buy it, try to purchase it used. Wouldn't want the con artists who perpetuated this hoax (George and Cathy Lutz, Ed and Lorraine Warren and their estates) to further profit from it.