Kidnapped Coed

I remember being at a convention and seeing my first Severin booth and thinking, "If I start buying these movies, I'm never going to stop." I can't always predict the future all that well, but after my first purchase - Dr. Butcher M.D., in case you wondered - I keep buying something from this label almost every single month. The films of Frederick R. Friedel set - which also has Axe and Blood Brothers - is just one of so many examples as to why I love Severin. Not only have they taken a Video Nasty and a drive-in obscurity and made them look better than they ever have before, they've also found almost everyone that worked on these films, gotten their side of the story and explain what actually happened before, during and after they were filmed. Jack Canon, who the credits erroneously refer to as the kidnapped co-ed, plays Eddie Matlock, who is really the kidnapper. He was also in Axe, Maximum Overdrive and Trucker's Woman. As the film begins, he's already taking Sandra Morely (Leslie Rivers) captive. Her father puts a big ransom out for her return, so other criminals now are after them both to try and get paid. Also known as Date With a Kidnapper, this is 75-minutes of a movie where things just happen for no reason, with no set-up or explanation. Axe is a movie where nothing happens for long stretches of time, while this is the opposite, a movie where all kinds of things happen and the Stockholm syndrome is in full effect - although the kidnapper isn't truly the villain he seems to be when this all begins. This film looks gorgeous, getting every cent of its budget on the screen, and was shot by Austin McKinney, who worked on all sorts of genre films, from shooting Boris Karloff's four Mexican films (The Snake People, House of Evil, Isle of the Snake People and Alien Terror), Hot Summer in Barefoot County, Getting It On and Jaws 3-D to being part of the sound crew on Hellraiser III and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child to working on the special effects team on movies like Beastmaster 2, Escape from New York, Battle Beyond the Stars, Sorceress and The Terminator. He was even the uncredited editor for The Beast of Yucca Flats and the production manager for The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?

I saw this film under the alternative title of "Kidnapped Coed" and apparently the film has been re-titled quite a few times, but no matter what the title they slap on the film, you're in for the same slowly-paced film about a daughter of a rather wealthy family being kidnapped for ransom, finding love, other criminals after the pair for no reasons given, and general weirdness. It's pretty well0filmed, but the story goes nowhere. And it goes nowhere at a snail's pace I might add. More likely to induce sleep as opposed to actually entertainment. This yawner may be great for insomniacs, but not for anyone else. Thoroughly unconvincing and ridiculously stupid at the same time. My Grade: D- Something Weird DVD Extras: 3 shorts: "the Hitch-Hiker", "Dangerous Strangers" & "the Cautious Twins"; A 27 minute tour of Box office International with Harry Novak circa 1992; Gallery of exploitation art with accompanying soundtrack (5 minutes, 19 seconds); 2 Theatrical trailer (one under it's alternative title of "Kidnapped Coed" and the other retitled "Kidnapped Lover"); and trailer for "Hitch Hike to Hell" (which is also featured on the DVD)

You would never think that a movie with a name such as "Kidnapped Coed" would be so..well..boring. But, it is. There are long stretches where absolutely nothing happens! I actually shouted at the screen several times, "DO SOMETHING!" and I'm not usually that agitated. This had so much sleaze potential and it bypassed all of its opportunities. There is a violent rape scene in the first 15 minutes, but it's ineptly staged and filmed in a slapdash manner. Several other drawbacks: the girl is plain, to be kind and there is no nudity (It may have been cut-out, but I doubt it). There's also many odd plot devices which make no sense whatsoever. I will say that the photography is excellent and the actor that plays the kidnapper is a fairly decent thespian. The subplot regarding his trying to relate to his mother in a nursing home oddly resonated with me since I've had some experiences with my own mom. I hate myself for tearing up during "Kipnapped Coed"!

A great movie that needs more attention.For a cheep 70s exploitation movie it's fun dude kidnaps his victim for ransom ...Spoiler they happen to fall for each other highly recommended made from the same director that did acts that was a video nasty back in the early 80s!the severin blu/ray or DVD is the way to go its fantastic quality I hear the blu-ray has a special feature not on the DVD another film!!!

Kidnapped Coed (1976) * 1/2 (out of 4) Criminal Eddie Matlock (Jack Canon) kidnaps Sandra (Leslie Rivers) so that he can hold her for ransom and get a major pay-down from her rich father. A couple goons have other ideas but Eddie and Sandra hit the road where their adventure leads them to a strange farm house. KIDNAPPED COED is the second feature from director Frederick R. Friedel. As with his first film AXE, this one here was made in North Carolina on an obviously low-budget but unlike that film, this one here really doesn't have too much going for it. I say this because like that film this one here doesn't have too much of a story but while AXE was rather weird in its own way, this one here just plays out like a no-budget version of BADLANDS. I will say that the best thing going for the film are the performances by Canon and Rivers. I thought both of them were quite good in their parts and it's really too bad that there wasn't more of a story for them to act in. For the majority of the running time the two are sitting, standing or laying around and talking about subjects that don't really move the plot and instead are just downright boring. At 75 minutes the film seems double that and by the time the ending comes you're already out of it. I will say that other than the performances there is a really campy moment that happens towards the end with a farmer. I'm not going to spoil it but the dialogue and acting had my laughing extremely hard.

Kidnapped Coed (1976) Synopsis: Sarah is leaving her boarding house when she a petty hood kidnaps her and holds her for ransom. But the inept crook has to defend his meal ticket from other criminals wanting her for the ransom and some of the most random attacks imaginable. Thoughts: Man "Coed" really needs to be seen to be believed. The silly script rely almost solely on random circumstance to the point of hilarity. You feel sorry for the kidnapper in the end because the guy never catches a break. Thugs, murderous farmers and the odd robbery leaves this guy constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time. The woman is about as lucky as the thug only dumber blowing off a million ways to get to safety. And what's with the phone booths all out in the middle of nowhere? Like I said. Something else. (Stars: Jack Canon, Leslie Rivers, Gladys Lavitan, Larry Lambeth, Jim Blankinship) Dir...Frederick R. Friedel) (DVD) Film Rating: 2/5) (Fun Rating: 4/5)

(Potential Spoilers) This is a very strange movie from the same director as the equally strange Axe. In some ways, it resembles other grim, depressing early 70's drive-in fare (like The Candy Snatchers) with its casual abuse of young women, "heroes" who are only sympathetic or likeable relative to the even more sleazy characters surrounding them, and general aura of misanthropy and malaise. This movie, however, takes a strange romantic turn halfway through that may be completely implausible but at least washes away the bad taste left in your mouth by some of the earlier scenes (especially a mean-spirited rape scene). And, unlike Axe or The Candy Snatchers this movie has an honest-to-god, if rather surreal, happy ending. Recommended, if your into this sort of thing.

I just rented a "Something Weird" Double Feature DVD. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140174/ Hitch Hike to Hell (1977) and Date with a Kidnapper. (SPOILERS) BAD BAD BAD. Horrible harsh lighting, static boring acting, lame still static camera-work. Phony acting except for the mother, the cop who was played by Russell Johnson ( The professor on Gilligans Island) and one of the victims mother. A Norman Bates type is mad that his sister ran away from home- so he murders runaway teens on the highway. I tried to find it so bad it was funny- just BAD. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077401/ Date with a Kidnapper (1976) Another Kidnap movie- but this one was WAY better. Clean color- VERY good camera work (nearly every shot was on a dolly). Eddie Matlock, a guy who looks like a cross between Ted Bundy and Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers) kidnaps a dorky college girl. He hides her in a sleazy motel- then 2 other unrelated gangsters come in and rape her. someone on IMDb said: "A woman living in a boarding house is kidnapped by a small-time criminal. Soon others in the gang try to take her away from him so they can get the ransom." I don't think I agree with that- I don't think they were part of the same gang. At one point Eddie Matlock says " I don't know you!" Some VERY cool shots. But it got bizarre when the two fall in love and wind up at a farmhouse owned by an insane ex cop who looks like Santa Claus. He comes after Eddie with a knife and he shoots Santa. Then we see Santa with a pitchfork in him (?). Then they just let 3 hoodlums take the ransom money (!) Did the 3 hoodlums kill them? Was the money traceable? Is that why they let the robbers have it? I didn't buy them falling in love- unmotivated. I agree that I like the direction- the little touches like the old man ignoring the screeches. PS- did they just abandon the mute girl at the farm?

An ugly girl is kidnapped and held for ransom by some mean man. When they head to a hotel, a group of bad guys hear this and try to take the girl to get the ransom money for themselves. It doesn't work and the mean kidnapper gets beaten and the girl gets raped in the process. The kidnapper flees with the girl and spends some time trying to talk to his mother who is in a nursing home. Get a load of a very young Larry Drake as the home attendant. Anyways, the girl ends up falling in love with the kidnapper and the rest of the movie just drags. The only good out of this movie is seeing Larry Drake's package through his tight jeans. Wow!! Low and behold people, the 'L.A. Law' star is indeed packing'!!!

This films original title must be "the kidnapper" for the title credit reads "John Canon as", then cut to "kidnapped co-ed". LOL! Anyway, the film runs like a little independent film than a sex/exploitation film. Canon kidnaps a young redhead gal for ransom. But they encounter strange people who want them dead for some strange reason (reasons unanswered). Little violence, rape (but no nudity) might be cut for TV. There is hardly any talk and a lot of padded scene, so the script must be 30 pages long. Watch for early performance by Larry Drake. I don't know why exploitation film company Boxoffice international (well known for X to hard "R" films) pick this film up for there is no nudity or much in this film. Some good scene and the two leads are no bad in what little script offered to them.