Point of Terror

Trailer—Point of Terror

source: Point of Terror

Smarmy and ruthlessly ambitious, but handsome and sexy lounge singer Tony Trelos (a perfectly slimy portrayal by hunky beefcake Peter Carpenter) works at a local nightclub in order to keep himself afloat. Tony meets mysterious wealthy man-hungry vamp Andrea Hilliard (the almighty Dyanne Thorne in peak predatory form), who promises to secure Tony a record contract with a major record label. However, things don't work out exactly like Tony hoped they would. Director Alex Nicol, working from a blithely trashy script by Ernest A. Charles and Tony Crechales, relates this entertainingly tawdry tale of greedy, deceit, and betrayal at a steady pace, delivers a handy helping of tasty gratuitous female nudity and leering soft-core sex, and tosses in a few murders for good measure. Moreover, the enthusiastic cast attack the lurid material with definite zest: Thorne and Carpenter really sink their teeth into their juicy parts, Leslie Simms has a hammy field day as Andrea's booze-sodden best gal pal Fran, Joel Marston contributes a pleasingly nasty turn as Andrea's bitter and overbearing crippled husband Martin (Andrea's big confrontation with Martin in front of a pool is a total corker!), and Lory Hansen brings considerable sweet charm to her role as Andrea's cute, perky, innocent stepdaughter Helayne. Better still, the groovy swinging songs, Tony's marvelously kitschy sub-Tom Jones nightclub act (Tony's first number in which he's wearing a ghastly red jumpsuit complete with flowing fringe is a tacky gut-buster!), Robert Maxwell's garish cinematography, and the gloriously lame "surprise" twist ending add immensely to this movie's substantial campy appeal. A complete schlocky hoot.

I gave this film a 6 and is that ever generous. The reason I gave it that much is simply because of Dyanne Thorne. Without her, this movie would have totally tanked and there'd be no legitimate reason to ever see it. The problem with this mediocre film is that it doesn't go far enough. There should have been more nudity instead of those god awful songs. The singing isn't so bad but oh those lyrics just make my brain hurt thinking about 'em! The sexploitation elements are all there alright but they are very underused, which basically was the trouble with a lot of these kinds of films made in the 70's: they just didn't go far enough. Had they pressed a hard R rating instead of a very soft R, this movie probably would have been a lot more watchable than it is.

This starts with man with "jazz hands," a red fringe jacket, and tight red pants. I'm scared already! Intercut with his song and dance is what appears to be a woman's death (we'll see the actual scene towards the end of the movie). He wakes up screaming. He meets a woman who's a record producer's wife. Though this is in a box set called "Horrible Horrors," it's barely a horror movie. We see a flashback to the death of the record producer's first wife. We see a death by drowning, and another by falling, and another by gunshot. Essentially, this is more the story of a small-time lounge singer who's willing to do anything to rise to the top. The last scene of the movie involves someone waking up screaming. Was everything we watched a dream, or a premonition? Easier just to call it bad writing, a "horrible horror," and a waste of time.

Point of Terror huh? I don't think so. Maybe Point of No Return or Pointlessness, or even Point Blank - but Terror - NO WAY! This is one of those cheesy, sleazy seventies offerings that are known for real bad acting, virtually little plot, and lots of skin. Point of Terror has all that, and it has so much more. I knew what this film was going to be like right from the beginning when Pete Carpenter, the male lead, dances in the foreground of a ridiculous bright red background ala a poor man's Tom Jones in red attire from head to toe. Things then move to Carpenter, perhaps having one of the biggest self-inflated egos I have seen in any film, play with a girl who loves him but can not offer him any career advancement. Carpenter then lies on a beach, finds an older but beautiful woman(the lovely, buxom Dyanne Thorne), realizes she happens to be married to the man in charge of a recording company that could give him his big break, and you can imagine where things go from there. The story is not overly inventive at all, the acting is quite pedestrian with Carpenter doing a less than workmanlike job parading shirtless and wearing pants made for adolescents. Carpenter, who is credited with writing this as well, even feels compelled to show his backside and then act - with his "skill" and the script - like he is doing all of womanhood a huge favour. One big Yikes! and Yawn. Despite all of this film's problems - and they are legion, Point of Terror is easily very watchable, laughable, and fun in a so bad its good way. And as an extra bonus, there is a scene, probably the best in the film, where Ms. Thorne disrobes and show us why she was in so much demand during those years. Her attributes easily overshadow her unconvincing yet somewhat credible acting style. As for the rest of the thespians, everyone does an OK job. None of the actors are real good nor real bad. The story, although obvious from the beginning, is also at least handled with some flair from the director Alex Nichol. Terror surely was misused in the title as there is virtually no horror at all in this film - a couple of rather tame deaths, though one is with a man in a wheelchair being goaded like a bull with "Ole" into a pool. You will only find something like that in the seventies for sure!

This movie is downright terrible, however it does have some entertainment value, and it never bored me. Still that does not mean it's a good movie in fact it's god awful, with laughable acting,and an amusing, but confusing ending. I got this on another 8 movie 2 horror disc set. The Chemistry between all of the actors is lousy,but however as i said never once did it bother me, with it's terrible,but amusing dialog, an interesting but stupid story, and laughable acting all around, it made it at times fun to watch. The Direction is awful. Alex Nicol, does a terrible job here, with no neat camera tricks what so ever, only good thing about it was the pace was solid. There is hardly any blood at all, except a few bloody stabbings, and a bloody fall victim (ATF). The Acting is god awful, but amusing at times. Peter Carpenter gives a lousy but amusing performance here, he has charisma, and was likable, but his performance is terrible, and the script does not help matters much,still i liked him, he had a lot of charisma. Dyanne Thorne, is extremely laughable, she's decent looking, but her performance is god awful, and she cracked me up in a lot of scenes. Lory Hansen, is also decent looking, but her performance is rather terrible as well, and she had no chemistry with Peter Carpenter. Paula Mitchell, is laughable and unconvincing as well. Leslie Simms, is annoying here, with laughable dialog, like "i know my Chickie" and her laughable performance as a drunk. Joel Martson, is okay, as the jealous husband. Overall not recommended, however do check it out, if your looking for some laughs. *1/2 out of 5

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Tony Trelos is a slick crooner at a nightclub called the Lobster House. Screaming and waking up from a nightmare (of his own terrible, terrible nightclub act) on a secluded beach he meets evil- looking and decadent Andrea (Dyanne Thorne) who's wearing a tasteless bikini. They get involved, as she's the wife of the crippled and bitter head of National Records. After one night of love- making in the pool she kills her defenceless wheel chaired husband. When the beautiful Helayne (daughter of the crippled homicide- victim) arrives, Tony falls in love with her, and he's torn between the two women. Things get outta hand and Tony throws a foul- mouthed Andrea off a cliff when she puts pressure on him for witnessing the murder and refusing his upcoming record contract. Things get even worse when Tony is suddenly shot dead by his waitress ex- girlfriend Sally, who's pregnant with his child. And then the magic starts... Tony screams and wakes up at the beach (it was all a bad dream), Andrea comes up to him, and highlights from the movie follows, only to be topped by Tony waking up and screaming once more!!! THE END. Very original. This is not a good film. The Lobster House is decorated with tinfoil, Tony Trelos looks like a disturbing mixture of Tony Curtis and musician Herb Alpert, and a lot of screen time is used showing him with his shirt off. Note that Carpenter who plays this ambitious Vegas sleazebag is also writer and producer. Scenes of Helayne and Tony horseback- riding is pure (and poor) excess, and Tony's crazy/ridiculous songs are downright awful. Pointless scenes of flashbacks to Tony's unhappy and clichéd childhood are seemingly endless. The ending with it all being a bad dream, and then a bad dream within a bad dream is not clever, just stupid. Some sequences appear experimental. I guess this isn't intentional, but proves a laughable lack of basic filmmaking skills. A clumsy and boring movie. Avoid. Avoid.

Wretched melodrama with softcore overtures has hip-grinding entertainer at a beachfront nightclub flirting his way into a recording contract, but the busty lady executive who discovered him--and who was apparently instrumental in the accident that paralyzed her husband!--could ruin his chances for stardom. Vanity project for B-movie actor Peter Carpenter, who co-produced and co-authored the original story for this, his final starring feature before his death. For aficionados of cinematic trash, the ridiculous final reel (starting with a man-woman tussle on the lawn, followed by a laughable tag) may be worth the abysmal rest. Carpenter, who had previously played a Mountie in a Russ Meyer flick, transparently emulates Meyer's penchant for bare breasts and behinds mixed with bloodshed, yet his plot is too ordinary (and his singing talents too minimal) to stir up much excitement. 'Terror'? Truly. * from ****

Crown International Pictures + Peter Carpenter = match made in trash heaven! The legendary Peter Carpenter started his film career starring in a Russ Meyer film, VIXEN. He then made three other films before disappearing from the face of the earth. And what films they were. BLOOD MANIA and this one, POINT OF TERROR (I haven't seen "LOVE ME LIKE I DO" but with such a great title, I'm dying to see it). Carpenter stars as a lounge singer who sounds/looks like Tom Jones. The story is totally inconsequential. It's about people scheming to murder other people who murdered other people, etc. Basically, people using people because of money and greed kinda of story. With better production values than BLOOD MANIA, POINT OF TERROR sometimes looks/sounds like a Russ Meyer film, without the extreme excess that's usually found in Russ Meyer's films. But the rest is still there: sex, trash, hopelessly dated dialogue, violence, buxom babes, beefcake, greed, 1970s gaudiness, did I say trash? It's Russ Meyer-lite. I love everything in POINT OF TERROR: the music (did Carpenter really sing those songs?), the fashion, the sudden sporadic bursts of violence, the focus on sex, sex, sex. The swingers dialogue: "Hey, Chickie". The acting. The tackiness of it all. Though not as memorably over-the-top as BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, POINT OF TERROR is, IMO, much more entertaining than the over-baked BTVOTD. Favorite scenes: the opening credits, with Carpenter singing/dancing in a red fringe get-up. The beginning on the beach (Dyanne Thorne's bikini is definitely not sexy). The musical bits. The sex scenes (the triptych one is cool). The scene around the swimming pool when the husband confronts Thorne. Ole! The "surprise" ending. But nothing beats the scene with Leslie Simms, as Fran, in that purple hat. Fran is such a badass! Arf. Michael J. Weldon, of Psychotronic Films fame, wrote in his books that he hates Peter Carpenter films, which surprises me because Peter Carpenter films are so perfectly Psychotronic: entertainingly bad. The main reason Weldon (and other fan boys) dislikes POT and BLOOD MANIA is probably because the focus is mainly on hunky Peter Carpenter (both films were produced by Carpenter himself...ah, narcissism). But for me, this obvious difference is what makes these trashy movies unique/one of a kind. Long live Peter Carpenter.