Blood Beat, The Samurai Meets The Deer Hunter

Michael Cimino was once knows as one of the greatest directors in Hollywood. His "The Deer Hunter" cleaned up at the Academy Awards, even though he did what many couldn't do...make a war film boring. Then the bottom fell out on this over rated director, he wasted a lot of Hollywood's money with "Heaven's Gate." That was it...Cimino was then fired from his newest project, "Footloose" and today his name is barely mentioned in film talk. Today we look at a 1983 straight-to-VHS slasher film, "Blood Beat." Maybe not the cinematic achievement as "The Deer Hunter," but at least it has some action in it...and the ending isn't as stupid as Cimino's ending in the aforementioned war film turned sermon. So here we go with the best deer hunting and Samurai film ever emanating from Wisconsin.

Okay, from the "A Story That Demands To Be Told" Department, here is the plot. Cathy (Helen Benton) is a boring artist in rural Wisconsin. Her main squeeze, who she refuses to marry, is the ineffective deer hunter, Gary (Terry Brown). As Cathy paints some ghastly pictures and refuses to marry Gary, her kids come home from college for Christmas and some deer hunting. Dolly (Dana Day) is the attractive but loser daughter who is dropping out of college. Ted (James Fitzgibbons) is the son who has brought a girl home, Sarah (Claudia Peyton). Uh oh...Sarah and Cathy exchange the evil eyeball with each other. Psychic visions tell Cathy that Sarah is evil and psychic premonitions tell Sarah...well...you'll see.

Okay, director Fabrice Zaphiratos takes jumper cables to the plot. While deer hunting, Sarah ruins the hunt by scaring away a deer and getting some other hunter shot. Then the murders start. Some fiend with a Samurai sword starts gutting rednecks. Sarah has visions of these killings. Meanwhile, Cathy's paintings get really violent and strange as a Samurai spirit possesses her. Now the Samurai spirit has form and after killing a bickering and obnoxious couple, heads to Cathy's house to possess and kill. Oh yeah, Sarah finally concedes to pre-marital sex with Ted and while in the throes of passion, she has psychic visions of the killings. Now the monster Samurai warrior has arrived and Sarah and Cathy have a psychic battle that will decide the fate of all mankind...er...well maybe just everyone in the house.

What is the relationship of the Samurai ghost to Cathy...and to Sarah? Will the college drop-out Dolly and her good looks do anything useful to fight the fiend warrior? Will the ineffective deer hunters in rural Wisconsin lead to deer over population in that state? The second half of this film is wild and violent. The backstory of the ghost (which includes lost love and the atomic bomb...really) is heartwarming. For some 1980s slasher straight-to-VHS fun, go with this Japanese horror film that just happens to be set in deer hunting country in Wisconsin..."Blood Beat."