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Yessir, a film that partly deserves the stick it gets, but never as much as it does.
While it does function as a film that informs future slasher flicks, it doesn't easily
fall into that category. It certainly can be a measuring stick for that genre, however.
For all its strengths, however, it does fault in a number of critical ways in the technical
and creative development departments.

((( Spoilers Be Ahead )))

The Good: Nice atmosphere, excellent soundtrack, good story elements,
genuinely frightening to some.

The Bad: Some wooden performances ruin certain scenes, in my opinion.
The worst offenders are the townies, but even the leads sometimes come off as
non-committal. For example, Mary Woronov in too many instances is poker-faced.

The Ugly: Well, the writing. The hooks in the story don't always work well, examples
being Jeffrey Butler being set up as the killer in both dress and in act; and Wilfred Butler's
own admission to being a "Grandfather". Described as "red herrings" at the iMDb board,
I can vouch that the posters are spot on in their accusations. Because of these mistakes,
the screenplay comes off as amateurish and gives the movie a "written as being filmed"
quality.

Worst though is the cinematography, which has been well critiqued. It is that which is the
film's strength and most obvious weakness. The strength is that an atmosphere of strong
foreboding is created and the sense that violent resolution is inevitable. Because of the
incompetence of the town to deal with its past, the grainy sepia flashbacks are exactly
equal to the murky darkness of the present, the killer has the destiny of the town and its
guilty inhabitants firmly in his iron fist. So the incompetence of the filmmaker does work
to his limited advantage in this case.

Also noted is the heavy post-production dubbing, in particular the in-town scenes. The producers
must have had noise issues, because much of the dialogue does not match the action on the screen.

Lastly, it's clear that some of the scenes are missing. Much hay has been tossed over the final act
in which Jeffrey Butler mysteriously loses his leather and trades up for a cape in the final showdown
with the mayor! What!?!?

All in all, an effective flawed movie. I seem to recall reading somewhere that Woronov, married to director
Theodore Gershuny during production, had written off the film, possibly in retaliation over that failed
relationship. On a side note, I think Gershuny used the proceeds of his hit single, the synthesizer poptart
"Popcorn", to finance this film. How's 'bout that?

Ahhh, too bad that website is down. Heard the publisher became born-again.
Jesus ruins yet again a perfectly twisted mind!

I think the recently restored soundtrack deserved a Rhondo. No slag against
"The Wrath of Khan", y'unnerstand.

You want creepy? Listen to this.

Hear what I mean? What a great soundtrack.

Oh, found the house used in the film. Locations for films are discussed here.

Suprised it hasn't been done sooner.

Taraco, can you move this and merge it with the other thread if possible?

Thanks!