Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Leofwine_draca After noting the director, Ruggero Deodato (the man responsible for the gruelling cannibal flick CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST), and one of the film's main stars, David Hess (LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT), you might be forgiven for thinking this slasher film is going to be packed full of extreme violence and gore. Well, you'd be mistaken, as it's merely another rehash of Friday THE 13TH, with a few gruesome deaths but nothing that hasn't been done before.It's not that the film is particularly bad, it's just average, but I would have expected a lot more from Deodato. However, this run of the mill story goes through all of the expected stalk and slash clichés with hardly a single original shot in sight. We've got the showering girls, the POV killer shots, the running through the woods. The deaths are mainly stabbings and axings, plus the expected Friday THE 13TH death rip-off where a girl lying on a bed has a knife shoved through her chest from underneath, just like Kevin Bacon had an arrow shoved through his throat from underneath a bed in that film.The main cast of teenagers are the expected clichéd group: the fat guy, the nerd, the blonde bimbo, the athletic guy, the cool guy. None of these actors and actresses are very good, passable though. It does get annoying after a while to see actor Bruce Penhall continually riding around on his motorbike and doing stunts, but I guess that's what you get from a former motorbike champion turned actor. It's pretty absurd to watch the excuses for all the main female cast members lose their clothes, so rest assured that there's a lot of nudity here from the 'teenage' actresses.There are a couple of interesting actors in the film, namely Charles Napier (RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II) who does his usual tough policeman stuff; Mimsy Farmer; and the aforementioned David Hess, whose frightening persona is woefully underused but fun anyway. It's good to see Ivan Rassimov (MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD) in another film too, this time in the small role of a doctor. The score, by Claudio Simonetti from The Goblin, isn't bad either, while the monster makeup is pretty effective and scary. The killer is obvious from the start, though, and the red herrings are slightly over-emphasised and can be seen a mile off. If you're looking for a typical slasher film then you could do worse than this, but other than the novelty value of being Italian, this is nothing we haven't seen before. Check out THE BURNING instead.

trashgang There was a time when directors had to take a lot of bad comments on their flicks. Sometimes directors really got into trouble by making explicit movies. Deodato is one of them. We all know him from Cannibal Holocaust. A flick not for the faint hearted. There is animal cruelty in it, killing real animals, there is the inmate impaled, there is the cutting off of a guy his dick all in view for the watchers, due the animal cruelty and the way the movie was filmed (handycam style like Blair Witch Project) people in those days thought that it all was real. So Deaodato had to run away from Italy avoiding a lynching. Weird. he will always be remembered for that cult gem. What I would like to say, Cannibal Holocaust is a gem, this one is an OOP, I can understand it, it is terrible. The acting is extremely low. The storyline is terrible, even that David Hess (Last House On The Left) is in it doesn't help the movie. Well Ruggero, you should better run away when you made this trash instead of running away for cannibal Holocaust, avoid this rubbish.

Michael_Elliott Body Count (1987) * 1/2 (out of 4) Ruggero Deodato, director of Cannibal Holocaust, tries his hand at the American slasher genre but fails on pretty much all levels. A campground is built on an old Indian burial ground and then a bunch of teenagers show up to party and have sex. Guess what happens? The gore scenes are decent but we've seen this type of film countless times and the director doesn't try to do anything new. Instead of trying anything new, he rips off films like Friday the 13th 3, Psycho 2 and various other slashers of the day. The performances are all rather poor and the dubbing is bad as well, although this leads to a few laughs. The film tries so very hard to be "American" by throwing in the names of American movies and actors but this too comes off quite poorly. David Hess has a small role.

The_Void I'm not the biggest fan of slasher movies, but this one was a point of interest for me due to its director, and the fact that I'm a big fan of Italian cinema. Body count is clearly very derivative of successful American slashers such as Friday the 13th, as it takes place in a backwater location and features a seemingly unstoppable madman murdering his way through a load of useless teenagers. However, Ruggero Deodato's film elevates itself above the barrage of rip-offs with some great scenes of slaughter and a fitting music score courtesy of former Goblin, Claudio Simonetti. The film takes in the common supernatural slasher themes, and focuses on a legend of an old Indian shaman that used to live in the woods where all the screaming takes place. Naturally, most of our main characters are dumb, horny teens that have made the silly decision of going camping in a van. It's not long before they meet a young kid from the army, and they decide to go stay over at his parent's house; a couple who are having marital problems. Oh, and there's the small problem of a maniac in the woods...could it be the same Indian shaman? Ruggero Deodato isn't a director that likes to leave you wondering what his films are about, and pretty soon after the film has started, we are treated to a delicious double murder scene. From there, the murder scenes are all memorable and although they're mostly committed with a knife, Deodato makes good use of the weapon and scenes that see a young girl coming through a door with a knife in her head ensure that this is slightly more than the usual eighties slasher. My only real complaint where weapons are concerned is the fact that there's a chainsaw in the film, which isn't put to best use. Body Count benefits from a great cast of Eurohorror regulars, including David Hess; who isn't put to best use, Mimsey Farmer who has worked previously with Italian masters Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, and cult luminary Ivan Rassimov as the sheriff. It's true that none of the stars are given roles that allow them to shine; David Hess' role even seems to be a parody of his usual strong performances. Body Count won't be a must see film for fans of Italian horror, but slasher fans shouldn't be disappointed and I rate this as a success for the overpopulated slasher sub-genre on the whole.