SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Cortechba Overrated

Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Woodyanders Sassy teenager Melissa (a nicely brash portrayal by fetching brunette Aleisa Shirley) stirs things up in a sleepy small Texas town. After two boys with the hots for Melissa are murdered, both folksy sheriff Dan Burke (the always excellent Bo Hopkins) and his inquisitive wannabe Nancy Drew daughter Marci (an appealing portrayal by Dana Kimmell) decide to investigate.Director Jim Sotos adroitly crafts a strong rural backwoods hamlet atmosphere, relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, and delivers a satisfying smidgen of mild splatter. While the strictly so-so script by Erwin Goldman provides a novel spin on slasher conventions by making horny dudes the key targets of the killer's wrath, the final explanation for the killer's bloodthirsty spree alas proves to be really far-fetched and thus dissatisfying. Fortunately, the fine cast of reliable pros keep this movie watchable: Susan Strasberg as Melissa's friendly mom Joanne, Patrick MacNee as Melissa's uptight archaeologist dad Dr. John Morgan, Don Stroud as rowdy hell-raiser Billy Franklin, Don Shanks as tough Indian Jason Longshadow, Steve Antin as the jocular Hank Burke, Sharon Farrell as perky forensics expert Kathy Hopkins, Logan Clarke as racist jerk Jimmy, Michael Pataki as smarmy politician George Martin, Henry Wilcoxon as aged Native American Greyfeather, and Larry Storch as a bartender. As a yummy bonus, the comely and slender Mrs. Shirley takes an utterly gratuitous, yet still much-appreciated shower and also goes skinny-dipping (don't worry folks, Shirley is clearly a good deal older than her underage character). Both James L. Carter's competent cinematography and Tommy Vig's shivery score are up to par. The less said about Melissa's hideously sappy theme song, the better. A rather flawed, but overall worthwhile picture.

The_Void On the surface, this would appear to be just another dreary slasher flick, but what separates this film from a lot of the crowd is the that director Jim Sotos (who also directed the rarer of the two 'Forced Entry' films) creates a real gritty atmosphere that makes the film feel a lot like a seventies exploitation flick and ensures that the film is somewhat nastier than the likes of Friday the 13th and Halloween. It has to be said that this one isn't as gory as some slashers, but the violence is much more realistic, which more than makes up for that fact. The plot isn't particularly original and focuses mainly on the theme of a young girl coming of age. Melissa is fifteen and coming up to sixteen. She's in a new town and lonely because she doesn't know anyone, but luckily for her; she's also quite fit and proves to be a hit with the local boys. However, there's a catch as every boy she goes out with ends up getting brutally slaughtered! The crimes are investigated by the town sheriff and his two kids, and naturally Melissa ends up on the suspects list.The film was obviously made on a small budget but that doesn't hinder it too much as Sweet 16 more than sets out what it clearly intended to do. In fact, the production values are actually quite high for a small eighties production; the shortcomings in the form of the cinematography helps the film as it is rewarded with a real rough feel. The cast is good, with the likes of Bo Hopkins, Patrick Macnee and Susan Strasberg leading the film, while Aleisa Shirley is more than adequate in the title role. The film feels more like a seventies movie than an eighties flick and that's another positive element if you ask me. The plot flows well and since the film is only short at about eighty minutes, it doesn't have a chance to get old or tired before the ending. With slashers, a twist at the end is pretty much mandatory and this film adheres to that - except unlike a lot of slashers, the twist here is both interesting and believable. I can't say that this is brilliant or a classic, but I went into it expecting nothing decent and found a fairly good film so I definitely do recommend Sweet 16 to my fellow horror fans!

Katatonia I won't post a long and detailed review of the movie, because it is a great little horror mystery film and there are several positive reviews already posted that said it better than i probably could have.An interesting note is that this movie is actually on DVD in a couple of obscure "bargain boxsets". They are from BCI Eclipse, who release a lot of 10-Packs of old generic movies for a bargain price. The name of the boxsets are "Student Bodies" which is a 4-Pack, and also in a 10-Pack boxset called "Toga Party". The odd thing is the description on the boxes for these sets is wrong about the movie, it lists it as being some party movie...but it is not! It is indeed Sweet 16 from 1981 on DVD! The quality is pretty good for DVD too.

UltimateDarkness I am very surprised to see such a high rating for this film, and of the few reviews that there are to be positive. I saw the movie and was pretty dissapointed. I didn't find it very enjoyable at all. It was slow, and lacks the entertainment value. Even the murder scenes are lackluster, with real close-up shots of generic stabbings that don't look good at all. And the supposed great twist ending is really not much, I did see it coming, and then the ending just seemed cliche. This movie may not get much mention, but by the little that it does get, it is overrated. I would not recommend this movie.