Splatter University (1984) d. Haines, Richard D. (USA)
When a maniac escapes from an insane asylum (you’d think these folks would learn the value of added security one day), he infiltrates a nearby university’s faculty, posing as one of the staff and bumping off random students and professors alike. Plucky Francine Forbes, with her bright smile and Breck girl hair, makes for a likeable heroine, newly hired to replace one of the last semester’s recently demised.
While most of the characters and red herrings are pretty transparent, Splatter makes good on its name by providing abundant gouts and geysers of the red stuff, blasting the blood-balloons with gusto. Produced and distributed by Troma, there’s a fair amount of homespun charm, and anyone who has seen their fair share of low budget slasher flicks should not be terribly put off by the wonky acting and scattershot cinematography.
In fact, the four-headed screenwriting team deserves a passing grade simply on the strength of their refreshing final-act tweaking of Final Girl genre conventions. Writer/producer/director Haines would go on to co-direct the Troma underground classic, Class of Nuke ‘Em High.
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