Satan's Blade is one of those rare slasher films from the 80's stockpile that somehow has survived for nearly thirty years on old dusty video shelves, basements and attic alike. It's staying power leads me to believe that the possessed knife that once belonged to 'The Mountain Man' in the film had somehow seeped through the celluloid and invaded my body.
What we have here is an attempt that is a surprise. I remember renting this title at a ma and pa video store in the next town on a whim from a review on the slasher film site Hysteria-Lives. What I got was a very depressing film with no hope for any of the characters. This is hammered in stoned by a very creepy and moody synth/piano score that was redundant, but atmospheric alongside the snowy landscape.
A bank robbery goes bad. Two bank tellers are killed and a double cross gets deadly. We end up at a wintry lodge where the owners tell of the legend of 'The Mountain Man' - A man who was pushed further on the mountain due to progress. He went insane and the rest is pretty much slasher history. Anyone who befalls the knife becomes possessed and kills in cold blood. Oh yeah, the renters are a bunch of young horny ladies and they are not at all weary about staying in a cabin where two people were murdered the night before.
Two couples rent the one next door and what we have is a brutal killer in a snowy wonderland wrapped up in about as much atmosphere as you can take. Sad. Somber. Depressive. Downbeat. But it all works here because it's a true blue slasher film with bad acting, bad camera work and everything else that goes alongside filmmaking that screams for help while very few people listen.
The murder scenes don't cut away after a brutal kill as in some other 'more famous' slasher films. The victims writhe in agony and pain, with what seems to be general fear. The killer wears gloves which might be a nod to the Italians and their lovable giallos, but whatever the case, the kill scenes rank up there with even the best. As minimal as they were, they worked on a darker level that most slasher films can't seem to grasp. I guess it could be because of the somber tones...or the droning piano score that repeats this depressing onslaught to you ears. Either way, for the slasher fan, this is a must see.
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