This offbeat little curiosity happens to be one of my absolute favorite slasher films. In fact, only 1974's "Black Christmas" (which is also my pick for best of the horror genre in general) beats it. Released mere months before Carpenter's "Halloween" would kick start the core slasher movement, it's an extremely eerie picture. There's a sense of the foreboding here that is more prevalent than you'd expect. It focuses on a mysterious morality killer who tricks a group of "undesirables" into attending a fake high school reunion, only to begin picking them off once they arrive. If you think this sounds a bit like "Slaughter High", you'd be right. This came first and is the infinitely better of the two. It's religious subtext alone makes it far more intriguing than that popular, but ultimately quite bland effort.The six so-called degenerates include a lawyer, a gay actor, a lesbian, a cute girl who takes pride in her appearance, a rich snob and a cocky former football jock with gluttonous tendencies. Despite negative comments about the acting on this site and in a horror reference guide of mine, the six main characters are perfectly believable people. In fact, all but the glutton wind up being rather likable, particularly Cindy, played with a free-spirited innocence by the lovely Jeannetta Arnette. The Redeemer himself comes off as over the top at times, which actually works in the character's favor, really making him seem like an absolute lunatic. His Shakespearean rant in the auditorium is a highlight. Props to T.G. Finkbinder for going all in with the role and, in turn, bringing to life one of the most memorable psychos on film.Indeed, the Redeemer is a very creepy individual. Throughout, he dons many different costumes (as "Terror Train"'s killer did a few years later), each one representing an aspect specific to his victims' lives. It's an unsettling touch that really adds to the overall tone. Perhaps the creepiest scene in the entire movie is when one of the girls is yelling for someone in the distance to let her out of the locked down school. Said individual turns out to be the Redeemer, dressed as the Grim Reaper, who proceeds to pound on the barred window with his scythe.This film is an exercise in the surreal, the above mentioned sequence being positively nightmarish in execution. The film's ambiguous opening and closing segments revolving around a sinister child reinforce this feeling tenfold. The school itself is an atmospheric setting, imprisoning our characters like a tomb. The rural area surrounding it certainly lends to the feeling of hopeless isolation.Having originally seen this via the big box "Class Reunion Massacre" VHS at my local video store, I was instantly taken with it. Not easy to forget, it's a bleak, dread-inducing slasher with a unique utilization of religious themes and well worth rediscovering. It should be regarded much more highly. It truly is one of a kind.

This is my favorite type of 70's horror: incredibly cheap, obscure, poorly made and amateurish, but for this exact same reason the film is also uncanny, morbidly fascinating and nightmarish. "The Redeemer: Son of Satan!" is a strange and creepy movie with controversial themes and ahead-of-their-time ideas, and in such cases the ineptitude of the production is often a huge advantage! When reading the back of the DVD- cover, it looks as if you stumbled upon one of the pioneers of slasher cinema. The synopsis talks about six people gathering supposedly for their ten year high-school reunion, but this is only an excuse to get killed by a freak alternatively disguised as a janitor, a redneck hunter, a circus baron and a clown. This sounds like textbook slasher material and you automatically assume the culprit will eventually be exposed as a formerly vexed class mate, or something, but that's not exactly how "The Redeemer: Son of Satan!" unfolds. Especially the opening and closing credit sequences are bizarre and particularly unsettling, with images of an emotionless young child emerging from a remote lake and the written message "From out of the Darkness the Hand of the Redeemer shall appear to punish those who have lived in Sin". Now, you tell me this is not creepy!! The six people lured to a fake class reunion are thus, in fact, sinners of all obvious and not-so- obvious kinds. Another reason why this film is so disturbing is that the victims are quite randomly selected. They represent the most of the seven deadly sins, and even though the brief introductions at the beginning illustrated that they weren't angels, these people didn't really deserve the harsh punishments that came over them. "The Redeemer: Son of Satan!" is also fairly shocking and brutal, with a couple of grisly images (like a child with a slit throat) and some very harsh death sequences (including a sword penetrating someone's skull, a shotgun wound in the throat and a misogynist drowning). The film benefices mostly from the crude atmosphere, the nihilistic overall tone and some effectively scary set-pieces like a large dummy/marionette and a very convincing grim reaper costume. This is definitely a worthwhile movie for admirers of weird, unorthodox and long-forgotten cult cinema.

The Redeemer rises from the watery depths(..in the form of a boy) to assemble members of a specific class for a reunion where he will inflict wrath upon them for their sins..he possesses a priest(..whose fiery, condemning sermon is used as exposition for the movie), who masquerades in various disguises as he kills each individual one at a time.The sixth chosen wonder aloud why no one else had turned out for the reunion, impressed at the decorum and feast available for them. Those who arrive include a lesbian(..who wishes to keep her sexuality a secret from the gang), lawyer(..a scoundrel with unpopular practices), former high school star(..now a slob, who gorges himself on food anytime he can, and we see that he treats his wife and kid rather inhospitably), a multiple-married bar-hopper(..who lives to party), a primpy flamboyant homosexual actor, and a cold-hearted wench(..unhappily married into wealth who likes to shoot pigeons, among other animals, for sport). When they attempt to reach outside to discover why they are the only ones at the reunion, the group find that all the doors are locked, with bars and gates trapping them inside the building with no escape available.There's this great(..or hilarious?)scene where bangs on the front gate pleading for help, when someone in a grim reaper costume interrupts, swinging a scythe, laughing hysterically, his face covered with a skull mask. Another inspired sequence has a mannequin, in a seat, containing a blow torch in it's arms, setting on fire.Damien Knight(..John Sinclair, the lawyer), Michael Hollingsworth(..Roger, the gay actor), Nick Carter(..Terry, the glutton ex-pro quarterback), Jeannetta Arnette(..Cindy, a stickler for bad relationships with men), Gyr Patterson(..Kirsten, the lesbian), and Nikki Barthen(..Jane, the privileged wife who likes to shoot those animals for sport, her fate resembling her own extracurricular activities)round out the cast of those judged to be executed for their sins. TG Finkbinder is the creepy "Redeemer" who hunts them down one by one, his distinctive voice full of contempt and vigor, pronouncing their doom for their misdeeds and indiscretions. While this is still a slasher film, draped in religious subtext regarding the "wicked" paying for their sins, credit I think goes to the filmmakers for creating this really eerie ambiance throughout, in just the way it is scored and shot, there's just this weird atmosphere it has that worked it's power over me. While we do have some jarring death sequences, such as the dagger to the skull and bullet to the the forehead, I think the most disturbing and successful kill concerns Finkbinder in a clown mask drowning Arnette in a bathroom sink full of water..I think what makes it so effective is how she struggles with everything she has to escape, unable to free herself from the inevitable. The deal with the two thumbs and the whole idea of some force from hell in the guise of a child only adds extra strangeness to the proceedings. I think this has potential to become(..if it hadn't already)a cult classic. The way victims are selected(..their sins)might be offensive to some(..particularly homosexuals).

A Few years ago, I found this at a Flea Market, after catching the trailer on the VHS of The Wizard Of Gore years earlier. All I remembered was that it seemed like something worth the three dollars the guy was asking, but after years of being burned in my search for decent-bad cinema, I wasn't all that shocked to discover that Class Reunion Massacre is, in fact, not worth the three dollars I paid. I like old B-horror because it's different, because it's outlandish and rebellious, because it can be refreshing compared to all the big-budget, super-hero garbage of today. But none of that means anything if it puts you to sleep.Typical Horror plot. Some kid walks out of a lake, gets on a bus, and goes to Church, where we find a rather loud Priest doing his thing...and I'm sure all of this has something to do with the six "sinners" the story now revolves around. Four People I barely noticed, Mr. metro- fem, and a lesbian are headed to their 10 year high school reunion where they can sit around and eat, and "act", and wonder where the hell everyone's at. With the doors now locked, one by one, everyone is taken out by the redeemer, some guy who probably fancys himself some kind of righteous/sadistic chameleon, hence the killing in the name of God, and constant wardrobe changes. Feeling tired yet? Class Reunion Massacre is mostly made up of endless conversations and ironic killings meant to punish sins such as gluttony, and drinking too much. This film manages to be blasphemous against Christianity, as well as B-cinema. I expected very little, yet was somehow still disappointed. What I find most irritating about Class Reunion Massacre is I can almost detect a hint of potential somewhere in there. The atmosphere is all it has going for it. Ultimately, this is not a good horror movie, not a good B-movie, Class Reunion Massacre, for the lack of a better word, is a failure. Actually, I wouldn't mind a DVD release, with some audio commentary, which might shed a little light, because I just know I missed something. I don't get it. There's way too many positive reviews for this... come to think of it, I'm wasting my time here. I could be reviewing something worthwhile, like Nightmare In A Damaged Brain...