Destroyer (1988)

Starring Anthony Perkins, Lyle Alzado and the girl from Valley Girl - how can we resist?

Ivan Moser (Lyle Alzado) is serial rapist with 24 murders under his belt.  He's put to the electric chair, but a prison riot allows him to escape.

Years later, the prison has been shut down and is now the set of a Women In Prison film, "Death House Dollies".   Anthony Perkins plays the director, Bob.

The screenwriter is David (Clayton Rohner) and his girlfriend Susan (Deborah Foreman) is the stunt girl.  For some reason she wears this ridiculously oversized suit jacket for most of the movie.

I know Clayton Rohner as the dude from Just One of the Guys and April Fool's Day.  Deborah Foreman is of course the titular Valley Girl starring opposite Nicholas Cage.

The star of "Death House Dollies" is Sharon Fox (Lannie Garrett) and the special effects guy is Rewind (Jim Turner).  I remember Turner as MTV's Randee of the Redwoods in the 1980s, but he's been in a lot of things including Arli$$.

Sharon Fox is a former A-List actress who's now slumming it in a low-budget WIP flick.  Bob puts up with her queen bitch attitude with a subtle smirk.

Susan jumps off a ledge onto an inflatable landing mat, acting as Sharon's stunt double.

 The crew gives her landing a score.  I guess we're supposed to laugh.

 Fifty minutes into the movie and Ivan finally makes his return.

Sharon Fox is drinking her sorrow away on the set, sitting next to a rubber special-effects doll in her likeness.

Ivan kills her and the janitor with his mighty jackhammer.

Time to film the requisite shower scene.  I must admit, I wasn't expecting full frontal nudity in this movie.

Pretty much all the "shower sirens" listed on IMDb only have this movie in their filmography.  Imagine this being your only IMDb credit.

Meanwhile, Ivan has been in a game of cat-and-mouse with Susan, finally catching her and putting her on the electric chair.

 Former football player, Lyle Alzado, goes "all in" with this role as an over-the-top maniac.

 The next thirty minutes are nothing but Ivan versus Susan (and David).

 Susan finally kills Ivan using a flamethrower.

Predictably, David and Susan make it out alive.  We have a moment where Ivan returns to the hospital with a melted face, but it was just a bad dream.  It's all good.  THE END

Man, the last thirty minutes were horrible. Watching Ivan chasing Susan and David seemed to drag on forever.  I guess, if it's done skillfully, it can be great - see High Tension as a perfect example. Even Jason chasing after Crystal Lake campers provides scares and suspense - this was just tedious.

Also, while I was pleasantly surprised by the shower scene, the rest of the film was completely devoid of any T&A.  Anthony Perkins totally phoned this one in, and the whole formula just seems tired.  At one point Rewire says:

"Maybe he's like the guy in the Halloweens! He keeps getting killed! So he doesn't know if he's dead or just dreaming!"

Yeah, the trope of the boogie man who keeps getting back up to stalk his prey had been done to death by 1988.  Like so many conventions of the slasher genre used in this film, they just seem a bit "played".

★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆