Review of Baker County, U.S.A.

Aw, why did they opt for "Trapped" to be the official title, whereas "Baker County, USA" is such a unique and wondrously ominous title for a movie handling about psychopathic Tennessee rednecks! There are about fifty movies called "Trapped"! There's one with security-trained Dobermans keeping a guy inside a shopping complex and another one with Kevin Bacon hijacking a woman and her asthmatic daughter, so do you honestly want to mix up those lame plot outlines with a movie about lunatic yokels hunting down a bunch of college students? Baker County, USA … all the way! Enough nagging about titles, especially since we call the films whatever we want, anyway. This stuff is terrific! It's an early 80's and Canadian produced Indie-film with character drawings and themes that were especially popular during the decade of the 70's, namely crazed clodhoppers living in private mountain-communities and brutal blood-vengeance. Henry Silva, who played in numerous Italian cop thrillers and action flicks, was never cast better as a tyrant leader of a small mountain colony that swears by its own ancient system of law and order. Silva's naturally menacing charisma and particularly perpetrating stares make him one the most nightmarishly memorable backwoods villains ever! The first half hour revolves on Henry and his docile men playing the roles judge, jury and executioner on an outsider who was caught having sex with Henry's beautiful but bored wife. Four college students camping in the remote hills witness the assassination of the man covered in tar and feathers, but when they try and notify the police they quickly discover everybody the entire area is petrified of mad-raving Henry. "Baker County, USA" is splendidly fast-paced and grimly atmospheric 80's trash effort. It's more than obviously inspired by classics such as "Deliverance" (there even is the banjo soundtrack!), but there are more than enough original elements to distinguish itself as well. The exterior filming locations are sublime (the opening sequence is astounding), there's an admirable portion of suspense and the action/death sequences are quite spectacular and bloody. The climax in particular is a gripping mixture of tension and extreme violence, resulting in quite the fireworks ending! Noteworthy also is that the youthful campers are actually likable characters, for once. They try to do the right thing, don't make overly stupid decisions and don't try to play heroes. Their behavior is plausible and most likely how everyone would react when facing a toothless mob with pitchforks and barrels full of hot tar. William Fruet directed this hidden gem and always treasured a deep admiration for his work, since he accomplishes quite a lot with a minimum of budget. Admittedly, "Spasms" was one of the worst pieces of crap I ever saw, but "Funeral Home" and "House by the Lake" are definitely low-budget highlights.