Rating: D
Dir: Peter Masterson
Star: Roy Scheider, Karen Young, Lane Smith, Richard Bradford
Spoiler alert, I guess. Though after more than 45 years, the statute of limitations has probably expired. Also, this is a plodding and largely tedious work, so spoiling it is likely doing the lord’s work, thereby saving unwary viewers from unnecessary boredom. I liked the idea of a baseball-themed slasher film – the poster is certainly an eye-catching one – but the execution here is flatter than the terrain around Galveston, where this unfolds. Any connection to baseball is largely tangential until well over the hour mark. What we have to that point is someone stalking and killing women around the beach, with detective Mike Seaver (Scheider) leading the investigation, while juggling the romantic demands of his girlfriend, Roxy (Young).
As the bodies mount, and it becomes clear there is a serial killer on the loose, the pressure starts to come down from the governor’s office, for a quick resolution to the case. Indeed, for a good chunk of the running time, inter-departmental politics jostle with Mike’s love life, as the main topic of the film. The guy ripping women up, with what looks increasingly like a longshoreman’s hook, is relegated to a sideshow. Which is a shame, because Masterson shows some style in the kills. Speaking of sideshows, I particularly enjoyed one sequence which unfolds in a carnival hall of mirrors. Mind you, the victim was a young Renee O’Connor, later to become Xena’s sidekick, Gabrielle. Nice to see the irritating blonde get offed (top).
Eventually, with the help of a convenient sports journalist, Mike figures out the killings happen only following home wins by a specific pitcher on the local Houston Astros baseball team. Turns out, they are being committed by a disgruntled former pitching prospect, who lost his throwing hand in a car accident and consequently went loopy. I dunno, feels like MLB and the Astros might be slightly less amenable to the sport being depicted in such an exploitative fashion these days. Inevitably, the killer ends up going after Roxy, and being taken down by Mike, before they get married at the baseball park. [Side-note: Scheider is twenty-six years older than Young. Their relationship now seems considerably more creepy than convincing]
Basically, the script sets aside the elements on which I was keen – those would be the horror themes, and the baseball – in favour of foregrounding stuff which are of little or no interest. For example, there’s a thread about Mike clashing with another detective, whom he believes to be corrupt. This serves no particular purpose, except to fill up running-time, and the entire film does not exactly paint local law enforcement in a positive light. This feels a little like Speedtrap for Texans, in that if you’re familiar with Galveston, it could well be an amusing time-machine trip back to an earlier era. I’m utterly ignorant of the area, and there’s precious little here to encourage this situation to change in the foreseeable future with a visit.