Out of the obscurest corner of the slasher film sub-genre comes Skullduggery (also known as Warlock and Blood Puzzle), a 1983 Canadian horror film directed by Ota Richter in which the descendant of a medieval family cursed by an evil sorcerer becomes a violent killer when a game of dungeons and dragons awakens the curse within him. If you came looking for another Canadian slasher to put near those like My Bloody Valentine (1981) prepare to be disappointed, this is one of the weirdest movies ever made. It makes no sense whatsoever and is just filled with random strange things, such as the worst amateur dramatic play in cinema history taking place in a lengthy talent show that goes on and on. A scene of the killer chasing a woman cuts to a minute long panning shot of mourners at a funeral who never appear again. A Liberace lookalike appears playing a church organ, and a hospital murder sequence includes a smoking doctor in a gorilla suit who has just had sex with a nurse. Add to this a terrible , Scooby-Doo-like theme song (that you will never, ever be able to get out of your head) and the fact that it doesn't even have any real gore or actual nudity to recommend it, it's just an all round terrible movie in every possible way.
Review of Skullduggery
Skullduggery
(1983)
Out of the obscurest corner of the slasher film sub-genre comes one of the weirdest movies ever made.
2 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers