Remember Switchblade Romance, that French slasher movie about a girl being stalked by a killer that existed only in her mind? Tom mustve overdosed on the film because he does exactly the same thing here, running away from a maniac disguised as a miner who, in a twist that makes no sense whatsoever, is revealed to be him. You see, the killer was thought to be Harry Warden, who murdered 22 of his colleagues a decade earlier before disappearing in an accident. When the killings start again, and the culprit wears Harrys outfit (boiler suit, gas mask, pick-axe), it seems like Harrys back with a vengeance, especially in a sequence where he comes face to face with Tom, whos trapped in a supply cupboard. Then its revealed that Tom was face to face with a figment of his imagination and he was killing all those people because hes a little loose in his shoes, which frankly is a cheat. Kind of like having Jamie Lee Curtis run away from Michael Myers for an entire movie, then having Donald Pleasance explain she was chasing herself.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
