| Bloody Murder | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ralph S. Portillo |
| Written by | John R. Stevenson |
| Starring | Jessica Morris Peter Guillemette Michael Stone Patrick Cavanaugh Christelle Ford Tracy Pacheco |
| Music by | Steve Stern |
| Cinematography | Keith Holland |
| Editing by | Carlos Puente |
| Release date(s) | September 12, 2000 |
| Running time | 82 mins. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Bloody Murder (UK title: Scream Bloody Murder) is a teen slasher film written by John R. Stevenson and directed by Ralpf S. Portillo. It was released on September 12 2000. The film has been highly criticized since its release for being a blatant rip-off of the Friday the 13th series, yet it still has fans stretching from the US to the UK.
A group of teenage friends travel to Camp Placid Pines to be camp counselors for the summer, Julie(Jessica Morris), Dean(Michael Stone), Whitney(Tracy Pacheco), Jason(Justin Martin) and Tobe(Patrick Cavanaugh). Upon arrival, they meet their boss Patrick(Peter Guillemette), another counselor named Drew(Christelle Ford) , who is teamed up as a co-counselor with Julie, and a few other counselors. The teenagers get to work, bringing in food, cleaning, etc. Julie gets a warning from the groundskeeper, Henry, who claims there is danger in these woods. Julie questions Patrick about it, and he brushes it off, saying that Henry is crazy. Late that night, the group sits around a campfire and decide to play a game of "Bloody Murder". One person is "It" and the rest of the group try to find "It" and whoever finds "It" Must scream Bloody Murder and then everyone must run back to base before "It" can tag them. Everyone joins in, with Jason being it, and Jason and Dean play a prank on one of the counselors Brad(Dave Smigelski). After the game, Dean witnesses Jason(who is Julie's boyfriend) making out with Whitney. We later see Jason getting dressed and is confronted by a figure...
The next morning, Julie begins asking her fellow counselors about the whereabouts of Jason. Dean tells Julie that Jason said something about "taking off for a few days", but Julie still grows worried. The following night, the counselors gather in the mess hall for a movie, and Whitney goes to grab some food from the kitchen and is stabbed to death by a man in a hockey mask. The next day, the counselors inform Patrick that Jason and Whitney have gone missing, and they call the Sheriff who interrogates the group. Everyone suspects Dean, because he is Whitney's ex-boyfriend and he has been acting suspiciously. Dean is not provided with an alibi, so he is taken in for questioning. Julie encounters Henry again who tells her about her dad and a name of Nelson. She emails her Dad about it. Brad is killed next by the masked murderer and he goes missing, and Dean is off the hook for now.
Julie gets an email reply from her dad, and he claims he doesn't remember a man named Nelson. Jason is suspected next, considering he had a past with Brad. Julie is attacked by the hockey-masked killer in the woods and she flees to the road, where she meets Dean who is stuck with a flat tire. She hurries back to camp, trying not to act scared, and Dean is killed by the murderer. Back at the camp, Julie finds a photo of her dad at the camp, along with a kid named Nelson Hammond. She searches him, and discovers that Nelson Hammond was almost killed in an accident involving the game "Bloody Murder". He then came back a few years later and killed one of the counselors that caused the prank and was sent to a mental institution. That night, Julie is attacked again by a man and he chases her to the mess hall and she locks him in the freezer. But the man is just Jason, who actually did take off, worried that Dean would tell about him cheating on Julie with Whitney, and he was worried because the police were after him. Jason is taken in by the police.
The body count ups as another counselor, Doug is finished off. Julie's father arrives after hearing about the police, and Drew and Julie's father walk to the lake, as Julie retreats to her cabin to gather some things. There, she deduces the killer is Drew when she sees that Drew's father was Bill Anderson, the man that Nelson Hammond killed for revenge and that Drew is out for revenge. She races to the lake, where she discovers her father missing, and she accuses Drew. But she is proven wrong when the killer appears and attacks them. Drew is knocked out and Julie flees. Julie runs into Patrick, and then Patrick reveals he is the killer. He is really Nelson Hammond and is seeking revenge for his accident that the other counselors caused. He attacks Julie with an axe, and chases her through the woods. She runs to the camp, and the other counselors, the police, Patrick and Julie gather. Patrick tries to make it seem, Julie hit her head and is delusional. But Tobe sees the axe hidden behind his back, and points a gun at him. Patrick swings at Julie, just as a shot rings out, hitting Patrick's arm and it is revealed that Drew fired the shot. Patrick is taken in, Julie's father is safe, and Julie starts having a love interest in Tobe. At the police station, Patrick tells the Sherriff, that he didn't kill Doug, maybe it was Trevor Moorehouse hinting that Trevor is still out there...
Bloody Murder has sold over 600,000 copies on video and DVD in its first year and a sequel titled Bloody Murder 2: Closing Camp was released in 2003. An unrelated sequel titled The Graveyard was released in 2005. The movie takes place at Camp Placid Pines but there is no appearance or mention of the Placid Pines killer Trevor Moorehouse.