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The Killer's Motivations (And The Tragedy?) * SPOILERS WARNING!! *

posted 17 years ago by Squonkamatic
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Don't read any further if you have not seen this movie and wish to have the ending be a surprise!

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OK, I have been dissecting this film over the past couple of days after re-discovering it on a slasher binge and am intrigued enough by what I can't figure out to puzzle over some of the details. I also think we're missing a scene on the home video releases that might explain the jumbling.

I understand that the Coach (Neil with his green sweater and matching slacks: very cool threads, Yo!) turns out to be the killer at the end -- but what IS his motivation?? I understand that his mom was one of the town whores and he was sent off to Chicago, but why the murder binge when he comes back? He starts hacking up the kids even before the softball game at the beginning (the two kids on the motorbike who's bodies oddly float down the river for the next 2 days without ever leaving the town limits). Is the house the partiers take refuge in what used to be the whorehouse where he lived? It's a separate issue but it seems like the flashback he has right at the ending is taking place in the same room and when he remembers the prostitutes/strippers parading by him it seems that they are walking across the porch of the same house: Is that correct?

There is also the subplot of the death of the sherrif's son. If I understood the dialog correctly, Ramona and the sherrif's son were both riding in a car that Casey -- the seemingly retarded guy who loves trains -- was driving four years before, and for whatever reason there was an accident and the sherrif's son killed & Casey reduced to a childlike mental state. But did that have anything to do with the Coach? He and Ramona seem to at least know each other ... at least they are never introduced during the film until she comes knocking on his shower door and he knows she's a slut who will sleep with anyone. And what about Lilly's mom? Was she one of the prostitutes also? How does she fit into it, or is that a red herring with Lilly just sort of randomly there at the wrong moments? I was even getting a kind of vibe that she and the Coach may have had the same father, or at least whoever their fathers were may have just as well been the same person.

Also, I have a feeling that there was something cut in the scene where the sherrif goes into Neil's garage on the Virgin Vision VHS I have: Letters are written on the windsheild in blood, then something (presumably someone's head, most likely Casey's, though it raises the question of why he was lurking around in the Coach's garage: did he have some reason to be there other than to just be killed?) falls on the car. There is an abrupt shift back to the partiers by the river with Sandy the blonde being killed, but then the next time we see the sherrif is when he appears at the abandoned house at the very end. I can dig the presumption on his part that Neil is killing people, but how did sherrif know to go to the abandoned house to find him? That's why I am wondering if it's the old whorehouse: The sheffif turns up just in time to blow the Coach's head off, plug him a few more times for good measure, then when asked "Why?" replies "I don't know." Does that mean this spree killer had NO motive and the sherrif really super lucky in figuring out he'd be stalking people at the abandoned house? Is there something missing that ties it all together, or did I just miss some tad of Southern Gothic somewhere?

I've watched it three times and can't figure this out unless something is missing -- it's a better story than I first gave it credit for when commenting on it in the main pages here, though it's still a rather unimaginative film with a couple of inspired touches (like the bodies floating in the river), raintsorms that suddenly stop on cue and the most suspiciously convenient appearance of a law enforcement officer in recent memory.

[–] anawesomemoviefanatic 17 years ago

I'm glad there's someone out there who has thought about this film as much as me!

I too think this film is confusing and has a lot of plot holes, but I still like it. I'm sure there are scenes missing, and it would be great if they brought it out on DVD, restored and remastered. I think if they had fixed some of the problems this would be a minor classic, right up there with some of the other popular slashers from the eighties. However, it has been blasted pretty much into obscurity. We need to start lobbying for a nice DVD transfer!

Your analysis is very interesting, and you have a lot of details in here I never thought of before, so that was very cool to read. I would like to find the answers to some of these questions, though, haha.

[–] drhackenstine 17 years ago

Holy crap, the original poster completley dissected the plot holes and came up with some good answers to the questions that have kept me scratching my head for the last 14 years over this film. There is no doubt in my mind that footage of this film was cut for whatever reason. The story that unwraps through the movie adds up to nothing in the end, but it's obvious there was something shot there. I really like this, one of my favorite slasher flicks, but what the hell was going on. I always thought that scene here that bloody object falls on the sheriff in the garage was cut. Someone out there has answers.

[–] kbtoys100 16 years ago

yeah, im pretty sure that most of the death scenes up until it seemed the last 15 or so minutes were cut.

and while all of the original posters stuff sounds pretty good and makes sense i doubt if all that thought went into the film although it is possible since the version ive seen is sloppily edited and is probably cut.

and i love how when the sheriff opens the door to the trash thing when the killer falls into it he shoots him with his little pistol and THE GUYS HEAD EXPLODES! haha then he continues to shoot him unconvincingly

[–] DesperateHouseboy 10 years ago

Yeah ive seen this a few times now, and still dont get it. Its like they were trying to give the killer a motive, but then at the end dropped it and decided he didnt have one.

[–] steve45251-678-430565 10 years ago

You may have forgotten all about this post, but here is what I've been able to determine:
* The Coach is the killer and his motivation is sex=death; he was the little boy in the flashbacks, and, as the other posters have mentioned, the "House of Death" was the local brothel where his mother was, um, was "employed". He even makes that odd comment about his mother to Ramona (after rejecting her advances). He also rejected the advances of the girl at the carnival (the one who ends up with the arrow in the neck). But, he did like Lily, maybe because she seemed to just give up on even trying to find a relationship and did not find her a sexual threat (???).
* The scene in the garage: VERY poor editing, but, it seems that Coach goes to investigate the noise (and the basketball falling down from overhead). I believe this was Casey in the garage, trying to return the stolen baseball equipment (he feels guilty after his mother advises him that taking things that belong to others is the same as hurting them). This scene is supposed to leave the viewer with the impression that Coach was murdered but again it is very poorly edited.
* The scene in the garage (with the Sheriff): the Sheriff knows his son idolizes the Coach, so when Casey goes missing, the Sheriff investigates the places that Casey is more than likely to go. The Sheriff discovers a body, we the audience do not realize it (we are supposed to believe it was the Coach), but the Sheriff has just discovered his son has been murdered, which I guess explains why the Sheriff had NO problems blowing the head off the Coach in the finale. No due process for the Coach!

The Killer's Motivations (And The Tragedy?) *** SPOILERS WARNING!! ***

The Killer's Motivations (And The Tragedy?) * SPOILERS WARNING!! *