DVD review: Blood Tracks (1985)

A blood bath of terrifying violence is unleashed when a group of rock musicians and their film crew venture deep into the snowy mountains to shoot scenes for their latest video. After a  series of avalanches the group is left stranded and are forced to take refuge in a remote mountain cabin. The crew decide on a nearby disused power station, as the next shooting location, but soon discover that they are not alone as they and the group fall into the clutches of the feral family that inhabit the power station. Fearing that their territory and existence is being threatened they unleash a bloody reign of terror upon their unsuspecting victims. Blood Tracks is written by Anna Wolf and Mats Helge Olsson who also is the director under the pseudonym of “Mike Jackson". The acting is pretty dreadfull but I´ll be honest and admit that I wasn´t expecting much. The dialogue is pretty bad. The camerawork and editing is pretty good. There is some use of avalanche stock footage. It´s a pretty dark movie, large portions take parts during night or in a large derelict factory. Some might think this is a bad thing but in my opinion it is a positive thing as some of the gore might not looks perfect and darkness certainly is more creepy than having everything shown in daylight. There are a few elaborate booby traps in the movie, lets just say that they do the job. The music from Easy Action who portray the rock musicians is pretty bad and feels dated (it´s very 1980s) but it´s a matter of taste. There is quite a bit of T & A in this, topless nudity from several of the actresses and it´s quite evident that Mats Helge Olsson obviously was aware of what is expected of a genre-flick as he besides nudity brings on bucket of blood and gore. The bodycount is pretty high, the make-up fx´s are all practical, we get gory impalments, throats getting chunks of flesh ripped from it, ripping out someone eye with your teeth and much more. Several kills happens on screen which is sure to delight the gorehounds. Please note that the new Studio S Entertainment release is a full uncut version version.
Blood Tracks is also known as Heavy Metal and Shocking Heavy Metal.
This review is based upon the Swedish region 2 DVD release from Studio S Entertainment.
Rating: 5½ out of 7. I enjoyed this but I do have to confess that I have a soft spot for Mats Helge Olssons independent features (I highly recommend the ultraviolent The Ninja Mission), it´s a swedish take on The Hills Have Eyes and it tries to pass itself off as American. Recommended to fans of the slasher genre.

/JL