The Carpenter, released on Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome, looks like a generic 80s slasher film at first glance. My initial reaction based on the opening in a mental asylum was that this is a comedy. There are strange things in the background that made me chuckle or raise my eyebrows. For example, as the main character (Alice) is being discharged, there is an elderly woman in the background standing in the lobby holding her neck and covered in blood. No one is reacting to her or acknowledging her, including her elderly husband standing right beside her. The plot centers around a woman newly released from an institution and her husband takes her to a country house to recover. The house is in need of some renovations and a crew is hired. However, one of the crew is not what he seems…Soon after, some members of the scummy renovation crew are killed off with a variety of tools. Simultaneously, the husband is having an affair behind his crazy wife’s back.
Given that the main character is established to have mental issues, I was wondering how much of the hilariously horrific events were real or due to an unreliable narrator. A carpenter keeps showing up whenever the wife needs help and makes a quip before removing her problem, usually with a power tool. The wife and the murderous carpenter react to blood and bodies with such indifference that it gives their scenes an almost dreamlike quality, like they are in a different reality than everyone else. Is the carpenter a protective ghost or is he a delusion created by the mind of a woman defending herself?
The film has two different audio commentaries. One is with the director and the writer. This commentary reveals the pretensions of the minds behind the film, but they don’t come across as smug or stuck-up. They just seem like enthusiastic guys with a deep knowledge of film. The other commentary is with a pair of podcast host. While they praise the film and do an analysis on its merits, hearing it from a third party does not have the same impact as hearing it from the cast and crew. There is also an option to play the film with the original soundtrack.
The picture quality is inconsistent. Some of the scenes are much sharper than others (a 2k scan from a 35mm negative), but the grainy scenes are not that prevalent. The explanation for this was apparently that the goriest scenes were cut for the U.S. market and when the scenes were put back in, the only available footage was from lower quality sources (a VHS tape).
There are a few special features to add more run time to a pretty short movie. The making of documentary is 33 minutes long. I found out that the movie had a shooting schedule of less than three weeks and a very low budget. There were few reshoots because of that. In a more frightening story, the stunt coordinator had to set himself on fire and it was his first time performing a fire stunt. Everyone involved was extremely nervous but luckily the stunt went well. The other extra is a seven-minute interview with Wings Hauser, the actor that played the titular character. He was a prolific character actor mainly known for playing action heroes. His son is Cole Hauser, famous for the role of Rip on the television show Yellowstone. Finally, the case comes with a reversible cover with entertaining paintings of Hauser looking insane.
The movie is not a serious slasher. It has far too much goofiness, but that does not mean it’s boring or bad. It’s quirky and extremely entertaining. The chemistry between the wife and the carpenter as they navigate the rising body count is reason enough to buy this release. If you want something vintage that breaks out of the slasher mold, this is the film.
