The Redeemer: Son of Satan read in the description like one of the many "in between" type of proto-slashers that I have a growing interest in. This movie came out the same year as Halloween, technically premiering before Halloween, and so therefore I'm going to go ahead and say it's "not a copycat", nor does it feel like it. Therefore we're forced to accept this as another "before Halloween" slasher flick.
It is however, very different from your usual slasher. It's holding onto the slower and funkier feeling of the 70's, it's genre fits a lot more into the murder mystery type than films like Halloween and Texas Chainsaw. This is a murder mystery, thriller, and then horror would be far down the list. Anyways, once you get past the genre discussion, it's pretty basic.
The plot to this is an old stand by. No, this isn't "let's go camping by the lake" this is "invite a bunch of people to a house and lock them in, start killing". If you're planning to get a bunch of people that you plan to kill in one spot, simply write them out an invitation, or promise them money, or make it seem like they "inherited the house" and then get them all there, lock those doors, and brandish your firearms as you please! Yes, we've seen this before, but it's not done badly here.
Here we have what is boiling down to an incredibly average probably 2.5-3 star movie. The deaths are fine. The actors, except for some horrendous overacting on the part of the main villain, are pretty okay. One of the actresses in this, Jeannetta Arnette even went on to act for a long time, and is still around! Wow! Something to write home about! The villain, or "Redeemer" is horrendously played by "usually uncredited actor" T.G. Finkbinder. No wonder the guy is normally uncredited.
Some minor complaints: At several parts, when Redeemer guy is being all evil and overacting, he appears to have another guy with him who's in on it. They are seen in the same shot: it's Redeemer guy and then his buddy who's dressed up as a clown. Clown guy moved and all. Fine. There's two killers, sure. However, later on in the film, clown completely disappears and is never mentioned, and then in the end when plot is revealed, motive established etc, clown doesn't reeeaaaallly fit in? Hm. Yeah it's minor. Also, several of the deaths like especially drowning a girl in a bathroom sink that just happened to randomly be full...? There was barely any water in there.
The director and most of the actors have nothing else on their resume. This movie is on several "bad" lists, it's also on several "great" lists. People do hail it as a proto-slasher, which I'd agree with. It's got the classic body counts and the deaths are a lot more of that style. The main characters are thin and bland, the killer being more the star. The end is fine, it dabbles in surrealism and all, which is cool and I miss movies during that. In the end, like I said, it's a very "middle of the road" film.
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