Sweet Sixteen (1983)
Directed by Jim Sotos
Ok this is another case of a movie, that I tried to watch before and gave up on. This time around I saw the whole thing, and it was better than I remembered. That seems to be a theme lately, I guess.
Sweet Sixteen is about a small town, next to an Indian reservation that starts having random murders occur. The sheriff is trying to find out who the killer is and stop them before it gets out of hand. He has two kids, a son named Hank and a daughter named Marci, whom is played by Dana Kimmell of Friday the 13th Part 3 fame. The plot isn’t anything new but it is intriguing trying to figure out who the killer is, and sift out the red herrings.
The kills are nothing spectacular, its all stabbings with a knife, not really shown in great detail. This is really more of a mystery movie than a slasher. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t entertaining, because it is. The acting is pretty good, the sherriff is played by Bo Hopkins and he’s always a welcome sight. Dana Kimmell is as beautiful and charming as always and the girl that plays Melissa, the new girl in town is solid as well.
Trying to figure out the killer, for me was relatively easy, and I’m not typically good at this kind of stuff. Spoiler alert! It was Melissa’s mom, Joanne, a woman that grew up in the town and came back with her archeologist husband to dig on the indian land. There is a twist though, she’s not really Joanne, she’s Tricia, her persumed deceased sister. In reality, Joanne died and Tricia took her identity. Then at the end Melissa is shown with a knife, so who knows? The end wasn’t that great.
If you enjoy slasher movies, especially ones that build plot and character, then you’ll likely enjoy this. For whatever reason I thought Wes Craven made this, not sure where I got that idea haha. I did have a good time with this movie, but it is flawed for sure. I ended up falling on a B for Sweet Sixteen.
