Martin
(Pierre Lenoir) comes home to find his wife Alice (Lynne Adams) cutting up his
suits with a pair of scissors. He does
what any rational man would do in that situation: Sends her to the nuthouse! After the doctors treat her, Alice is
released into Martin’s care and the pair move into an old house. It’s a bit of a fixer upper as there are
workman in and out of the place all day.
However, at night, one lone carpenter (Wings Hauser) works alone in the
basement restoring the home to its original condition. He also brutally murders anyone who messes
with the still mentally fragile Alice. Is
he a figment of her imagination? Or is
he a vengeful spirit from beyond the grave?
The
Carpenter is a surprising, low key, but effective horror film. I hesitate to call it a horror comedy, but
the humor in the film is really well done.
Wings in particular gets plenty of laughs with his off-kilter line
readings.
What
makes his performance so great is that he COULD have went overboard with the
role, chewing the scenery like he did in Vice Squad. Instead, he goes the other way with it,
deftly underplaying the menace of the character. This of course just makes his delivery even
funnier. When he tells someone, “Keep
your hands to yourself” before cutting off their arms with a power saw, you
laugh twice. Once because, it’s a
one-liner even Freddy Krueger would love, and the second because of the
nonchalant way Wings delivers it.
Hauer’s
performance is pretty much the whole show.
For a die-hard Wings fan like me, that was more than enough. Others may walk away feeling it’s a bit
slight and lightweight. I for one liked
The Carpenter. I’d say get HAMMERED and
watch it. You won’t be BOARD. You’ll definitely be glad you SAW it.
AKA: The Nightmare is Reviving.
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