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Unhinged (1982 film)
Directed by Don Gronquist
Produced by Don Gronquist
Written by Don Gronquist
Reagan Ramsey
Starring Laurel Munson
Janet Penner
Music by Jon Newton
Cinematography Richard Blakeslee
Editing by Phillips Blair
Foster Castleman
Release date(s) 1982
Running time 79 min
Country United States
Language English
Unhinged is a 1982 low budget American slasher film directed by Don Gronquist. It was filmed on location at the Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon. Because of violence and nudity, the film was banned in the UK until 2002.
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SynopsisThree teenage girls are going to a jazz concert, but wreck their car. They end up in an old mansion owned by an old woman, and her spinster daughter, Marion. Soon after, the girls are being brutally murdered one-by-one by a scythe-wielding maniac.
Plot- summaryThe film opens to three college girls, shy Terry, who cannot escape her overbearing mother, Nancy, the pretty wild girl, and Gloria, the quiet awkward blonde, all getting ready to leave for a jazz concert. After Terry unsuccessfully tells her mother about the trip, the trio of friends leave, driving through the pretty wilderness that surrounds their little town. A thunderstorm begins to appear, when Nancy, speeding down the road, runs over a log, plummeting the car into a steep ravine. Terry awakes to find her and her friends alive, but sheltered in an old mansion in the middle of nowhere, owned by the Penrose's, Marion and her mother, and their groundskeeper/doctor friend, Norman. Gloria is the only one with serious injuries, so Marion suggests that they spend the night until Gloria is able to leave with them. Terry and Nancy are then invited to dinner, with Marion and her old, crippled mother, who berates Marion at every chance she gets, calling her a slut and a whore. Mrs. Penrose then goes off on a tirade on how men are the worst things on earth, especially her ex-husband who cheated on her, and ruins dinner for everyone. The four then make their way to the living room and listen to Marion play the piano, while outside, a dirtied, grubby man appears, roaming around and looking menacingly into the windows.
That night, Terry and Nancy begin to discuss how weird the family is at the house, and Terry finds a tooth under her bed. Nancy then decides that one of them should go through the woods into town and get help, and flips a coin, finding that she's the one who has to do it. Later that night, Terry awakes to hear a man breathing heavily upstairs, as though he's masturbating, and wakes Nancy, but the breathing stops. The next morning, Terry and Nancy take a shower, while someone watches through a peep hole in the wall. Then the two tell Marion of their plan, and Marion says it's a good idea, telling Terry to go get firewood. Nancy then sets off through the woods, while Terry is frightened away from the shed out back by Marion, who tells her it's full of loose timbers. Nancy, makes it through the thick forest, only to be gorily slashed to death by a figure with a long scythe. That night, Terry finds that Nancy has not returned and becomes worried, but Mrs. Penrose and Marion assure she's probably okay, as once again, dinner is ruined by Mrs. Penrose's views on men and her daughter. That night, Terry once again hears the breathing, and goes to see who it is, finding an abandoned little kids room with black and white pictures of two little kids, and an old tool belt with a dusty gun and machete. She goes back downstairs, only to see the dirty, grubby man outside her window, and runs screaming down the stairs into Marion's arms. Marion then calms her down and tells her that the man is Carl, her brother who has the mind of a five year old, and who their mother abandoned when she gave up on men. She insists that he is harmless, and Terry goes back to bed.
The next day, Terry is once again worried about where Nancy is, and Marion assures her that she's probably in town right then. Terry then goes up to see Gloria, who has become conscious now, and the two begin to discuss on ways to get out of the house, while the same person watches through another peep hole in the wall. Terry then goes outside to talk to Norman, and asks if he's seen Nancy, telling him that she went through the woods, only to have Norman freak out and warn her about a couple of girls disappearing in the woods around there. Night comes, and someone sneaks into Gloria's room and splits her head open with an axe. Terry goes upstairs and finds Gloria's room empty, and asks Marion where she is, Marion tells her she may have gone outside for a breath of fresh air, so Terry goes outside. She calls for Gloria, and is then chased by Carl. After hiding in the shed, Terry finds the dead bodies of her friends along with several other dismembered corpses. Carl breaks through the window and tries to grab her, but she fights back and runs back to the house. After running back to the house and upstairs into the kid's room she takes out the dusty gun and shoots Carl in the head, while Marion comes running up screaming. When Marion questions her frantically about killing her brother, Terry tells her to go look in the shed to which Marion tells her (in a deep, masculine voice) that Carl had nothing to do with what happened in the shed. Terry looks at Marion in shock as Marion pulls out the machete. She realizes that Marion is actually Mrs. Penrose's other son after glimpsing his chest hair. Marion brutally hacks a screaming Terry to death with the machete as he raves about having to pretend to be a girl, having to take care of Carl, and of how he had to kill all of the girls in the scary deep voice. Once Terry is dead, Mrs. Penrose calls for Marion downstairs asking if they had a man up there. Marion, covered in blood, denies being with a man in the feminine voice.
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