Deadly Blessing 81'

Deadly Blessing 81' Ernest Borgnine, Sharon Stone. After Wes Craven's Success of The Hills Have Eyes and Last House on the Left and before the height of his Nightmare on Elm St days, he helmed this multi-faceted, Isolated supernatural slasher, set in an Amish-type setting.

 A young pregnant Martha Schmidt(Maren Jensen) loses her husband in a farming accident, attempts to stay on the farm with the help of her friends Vicki and Lana (starring a young voluptuous Sharon stone and Susan Buckner). Vicki suffers her own hell after being trapped in the barn and battles nightmares of a spider and Lana tries seducing a curious Hittite, who was the brother Hittite turned wordly John Schmidt. The Hittites (as quoted from the film "Makes the Amish look like swingers") continue to torment these three woman with threats of vandalism and planting typical scares for the genre helmed by the screen captivating Michael Berryman, until they decide to fight back and arm themselves.

 The films third act transcends into the supernatural, and delivers more frightening tension than an average slasher with a sleep walking psychic, ghostly visitation and one hell of a shoot out that was not scene in Craven's films until this one. The ending rings a bell for exploitation fans of Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Borgnine's strong performance as the overbearing rule enforcing elder brings strength to the story, and his harsh way of dishing out punishment to even shunning his own people. A surprising 8/10. If you are a Craven completist or are tired of the regular late 70's early 80's slasher fair, this will be a breath of fresh air.