acidburn-10 "Nightmare Beach a.k.a Welcome To Spring Break" is an interesting addition to the 80's slasher genre in many ways, firstly the beginning where we have a guy executed for the murder of a local girl, then swearing revenge that he'll return to punish everyone involved, is certainly interesting. Then shortly after a leather glad biker is randomly picking off youngsters on spring break by mainly electrocution, is certainly quite different to the usual stalk and slash deaths of this decade and could have offered something fresh and original, but it doesn't and rather quickly becomes standard and by numbers, which isn't a bad thing but it does border on bland at times.But given the fact that this movie was done by an Italian director, who is known for over the top kills and thrills, and adding in sleaze, this movie doesn't really have any of that. Instead it seems rather unfocused and there are just too many sub plots that don't go anywhere and the deaths of random characters that aren't very memorable in the first place to care about. The first half of the film is very underwhelming and light on momentum, and by the time the gore rolls in is a saving grace and the mystery element does work, as there are a few suspects to choose from and some of the deaths are quite nasty and inventive, but the endless scenes of college kids getting drunk just isn't interesting enough and gets tiresome rather quickly.It's always nice to see a familiar face in these movies though and that is John Saxon who does give an interesting and menacing turn as the local policeman, but seems rather bored at times and going through the motions, but despite all that he does give by far the best turn, but his earlier work is far better (Black Christmas, A Nightmare On Elm Street & Tenebre). But the same cannot be said of the two main leads Nicolas De Toth who's about as fun as a wet fish and very wooden and Sarah Buxton who's very beautiful but shows no range.All in all "Nightmare Beach" comes nowhere near to becoming a slasher classic, but it's still okay and it does have some tense moments that make it better than the usual late 80's slasher movie.

Michael_Elliott Welcome to Spring Break (1988) * (out of 4) Notorious Italian director Umberto Lenzi traveled to America to make this slasher film, which is one of the worst out there. A biker gets sent to the electric chair but he swears he was framed by a local cop (John Saxon). The biker screams he will return for vengeance and after his death it just happens to be spring break. Soon a maniac on a motorcycle starts electrocuting kids to death. Has the biker returned from the dead? Who cares? Lenzi wasn't the only Italian director to travel to America to try and cash in on the slasher craze. Both this and Ruggero Deodato's Body Count are among the worst of the slasher period because it seems neither director knew what made this films so special. Both directors, known for their violence and gore, took all of that out of their films and we're left with boring movies without anything going for them. The murders here are all poorly done and the characters are obnoxious and it's impossible to care for them. The mystery surrounding the killer isn't of any interests either. Both Saxon and Michael Parks are wasted in their worthless roles.

Woodyanders Hey, you ever have one of those nights when you couldn't decide if you wanted to see either a terminally brainless T&A laden "Porky's" on the beach sex'n'booze lowbrow comedy or a comparably vacuous seaside mystery horror slasher pic? Well, you can actually see 'em both in one gloriously junky 90 minute sitting thanks to this crackerjack handy-dandy combo hybrid of the above-cited sub-genres. An enigmatic psycho biker dude whose face is obscured by a dark visor electrocutes a sizable volume of fun-loving, hooch-sodden, hormone-crazed hedonistic collegiate chowderheads partying their sun-tanned butts off during Easter vacation in Miami Beach, Florida. The murders totally baffle the local cops, who in time-honored B-pic tradition wish to keep the whole thing hush-hush so the resort town can still milk mucho money from the addle-pated twenty-something tourists. So, it's up to the token serious, self-disciplined nice college guy (amiable Nicholas De Toth, who makes for a refreshingly earnest and unmacho reluctant protagonist) and a sweet barmaid gal (winningly played by the incredibly cute ultra-honey Sarah Buxton) to find out who the true culprit is on their own. Done with the right amount of energy and competence to qualify as a perfectly acceptable and enjoyable serving of "screw intelligence and just give me the lowdown trashy horror exploitation flick goods" Saturday night schlock, this engagingly drecky beaut proves to be a whole lot of top-notch dopey fun. Director Umberto Lenzi, working from a slim, yet serviceable script by Larry Kirkpatrick (who also wrote the equally dumb, but satisfying "Primal Rage" for Lenzi), keeps the proceedings lively and eventful by tossing in a rowdy gang of hog-ridin' hellions called the Demons (!), a bunch of thrashing' heavy metal tunes roaring' away on the soundtrack (the theme song "Don't Break My Heart" by Kristen really smokes), a few wet t-shirt contests, several grisly murder set pieces (Alessandro Rambaldi did the great, gruesome gore f/x), a throbbing' rock score by Goblin's Claidio Simonetti, crude condom gags, plenty of attractive babes in skimpy bikinis, a "Jaws"-style "let's keep this homicide stuff quiet 'cause it's bad for business" cover-up conspiracy sub-plot, more idiotic horny toad college revelers than you can shake an empty beer can at, and even a little gratuitous female nudity. The stand-out supporting cast adds greatly to the overall sleazy merriment: John Saxon lends his usual sturdy, hard-nosed, imposing presence as a mean, hectoring, buzz-crushing police captain with a kinky S&M bondage fetish for chains, leather and dog collars, Lance LeGault gruffs it up nicely as a stern hell-and-brimstone preacher, and Michael Parks makes the most out of a miner part as a fidgety, alcoholic coroner. Okay, it sure ain't no work of immaculate art, but "Welcome to Spring Break" definitely does the trick as a pleasingly upfront and undemanding timewaster.

drhackenstine Actually, no, this is not Porky's 4. The clichéd title (Welcome To Spring Break) makes this sound like an '80's T&A teen comedy, but it's not. A biker is juiced in the electric chair and soon the teens on Miami Beach on spring break start dying, at the hands of a maniac riding a motorbike and wearing a helmet to hide his/her identity (Night School?). The villain(s) do become apparent at the 45 minute mark, and after a while the mystery killer story basically becomes secondary to all the other sub-plots. Slasher fans should look elsewhere. Mystery fans would be more at home watching one of those Perry Mason TV movies. Fans of '80's B-movies might enjoy this on a viewing, but otherwise it's useless. The slasher story set up it offers for a while is hampered with a dim-witted killing spree of useless characters, offed with electricity, which defeats the whole purpose of this being a slasher movie. The mystery angle the movie offers is supported with horrible characters and a story that goes nowhere. The movie has average production values, but scenes of real spring break action which is shown frequently is distracting, and the beach the thing takes place on is always cloudy. A waste of time. '80's B-movie fans might wanna look once. One And A Half Stars.