31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 23: DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE 1980 (MILL CREEK)

A wonderful exploitation film from 1980.

The great Nicholas Worth stars as Kirk Smith, a very disturbed Vietnam vet who terrorizes Los Angeles with a series of brutal killings.

He also taunts a local radio psychologist played by Flo Lawrence with his killings and is always one step ahead of a detective investigating the case (James Westmoreland).

Smith poses as a photographer in order to catch beautiful women in his trap. The film has an unfair reputation for being misogynistic and as of late that term has come to mean nothing anyway. The film is no different than hundreds of other horror films, except that it is far better than most of it's kind.

The performances in this film help elevate it above the others and Worth is always great in anything he is in. The version I saw on the 10 disc set from Mill Creek was totally uncut. It actually comes from the Media Home Entertainment VHS print. The old DVD from Rhino had all the nudity and violence cut out, which is crazy.

I highly recommend this "Don't" film and think any horror fan should see it. The film was the only effort by one time director Robert Hammer, but it's a memorable one. And don't listen to all the negative stuff about misogyny and bad acting. It's well worth a look.