So much average

Great Film overall

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Captivating movie !

Even though it came out over a decade later, "Offerings" is a generic, but decent little low-rent, shot-on-video slasher offering which resembles the influential John Carpenter slasher "Halloween". It might be a blatant rip-off; from it's music score, camera positioning, set-pieces, suburbia setting and silent, unstoppable killer. I expected much worse and came away rather enjoying (even if it was for a good laugh), but nonetheless it was efficiently executed for such a trim, low-scale production.A young, slightly disturb boy John Radley accidentally falls down a well, which was caused by some bullying. Ten year later we find out he's hospitalised in a coma state, after killing his mother and bearing the bump on his head from the fall. One night he suddenly awakes, goes back to his hometown and kills those who bullied him. While the only girl that was nice to him, he leaves special gifts for Gretchen (one involves a pizza topping).The threadbare plot is twisted with its psychotic angle (as there are some unpleasant, if not particularly graphic deaths), but some plot details are rather vague, mainly between the time he falls in the well and when it moves to the present time when he's in the coma. Then it moves to the set-pieces, where the body count rises and some random, offbeat inclusions (a humorous interaction between the town sheriff and prevent kid) find their way in. Got to say the sheriff is rather slow off the blocks to putting the pieces together. Radley is the typical Myer's clone (robust, deformed and silent) and even the way they use him in shots has you thinking of "Halloween"… don't forget the heavy breathing. Some atmospheric moments, are mainly broken up by its ominously cheap jolts and tatty, but minor blood splatter. The acting might be somewhat lousy, but Loretta Leigh Bowman was capable enough in lead.Imitatively cheesy, but its copy and paste simplicity amusingly works.

Mute kid Johnny and his friend Gretchen are taunted by some kids and he accidentally falls down a well. Insert "Ten Years Later" title card. The grown Johnny escapes from a mental institution (he was there for killing and eating his mother, apparently a result of the brain damage he suffered from the fall) and heads back to his hometown to get revenge on the kids who tormented him. Totally bad news as the grown Gretchen (Loretta Leigh Bowman) and Kacy (Elizabeth Greene) are, like, totally having a sleepover. Ohmygawd! On the case are Sheriff Chisum (G. Michael Smith) and Prof. Sam Loomis, er, Jim Paxton (Jerry Brewer).I love me some 80s slashers but this one always eluded me. I'm disappointed after finally seeing it because I had seen it before - under the title HALLOWEEN! Seriously, this rips off so much of John Carpenter's classic that I was surprised it didn't say "a Rob Zombie film" in the opening credits. Everything from Carpenter's film is in here from the heavy breathing guy standing behind trees to the boarded up killer's house (where someone apparently still does the lawn). Hell, the musical score IS Carpenter's work but played at a different tempo. The only major difference is the girls in this speak in a Valley Girl tone. I guess the fad finally hit Oklahoma, where this was lensed, in the late 80s. Director Christopher Reynolds cameos in a hospital scene as a doctor. He also delivers the film's most memorable lines: "The one you need to look out for is Mr. Franks. Every time he craps, he thinks he is having an abortion. Man, he sure has had some ugly kids."

Much of this movie from a genre perspective is slow and un-propelled. The killer is utterly dull as well. But there are incidental sections of it that are worthwhile. There are some fun perverse little moments such as a female feeding her friend dog food or a pizza with human meat. Also a section with the two females watching a horror movie by themselves and commenting on how the female in the movie acts. It predates Scream (1996) and indeed the movie more or less devolves into a parody of itself. There is also a lot of black humour in the dialogue and some of the killings are creative. If the pace had been different this could have been a lot more fun and memorable. Note: the trailer appears to have shots of an alternate version of the last killing.

Movie viewers who like to watch low-budget horrors with a talentless unknown cast, this is right up your alley.The only thing I liked about this film, was that redheaded kid the fat sheriff caught looking at girly-mags, who teased the obese officer saying his name was Ben Dover, which the sheriff never got.The plot centers around a shy child, with a terrible home life(his mother happily incorporates cigarette ashes in his breakfast) who is tormented and later pushed down a well by kids his age. Years pass and our shy kid is now a disfigured freakshow determined to get revenge.The title Offerings was used because of the killer leaving body parts on his only friends doorstep, much in the way a cat does when devouring a mouse.