Woodyanders Review of Splatter: The Architects of Fear

Splatter: The Architects of Fear (1986 Video)

Enterttaining crock doc

[8/10 · 16 March 2016]

The pseudo documentary purports to be about the making of a low-budget post-nuke sci-fi/action opus with a tribe of fierce Amazon women battling rot-faced mutants, but it's actually nothing more than a shameless excuse to showcase several elaborate gore set pieces, with a generous sprinkling of tasty gratuitous female nudity tossed in for trashy good measure. Said gore includes a machete in the head, an icepick piercing an eye, a juicy throat slicing, a gruesome dismemberment, and, best of all, an exploding head that's caused by strenuous sex (don't ask). Director Peter Rowe maintains a zippy pace and a lighthearted tone throughout. The staging and shooting of all the gore gags are depicted in fascinatingly meticulous detail. Alas, Paul James Sanders as bumbling comic relief dimwit Fang proves to be more annoying than amusing, but fortunately he ultimately receives a suitably nasty comeuppance at the end. Allan Kane's spirited and syncopated synthesizer score keeps things bouncing along. Chris Britton's plummy narration rattles off a lot of pretentious film school level howlers. A real goofy hoot.