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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

31 Days of Halloween 2013 - Day 8

Killer Workout (aka Aerobicide)
1987
David A. Prior

A woman (Marcia Karr) is seemingly burned to death in a horrific tanning bed accident. Several years later, a gym comes under the management of her twin sister, Rhonda (Marcia Karr) and someone begins killing off exercise enthusiasts with an oversized safety pin to the neck. A crabby detective (David James Campbell) is put on the case. Recently hired employee/gym rat Chuck (Ted Prior) also seems to be taking an interest in the murders, but to what ends only he can say. Can the safety pin murderer be brought to justice before business is ruined?

Killer Workout is a camp masterpiece. When the camera isn’t salivating over sweaty women in spandex, or ridiculous action sequences like a rake fight, it’s delivering some decent stalk and slash moments. This is of course assuming you can overlook the silliness of the murder weapon (I guess this film is technically more of a poker than slasher). Killer Workout benefits from having a lot going on, if not necessarily making sense. Aside from the central mystery of the killer, we have two separate investigations, a dream sequence, and some inner-employee squabbling, all of which manages to entertain. The secret star of the movie is a wonderfully upbeat synthesizer score which underpins every exercise montage and nearly every moment (scary or not) of film. Ted and David Prior have produced a number of low budget wonders, most notably Sledgehammer (1983) and Deadly Prey (1987). Killer Workout easily stands among their very best.

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