Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Spiker (2007)

After opening credits with a way too happy theme song, serial killer Spiker escapes from the police while being transferred by ferry to an island asylum.  News reports state he's died since he was shot by the cops while jumping into the water and didn't surface.

Cut to a group of teens who head out to party at the old Shaw place.  Lisa is a descendant of the Shaw's, but no one has stayed in the house for years.  Once at the home, they find a creepy caretaker and a grave in the back yard.

The mention of Spiker, who killed twenty seven people in town, freaks out Lisa and also makes her unnerved at being at the house.  I kept expecting some back story as to why no one should ever  mention Spiker around her, but it's never revealed.  Yes, it does turn out there is a connection between Spiker and the Shaws, but Lisa didn't know about it until later in the film.

Spiker, whose name is derived from his use of railroad spikes to kill his victims, mysteriously surfaces from the water.  It seems like railroad spikes wouldn't be an easy thing to run across as I don't think I've ever seen them just lying around.  Luckily Spiker rises from the water right where a workman is repairing a railroad trestle.  It's never clear what is going on with Spiker or how he survived.  Though he looks kind of spooky, he might just be an albino.

The most ridiculous scene is the one that leads to Spikers escape.  While on the ferry, he is shackled to a metal pole.  When he fakes a Grand Mal Seizure, one of the policemen insists on releasing him.  It wouldn't be good to hit him with a defibrillator paddle since he was attached to a metal pole.  However their alternate plan is to lay him down on the deck of the ferry which is obviously metal.  Yikes!

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