I’ll give schlock filmmaker David A. Prior (Deadly Prey) some credit – he sure knew how to deliver a memorably weird ending. I’m not entirely sure if it was by intention or, more likely, by complete accident. Whatever the delirious methods were, events almost never seem to resolve themselves the way you’d expect in the majority of his flicks. Rational resolutions are not in this filmmaker’s forte.
The plot of the cheeseball slasher effort Killer Workout revolves around a maniac terrorizing the members of Rhonda’s Gym, much to the mild annoyance of co-owner Rhonda Johnson (Marcia Karr). Well, maybe terrorizing isn’t the right expression. In fact, characters seem to take little notice of the multiple, daily murders happening right before them. Clearly, the regulars must be so addicted to working out at their health spa that they can’t stay away from the locale, even if it means certain death.
So the customers keep arriving and continue to be slaughtered, via a giant safety pin. At least Rhonda has detective Morgan (David Campbell) on the case. Actually, that may be an incorrect assumption, as his less-than-heroic actions inadvertently cause at least one character to be murdered later in the movie. Make that, it’s good that Rhonda’s business partner has sent Chuck Dawson (Ted Prior) to get a handle on things. Wait a minute, he isn’t any more competent than Morgan, starting needless altercations at the drop of a hat.
Frankly, a plot synopsis is useless. At the end of the day, seemingly random things happen and then people end up getting murdered. In fact, much of this movie contains lengthy workout montages to badly dated 80s synth dance tunes. One of the numbers is even to a tune called “Aerobicide”, which informs the students that they’re going to work out until they die… or are killed. No exactly an appropriate music selection given the events occurring around them, but those present don’t seem to care (either in front of or behind the camera).
As you can imagine, this movie seemingly knows just how ridiculous it is. It exists solely to be enjoyed and made fun as part of a pizza-and-beer “bad movie night” by buzzed friends. And just like Prior’s Deadly Prey from the same year, the action is awkwardly staged, the dialogue embarrassing (delivered by many of the same cast members as in Prey) and the acting laughable right through to its comically bizarre climax.
As a result, it has also become something of a cult item. It is sporadically amusing in its terribleness even if it never quite reaches the unintentionally awful heights of Prior’s previously reviewed action flick. In fact, this is a rare slasher in which the murders are the least interesting aspect of the movie. But if you’re a fan of bad cinema and other titles by David A. Prior, you’ll likely want to pick up this title too.
Just as with Deadly Prey, the Blu-ray image is the result of a transfer from a PAL Betamax tape source. It’s extremely fuzzy in sections, which means you should expect a less-than-stellar picture from a less-than-exceptional product. But again, the tape was the only source available. That means that this is better than watching a VHS tape, which is about as good as the movie is ever going to look. And of course, it adds to the whole trashy movie experience. Viewers will also be able to enjoy a couple of bonuses in the form of a photo gallery, alternate credits sequence and trailer.
Killer Workout is exactly the type of movie you’d expect given the title. It’s bad, but those who are looking to inflict cinematic punishment upon themselves will definitely want to pick it up and dance to it weird rhythms.