Trapped (1982)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
TRAPPED takes a look at a group of mountain men and their "laws." Henry Chatwill (Henry Silva) catches a welfare worker sleeping with his wife so he decides justice is to tar and feather the man. It doesn't stop here because he then kills the man not realizing that there are four college students in the woods who witnessed it. Now Henry must talk his people into tracking down the witnesses and killing them.
After the huge success of DELIVERANCE we got all sorts of "hicksploitation" pictures where we went into the woods and learned about these back country people. TRAPPED, also known as BAKER COUNTY, U.S.A. is another in the long line of films that attempt to show us what mountain people do for their justice. There are a lot of good moments throughout the film but at the same time there are quite a few flaws. With that being said, the amount of nudity makes it an exploitation dream.
I must say that director William Fruet managed to fit a lot of stuff into this 95-minute movie. I say that because there was a point where I thought the film was nearing the end and was somewhat shocked to see that there was still another half hour to go. The first fifty-minutes of the movie features the type of sleaze and redneck violence that you'd expect and it does keep you entertained. I thought the film had a very good set-up and the locations were another major plus. The problem with the film is the rating bad timing and the fact that the rather weak story gets dragged out quite a bit.
With that being said, there are still a lot of good things about the picture including the performances. I thought the entire cast were quite good in their roles but of course it's Silva who stands out as the redneck leader who is a tad bit on the crazy side. As I previously said, the locations used are another major bonus as it does make for a nice atmosphere. If you like nudity then there's plenty of full frontal ladies on display and the style of violence here is quite interesting to say the least. Including the tar and fearthering!
TRAPPED has a lot of flaws to it but if you're a fan of "hicksploitation" genre then it's worth checking out.
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