Today’s entry in the 31 Days of Slashers series is The Mutilator (1984), also known as Fall Break. This fun slasher focuses on a group of college students staying at a beach house to enjoy their (you guessed it) fall break. Ed (Matt Mitler) has been asked by his father, Big Ed, to close up the family condo in North Carolina. Naturally, Ed’s friends are excited to spend some time at the beach and with each other. Unbeknownst to them, Ed accidentally killed his mother while cleaning one of Big Ed’s guns as a child. Could Big Ed be looking for revenge over the death of his wife after all this time?

The Mutilator offers a fun and occasionally cheesy trip to the beach with Ed and his friends, including a theme song called “Fall Break” that plays as the students drive to their destination. Buddy Cooper and John S. Douglass’ film features several death sequences that stick to the theme of the beach, involving pools, boat motors, fishing gaffs, and more. While not the most innovative in terms of contributions to the slasher sub-genre, The Mutilator remains an enjoyable and entertaining watch that you won’t regret adding it to your films to watch this month.

The fact that Ed accidentally killed his mother when he was a child adds a layer of trauma that most slasher film protagonists don’t necessarily have to contend with. This makes Ed a sympathetic lead while also greatly complicating his character’s backstory. The Mutilator also differs from the majority of slasher films of the time in that it has a Final Boy lead instead of the traditional Final Girl figure. It also incorporates more disturbing death sequences than some of the less aggressive slashers. Forcing Ed to deal with the trauma of his youth and confront his father’s hatred of him serves as a very intriguing narrative in what could have easily just been a cookie cutter slasher with a bland masked killer. Knowing the motive behind the murders adds a small dose of reality to the mix that is definitely missing from films with unstoppable killing forces (Jason, Michael, etc.).

While perhaps not a horror masterpiece, The Mutilator stands as a fun and campy, but also disturbing, slasher film that is definitely one to seek out this month. What’s not to love about a slasher film with its own theme song? And just look at all of those taxidermy animals on the wall of the beach house. There’s just something great about a slasher film set at the beach.

The Mutilator can be streamed for free on TUBI, and also streams with a membership on the Arrow Player app. It can be rented from Amazon, Google Play, and Youtube. You can buy the Arrow blu-ray which features a great restoration and excellent special features HERE.

I’ll see you tomorrow with another entry in the 31 Days of Slashers series.