Frank discovers his wife, Elaine, and best friend, Vic, having an affair. After a struggle, the two lovers leave an unconscious Frank in a burning cabin. Five years later, three newlywed couples visit Honeymoon Island to celebrate wedded bliss. What the happy couples and new owners, Elaine and Vic, don’t realize is a crispy hatchet killer is lurking in the woods.
Director Harry Preston tries to create a slasher with deep woods atmosphere and suspense. The first few kills and last third of the movie are filled with campy slasher fun. Unfortunately, there’s a thirty minute dead space in the middle of the film. A few killer POV shots are sprinkled into long scenes of characters talking.
The cast resembles refugees from a 70’s porno. Even the background music sounds like it was recycled from old skin flicks. The actors aren’t bad considering this is an ultra low-budget slasher, but the two owners are loathsome characters. The viewer wants to see these two hateful characters die horrible deaths, but the killer picks off the more likable characters first.
Kill scenes are mostly blood free, however, it does feature an arm amputation and hatchet to the cranium. When the actress gets whacked in the skull, she falls into a chair and her wig nearly slides off. In an odd twist on the slasher formula, the men spend more time topless than the ladies. Love scenes never progress beyond heavy kissing.
Fans of deep wood slashers and campground slaughters should give Honeymoon Horror a look. Yes, the middle of the film is slow, but the film still has a low budget charm. Surprisingly, the killer never attacks any of the newlywed husbands. One wonders if screenwriters L.L. Carney and Deanne Kelly were inspired by bad honeymoons or bad marriages.