Originally known as Muskie Madness, Troma insisted the title change to Blood Hook before they'd distribute it.

Probably the most interesting thing about the movie is that its director Jim Mallon and lyricist/key group Kevin Murphy worked on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Murphy is, of course, Tom Servo.

Years ago, Peter's grandfather went missing under mysterious circumstances. Now, he's brought his friends back to the lake house for the Muskie Madness competition. Soon, people are getting killed and Peter is facing off with a killer that has a gigantic fishing hook.

You can get this from - who else - Vinegar Syndrome, who have really cornered the market on upscale releases of movies that I was once laughed at for renting in 1987. This version was never released and has all of the uncut gore that you were probably hankering for.

BLOOD HOOK is a low budget and low effort slasher film shot in Wisconsin, of all places. The original title was MUSKIE MADNESS, but given that I and few other viewers are likely to know what a muskie is, Troma picked up the film and released it with the more generic slasher title BLOOD HOOK.

And this is definitely a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) type of movie. It's about a mystery killer who butchers people with a giant fish hook, pulling them into the water where they subsequently drown. It has a little Friday the 13th vibe going on, although most of the time it's cheesily inept rather than effective; the acting is very poor and the bog standard direction not much better.

It's also a relatively bloodless movie given the title, with a couple of notable exceptions towards the end. The first is a bit involving a hook through someone's mouth which has some excellent effects; the second is a close-up shot of some bloated corpses coming out of the water which is cheap and yet oddly gross and stomach-turning. BLOOD HOOK can hardly be considered a low budget gem - it's of the same quality as something comparable like MEMORIAL VALLEY MASSACRE - but slasher fans might get a kick or two out of it.

A crazed killer goes on a bloodthirsty spree during an annual muskie fishing contest in a quiet small lakeside rural community. Director Jim Mallon offers a flavorsome evocation of the quaint Wisconsin backwoods setting and the various eccentric locals who populate the region, generates some real tension in the last third, ably crafts an engaging tongue-in-cheek tone (the scenes with the maniac using a huge hook and fishing rod to literally reel in his victims are simply hysterical),and delivers a few nice bits of gore. The idiosyncratic script by Larry Edgarton and John Galligan milk the muskie madness event for all its worth, with the colorful oddball characters and often outrageous dialogue providing a wealth of gut-busting goofy humor. Moreover, the game no-name cast have a ball with the wacky material: Mark Jacobs makes for a likable reluctant hero as the troubled Peter, Don Winters does well as amiable storekeeper Leroy, and Paul Drake really cranks it up with rip-snorting panache as the ill-tempered Wayne, plus there are sturdy contributions from Patrick Danz as obnoxious hipster Rodney, Christopher Whiting as the grumpy Finner, Bill Lowrie as wacko Vietnam veteran Evelyn, Sandy Meuwissen as friendly hostess Bev D., Dale Dunham as arrogant champion fisherman Denny, and Paul Heckman as the no-nonsense sheriff. Kudos are also in order for Marsha Kahm's bright cinematography and the nifty hum'n'shiver synthesizer score by Thomas A. Naunas. Good campy fun.