Sweet 16 (1983)

Director:

Jim Sotos

Writer:

Erwin Goldman (writer)

Release Date:

September 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Why are all the boys dying to meet Melissa?

Plot:

A beautiful lonely girl named Melissa tries to make new friends from a town she's currently living in...

Plot Keywords:

Boyfriend | Serial Boy Killer | Archive | Investigation | Teenage Girl

Cast

Bo Hopkins	...	Sheriff Dan Burke
Susan Strasberg	...	Joanne Morgan
Patrick Macnee	...	Dr. John Morgan
Don Stroud	...	Billy Franklin
Dana Kimmell	...	Marci Burke
Don Shanks	...	Jason Longshadow
Aleisa Shirley	...	Melissa Morgan
Steve Antin	...	Hank Burke
Sharon Farrell	...	Kathy Hopkins
Logan Clarke	...	Jimmy
Michael Pataki	...	George Martin
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Greyfeather
Larry Storch	...	Earl
Michael Cutt	...	Frank
Glenn Withrow	...	Johnny Franklin
Tony Perfit	...	Tommy Jackson
Sandy Charles	...	Lab Technician
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tim Cutt	...	Deputy
Art Roberts	...	Angry guy in town meeting (uncredited)

Directed by
Jim Sotos

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Erwin Goldman		writer

Produced by
Sandy Charles	....	associate producer
Jim Gillespie	....	producer
Martin Perfit	....	executive producer
Jim Sotos	....	producer

Original Music by
Tommy Vig

Cinematography by
James L. Carter

Film Editing by
Drake Silliman

Makeup Department
Jim Gillespie	....	makeup artist

Art Department
Ed Callahan	....	assistant property master
Douglas McDonald	....	property master

Camera and Electrical Department
Roberto A. Quezada	....	gaffer

Other crew
Mark DeFrain	....	production assistant

Distributors

• Century International (1983) (USA) (theatrical)
• Code Red DVD (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• BCI Eclipse (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Best 1 Video (1984) (Belgium) (video)
• M.P.I. Video (1984) (Belgium) (video) (French and Dutch subtitles)
• Vestron Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Sweet Sixteen (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

Australia:90 min | USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Norway:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Norway:16

Trivia:

Patrick Macnee replaced Leslie Nielsen, who was forced to withdraw from the film because of scheduling problem.

Soundtrack:

Melissa's Theme

above-average 80's slasher, now on DVD!

Just for the record, the Code Red DVD contains the original theatrical version, plus the director's cut. The director's cut, however, is kind of "warts and all", being that it was pieced together from various source materials & "is not up to the usual quality" of Code Red, but still, it's watchable. To be honest, I haven't seen the film in so long that I couldn't tell you what's in the director's cut that's not in the "theatrical release" without watching that again.

The story is that of a small Texas town, where people seem to be dying horribly & mysteriously, mostly cut up. Just new to town are an archaeologist (Patrick Macnee), his wife Joanne, and lovely, over-developed, 15-year old Melissa. And is seems as though all this bloodshed has only happened since they've arrived.

There are some local Indians, though, that are blamed for what's going on, and one, Greyfeather, seems to have run afoul of the town's racist rednecks, although the man has never done anything wrong. And Jason Longshadow, nephew of Greyfeather, is a suspect in the killings.

So who is really responsible? Melissa seems to get around a lot, in many ways too. At her 16th birthday bash, things get out of hand and eventually the culprit is revealed.

Also features Bo Hopkins as the sheriff (does he ever play any other roles?). Not that this is necessarily a good thing but he's at least tolerable here.

A decent, above-average 80's slasher that manages to rise above the usual clichés associated with the genre. Not bad, in fact. 7 out of 10.