Honeymoon Horror | 1981 | USA | Harry Preston

The only film directed by flamboyantly gay South African writer Harry Preston, Honeymoon Horror is a real obscure treat for slasher fans, mainly for its campy aesthetic and melodrama. After the devious Elaine plots to murder her husband Frank in a fiery accident, Elaine and lover Vic have set up a haven for married couples, repurposing the island property as a post-marriage vacation spot, where three lucky couples have decided to start their matrimonial bliss together. Some spoilsport however is intent on wrecking the honeymoon period, stalking and slashing the females around the property and causing Elaine and Vic to really consider whether they succeeded in offing the husband. While the film suffers for frequent ‘comedy cop’ sequences inserted by another producer, the rest of the film has beefcake husbands, savage bloodletting, double entendres, a dodgy Cockney maid… and male scream queens. Perhaps the killer’s modus operandi of only killing women irked someone in the DPP’s office.