Sweet Sixteen (1983 film)

Sweet Sixteen
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jim Sotos
Written by	Erwin Goldman
Produced by	Jim Sotos
Starring	Bo Hopkins Susan Strasberg Don Stroud Dana Kimmell Glenn Withrow
Cinematography	James L. Carter
Edited by	Drake Silliman
Music by	Ray Ellis Tommy Vig
Production companies	Sweet Sixteen Productions Productions Two
Distributed by	Century International
Release date	August 5, 1983 (1983-08-05)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Sweet Sixteen is a 1983 American slasher film directed by Jim Sotos and starring Bo Hopkins, Susan Strasberg, Dana Kimmell, and Patrick Macnee.

Plot[]

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Melissa Morgan is new in town and meets Hank Burke and Johnny Franklin outside of a bar. Johnny invites Melissa for a ride in his truck and leaves Hank to walk home. Melissa and Johnny make out in a secluded spot, and he scares her by saying the place is an Indian burial ground. She demands that he drive her home.

As they sit in front of her house, Melissa says her family are in town for a couple months because of her father's work on an archeological dig, and her mother is from the area. Melissa's dad, John, catches them and orders Johnny to leave because Melissa's only fifteen. Johnny gets stranded on the side of the road and starts walking when he's stabbed to death by an unseen assailant.

Dan Burke, Hank's dad, who is also the local sheriff, gets a call from Billy Franklin, Johnny's older brother, about Johnny's not having come home last night and about the missing truck. Dan takes Hank and his sister Marci to look for the truck. They find it, without signs of foul play, and Marci finds Johnny's body.

At school, Dan gets permission from Melissa's parents, John and Joanne, to ask her questions. Melissa said she saw a Native American man outside the bar. it is determined that the man is Jason Longshadow, a man hired by John for the dig. Dan and John question Jason, but Jason says nothing happened.

At school, Melissa meets Tommy Jackson, and they make plans to meet behind Earl's bar. While Tommy waits for Melissa, he is stabbed to death by the unseen assailant. Melissa runs into an older Indian man, Greyfeather, and begins to scream when she sees Tommy's dead body. Melissa tells Greyfeather did it, having seen him standing over Tommy's body.

Going to Greyfeather's house to question him, Dan finds that Greyfeather has been hanged. Reports list his death as suicide, but Dan believes Greyfeather was murdered by bigots who'd wanted vigilante justice. After attending a funeral, Marci confronts Melissa about lying and about making accusations towards Greyfeather. Marci apologizes to her, and they become good friends.

At the police station, John tells Dan that he fired Jason for theft because artifacts, including five knives, from the dig have gone missing. Dan goes to question Jason, but Jason is not home, so Dan lets himself in and finds the missing knives hidden in a trunk. Joanne throws Melissa an elaborate sixteenth birthday party and barbecue, which Hank and Marci attend.

Dan checks out the county records of murders with similar MOs but feels something is off and that Jason is not the killer. Dan learns that blood found on one of the knives during a test to see whether the knife was a murder weapon is animal blood. Jason breaks out of jail to confront Jimmy and Billy about Greyfeather's death.

Melissa and Hank go skinny dipping and are watched by Jimmy and Billy. When Jason arrives, Melissa watches Jimmy and Billy subdue him. Afterward, they knock Hank and Melissa out, and the unseen assailant kills the two men.

While Marci looks for Melissa and Hank, one of the dying men grabs her ankle. Dan arrives to find Joanne with Melissa's body and reveals that her Joanne is actually Tricia, Joanne's sister. In a delusion, Tricia believes Melissa is Joanne. Dan grabs Melissa, and Tricia stabs herself in the stomach. Tricia assumed Joanne's identity after Joanne died in the state mental hospital. Tricia, who killed her father to protect Joanne, had a mental breakdown after Joanne died. Tricia believed that, by killing men, she was protecting Joanne. As the party ends, Melissa is in a trance, holding a bloody knife.

Cast[]

Release[]

The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by , opening August 5, 1983 in Detroit, Michigan.^[1]

Home media[]

A director's cut of the film was released on DVD in the United States by Code Red in 2008.^[2] Code Red also issued a limited Blu-ray release in the United States on August 11, 2015.^[3]

Reception[]

In a review for eFilmCritic, Dr. Isaksson^[4] gave the film a positive review with much of his praise going towards the lead performances stating, "Ever like a film just because of the cast involved and the overall set up, no matter how ridiculous? This is my love/hate relationship with 1982's Sweet 16. I am a fan of the underground actor (who has been in a few aboveground movies) Steve Antin, (Jonathan Antin's much more endearing and talented brother). And good lord, I cannot express or explain how much I fancy the slasher ingenue Dana Kimmell. It was the beautiful brunette's co-starring role in this horror film that became the catalyst for her being cast by director Steve Miner for the epic 3D installment of the Jason cut em ups, Friday the 13th Part III. One look at Ms. Kimmell and he knew he had his replacement for Amy Steel. So certainly it comes as no shocker that in Sweet 16 Dana shows off some serious screaming ability and for this film, it was a handy talent. Now, all this being stated, I am not hinting that these above mentioned horror films are really anything more than pure drivel but damn, what a nice looking spot of drool it is."

References[]

External links[]

• Sweet 16 at IMDb
• Sweet Sixteen at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sweet Sixteen at AllMovie