Rish Outfield's reviews
I had heard Hitchcock-like praises about this film, so I rented it the first time I saw it.
A group of attractive young people (including future Bond-girl and "That 70's Show" star, Tanya Roberts) have a jeep breakdown out in the middle of nowhere. And after the three girls go skinny dipping (I know), hey, here comes Chuck Connors! It turns out that his brother used to make amazingly lifelike mannequins, before he went away, that is. But when the girls can't leave well-enough alone, they find out the truth . . . the hard way.
It was indeed scary, featuring that least-holy of man's creations, the department store mannequin. The story was good, the dialogue clever, and the basic premise very nice. Unfortunately, it moves very slowly, and as a PG-rated film, it had neither the skin nor the gore to keep me interested between scary moments. Odd, since the cover seemed to be touting it as a T&A slasher movie. The ending (by that, I mean the last four seconds of the film) was really great, offering a glimpse of how I'd react if I ever found myself in a dark room with ONE motionless mannequin, let alone a dozen, laughing ones.
It was pretty good, but frankly, it was nothing I'll remember much in the coming year. Unless I happen to catch Kim Cattrall and Andrew McCarthy in Mannequin while clicking through the channels.
I'd Recommend It To: It's well worth a watch if you track down a copy. Not great, really, but a couple moments were.

The tyranist's thoughts
We've known about this one for a while, but have put it off. This is really odd when you think about how much Rish and I like Full Moon Pictures and their output. Made in the '70s by basically the same crew that would go on to found Full Moon, this one is an early slasher that comes from an interesting cross-breeding of Psycho , House of Wax and a little bit of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for good measure.
One thing is for sure, those Full Moon folks don't like dolls. This is full of doll imagery even though the dolls are life size mannequins and wax dummies. Something about inanimate human shapes is terrifying to them. Personally, I've seen much creepier dolls that were a lot smaller.
The story takes place at an isolated theme park that is pretty much a self-described tourist trap. There is a waterfall and pool area in which all the young ladies go skinny-dipping even though we never see so much as a bare butt. Not even Tanya Roberts'.
There seems to be a following for this movie, but I couldn't explain why. For me the movie was unsatisfying, predictable and a little bit dull. I did find the killer's mask to be creepy, but not the kind of thing that I would run from in the night. Unless of course, he was also holding an axe.