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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 25th, 2025.
Director: David Wellington
Cast: Wings Hauser, Lynne Adams, Pierre Lenoir
Year: 1988
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The Carpenter – Movie Review:
Even by the admittedly low standards of the slasher film, The Carpenter is goofy. Not just in premise, mind you, but in execution as well. Goofy, however, can also be fun which is absolutely the case with this low budget horror film directed by Dave Wellington in 1988.
The movie introduces us to Alice (Lynne Adams), a meek blonde housewife who has her share of mental problems though since getting out of the hospital she's none too keen on taking her medication, despite the insistence of her husband, Martin (Pierre Lenoir). What was she locked up in the first place though? Well, she discovered that Martin, a professor, was screwing around with one of his students behind her back and so she took her favorite pair of scissors and cut up his favorite suit into a few hundred little pieces! Regardless, she's out of the nuthouse now and both Martin and her doctor agree that maybe relocating to a more relaxed environment might do poor old Alice some good.
Before you know it, Martin's whisked his waif of a wife off to an old house in the middle of nowhere that is, as the saying goes, a bit of a fixer upper. The house has a bit of a strange history to it though, you see according to the mini-donut munching sheriff (Ron Lea), the reason the house is in shambles is because it was never finished and the reason that it was never finished was because the guy who built it went into debt very quickly and wound up getting hounded by bill collectors who he murdered right there on the premises. At any rate, Martin has hired a work crew to pick up where the crazy guy who was put to death for his crimes left off. Once the settle in, Martin goes back to his philandering ways and Alice, after getting hit on by one of the work men, starts to pay visits to an odd carpenter (Wings Hauser) who seems to be working away in the basement at all hours of the night. The more she sees this guy, the more they start to like each other and wouldn't you know, anyone who starts doing Alice wrong winds up murdered by power tools! Is Alice finally off her rocker for good or is the ghost of the man who tried to build the house still haunting this place years later?
So yeah, this is, as stated earlier, all pretty goofy stuff (but goofy in all the right ways). Alice is locked up for wrecking a suit in retaliation for her husband screwing around on her? Seems pretty extreme, doesn't it? And a spectral carpenter turns out to be her knight in shining armor, defending her honor by cutting the arms off of would-be rapists with his saw or taking out a guy with a power drill? It's all rather nonsensical and put together with such a bizarre lack of editing skill that it almost becomes sort of transcendental in its own surreal way. Front and center in all of this is Wings Hauser. Delivering his lines with a soft and gentlemanly southern accent and appearing nothing but ever so kind towards Alice, he’s not in the least bit frightening here but he is, and here's that word again, definitely goofy (again, in all the right ways).
The film has a few kill scenes involving those aforementioned power tools but don't go into this one expecting a gore fest, you'll walk away disappointed. No, see this because it's a movie that features a killer ghost carpenter, a woman whose worst crime is cutting up a suit, and because it features a sheriff who pops in the movie for the sole purpose of explaining the history of the house and to eat as many donuts as he can in as short a time as possible only to completely disappear from the film all together once his mission is accomplished.
The Carpenter – Blu-ray Review:
Vinegar Syndrome brings The Carpenter to Blu-ray in an AVC encoded high-definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen "newly scanned & restored in 2K from a 35mm release print." Before the feature starts, this disclaimer is displayed:
"The Carpenter is presented in its fully uncut original version, restored from the sole known and believed surviving film element, a 35mm release print. Unfortunately, this print suffered severe censorship, with several gorier moments having been spliced out. A D2 master, the best available video copy of the unedited version, has been used to fill in the missing sections."
The quality of the transfer is, generally speaking, quite good but you will, understandably, notice a drop in quality when the video-sourced inserts are used. Overall, however, this is a film-like presentation that looks quite a bit nicer than the older DVD edition, boasting much better depth and detail. It might not ever reach reference quality, but the image is stable, the colors look good and black levels are solid. The picture is softer than a transfer from a pre-print element would have offered up, but fans of the film will appreciate the upgrade in quality this disc offers.
The only audio option for the disc is a 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo mix in the film’s native English with optional subtitles provided in English only. Sound quality is on par with the video quality, in that it isn’t going to blow you away, but it sounds fine. Dialogue is always easy to understand and follow and the track is properly balanced throughout the duration of the film.
Extras start off with a commentary track with director David Wellington and writer Doug Taylor, moderated by Brand Henderson, that offers up a whole lot of great information on the making of the movie. They talk about how green they were when they first started this film, working with the cast and crew, why the movie was made in Canada, how quick the film's production schedule was, how there was a lot of learning by doing on set, the main house set used in the movie, some of the more charming elements of the story, why some of the visuals were setup the way they are on screen, the film's debut and distribution, the use of humor in the movie, being comfortable enough with the cast to "trust them and let them go," some of the themes that run through the movie and loads more.
A second commentary features William Morris and John Dickson of The Oscarbate Film Collective and Podcast that dissects the movie with a sense of humor. It goes over the strength of the opening sequence in the film, if the movie really is a slasher film or not and how this movie ties into the genre, thoughts on key scenes in the film as well as the performances, the possible influence of Lucio Fulci on the movie, how the film compares to movies like My Bloody Valentine and other slasher films, the state of the film industry in the eighties, thoughts on the different characters in the movie and other details about the movie and its effectiveness.
Aggressively Itself is a thirty-three-minute making-of documentary featuring interviews with the cast and crew. Featured here are writer Doug Taylor, director David Wellington, producer Jack Bravman, and actors Wings Hauser, Lynne Adams, Ron Lea and Richard Jutras, Anthony Ulc. They cover the state of the horror film, industry in the mid-eighties when the movie was made, the booming exploitation and B-movie business in Montreal, how the various participants broke into film, trying to do something within the slasher genre, where some of the ideas came from, the film's quick production schedule, thoughts on the different characters in the movie, casting the movie and the importance of getting Wings Hauser for the movie, memories from the set, the film's distribution history and legacy and more.
Tools To Play With is an eight-minute interview with actor Wings Hauser where he speaks about his experiences on the movie, talking about how "joyful" the movie is. He talks about where his career was during the making of this movie, shooting in Montreal after running into issues with immigration on the Canadian side, how young everyone else on the set was, thoughts on his character, how he feels about the movie and key scenes his character appeared in and how much he appreciates the fact that his work from decades back is still appreciated it.
This release also comes with some double-sided cover art and, if purchased from the Vinegar Syndrome website, with a limited edition spot gloss slipcover designed by JJ Harrison and limited to 5,000 units. Double-sided cover art is also provided.
The Carpenter – The Final Word:
More than anything else, The Carpenter is goofy…in all the right ways. It's not scary, it's not even particularly tense, but it’s really and truly enjoyably goofy and delivered with a strong sense of twisted comedy. If you're into goofy horror movies, check this one out, as it's entertaining enough but don't expect strong gore, much in the way of tension or a plot that winds up making a whole lot of sense. Vinegar Syndrome gets full marks for making it looks and sound quite good and for throwing in a nice selection of extra features as well. Casually recommended for slasher fans and highly recommended for Wings Hauser devotees.