KILLER WORKOUT (1987)

KILLER WORKOUT (1987)

Tagline: If you have guts...He Wants Them!

(Horror, Mystery, A Rake in The Leg Is but A Flesh Wound) [R]

I suppose you don’t remember being found in the same room with 2 dead men?

In this one, Rhonda Johnson is the co-owner of an aerobics gym called “Rhonda’s Workout” in L.A. She is very strict with her workers but has a growing business. Unfortunately, a killer is on the loose and they have a giant freakin safety pin, so you had better watch your back. One by one people are showing up dead at the gym. Can Lieutenant Morgan get to the bottom of what is going on before the next KILLER WORKOUT?   

First off, I don’t care what anyone says, I would never trust a tanning bed. That’s it, you can’t talk me into it, so stay out of the comments with that nonsense. This movie is about what would happen if an 80’s slasher driving a car full of body bags crashed into Raquel Welch workout video. It’s not nearly as nuts as DEATH SPA which came out a few years later, but it’s still pretty crazy and we also got a lot of really interesting and weird moments. 

This movie is probably why most companies require 2 closers. Curtis and two random chicks go to Rhonda’s Workout in the middle of the night to spray paint it “aerobicide” and “death spa” in the middle of the night. That is the last place I would be in the middle of the night if they know murders are going on there. Geez Curtis, what is the matter with you?

Acting-wise we get Marcia Karr who plays Rhonda and this wasn’t her first rodeo. She also starred in SAVAGE STREETS with Linda Blair, THE NIGHT STALKER, and MANIAC COP and does a better-than-average job in this. David Campbell (SACRECROWS) does a solid job in this as Lieutenant Morgan. Having said that it feels like this role was really written for Tom Atkins (NIGHT OF THE CREEPS). Dianne Copeland plays Debbie in this and is also “just okay” in the scenes she gets. She was only an actress for 2 years, but also appeared in the cult classic SURF NAZIS MUST DIE. Teresa Van der Woude plays Jaimy and gets a bit more screen time than most. She was only acting for 4 years total but did appear in 3 episodes of General Hospital, so there’s that. The rest of the cast is average.

Apparently in the 80’s it was still totally fine to contaminate crime scenes by using your bare hands to pick up evidence. It’s insane to me that anyone would still be working out at this place if they knew there were just dead bodies all over the place. A lot of times during the day. Cinematically and from the director of photography’s chair this thing is all over the place. There is a scene where they just get done having a really serious conversation and the camera pans over to a cop just sitting on the stairs drinking coffee. I just busted out laughing.

The score is pretty bad in some scenes, but the soundtrack is sometimes pretty funny. The lyrics in one of the songs are actually “You gotta work out at the workout “. What the cow?

Overall this is a pretty decent B-movie horror flick with a twist. It looks like they tried to set up a series, but that never materialized. There is just enough wonky stuff in this to make it a fun, but entertaining horror flick. This is probably one of those Halloween-Horror-O-Thon movies you pick only if you are purposely going for cheese. 

KILLER WORKOUT gets a 4 out of 7. I liked it better than DEATH SPA. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF SHAPIRO ENTERTAINMENT AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.