Kieran Green A divorced mother, Catherine Hicks her young son A Christmas Story's Peter Billingsley and her new boyfriend American Graffiti's Matt Clark. set out on a road trip through Death Valley and run afoul of a local serial killer, Stephen McHattie co-stars who is as usual intense, a post John Carpenter's 'The Thing' Wilford Brimley shows up as the sheriff investigating the gruesome goings on,the gore is badly done in this one! it looks akin to bright red poster paint! one of the highlights is the scene with the greedy babysitter who gets her just desserts!Death Valley s a great sounding premise, but sadly it runs out of steam and it is let down by an all to abrupt ending,

gwnightscream This 1982 horror film stars Paul Le Mat, Catherine Hicks, Peter Billingsley, Stephen McHattie, Wilford Brimley and Edward Herrmann. This begins in New York where we meet young boy, Billy (Billingsley) and his father, Paul (Herrmann) who is divorced from Billy's mother, Sally (Hicks). Soon, Billy travels to Death Valley, California to spend time with her and get to know her boyfriend, Mike (Le Mat). McHattie (Beverly Hills Cop III) plays serial killer, Hal who soon terrorizes them and Brimley (The Thing) plays the Sheriff. This isn't bad, Billingsley (A Christmas Story) is great in it and McHattie is a good villain.

acidburn-10 This was one of the many slashers that kinda came and went during the 1980's. Not one of the remembered ones though and not quite a classic though, but still a decent movie.The storyline is different from the usual fodder instead of featuring a group of thirty year old teenagers, we get a young boy named Billy who goes to visit his mother and stepfather and the three of them decide to take a little holiday to the infamous "Death Valley" where Billy stumbles upon a crime scene and then becomes the target of a serial killer, who then starts to stalk him."Death Valley" really does have a decent story line and interesting characters allowing us time to get to know each of them, but it does lack in the actual slashing department, but it's actually more story driven than most and the killer was actually quite menacing, he wears no mask or anything and no motive which makes things even more creepier. But the pacing of this movie doesn't quite pick up speed and it does get rather tiresome at times, but the scene where the boy is being stalked does keep you at the edge of your seat and creates tension and the twist at the end was pretty decent and came to a total surprise.The acting was really good which is kind of rare for an 80's slasher movie. Peter Billingsley was spot on as the young Billy he was really good. Catherine Hicks was also a real highlight in this movie as well and who I recognize from the first Chucky movie, nice to see her in another horror movie. Paul Lemat was also decent as the stepfather as well and Stephen McHattie who played the creepy serial killer was menacing and really decent also.All in all a decent enough movie, not much in the blood or gore department but still worth a look if you're into forgotten movies.

slayrrr666 "Death Valley" is a really underwhelming slasher film with a few things going for it.**SPOILERS**Getting a divorce, Hal, (Stephen McHattie) talks his son Billy, (Peter Billingsley) into going with ex-wife Sally, (Catherine Hicks) while she goes to California. Meeting with old friend Mike, (Paul Le Mat) upon arriving, they decide to visit Death Valley together. As they spend more and more time together, upsetting him more, they start to believe that a serial killer is loose in the area after a series of accidents along the way. The local Sheriff, (Wilford Brimley) feels that a notorious madman is still loose and offers them safety in a nearby Wild West novelty town. Taking a while to realize that the killer has followed them back to their hotel and has targeted them, they race to save him and stop the murderer before it's too late.The Good News: There wasn't a whole lot here that actually worked. One of the few things it does do right is it's stalking scenes. They're wonderfully done, have an appreciable length, and at times are actually suspenseful. It's hard to pick which one's are the best, as there's lots of good ones. The big one in the hotel could be one, as there's a lot of interaction between the killer and intended victim that leads to a couple really nice confrontations between the two. A romp through a museum of Wild West memorabilia isn't that bad, and it also manages to really get in some unknown confrontations with the two early on than most. The most suspenseful is a pretty eerie walk-through of a supposed abandoned motor-home, that just has all sorts of vibes and atmosphere running through it. There's also a really big finale that is quite nice to see. A lot of action, all the pieces to the puzzle fall into place for every opportunity, and a lot happens that manages to really entertain to a big point. This is also when it goes into full overdrive and manages to showcase all it's slasher elements, including it's several confrontations and put in some really nice stalking scenes into the mix along with a couple of great confrontations and fights. These here are all the movie has in it's favor.The Bad News: This here doesn't have a whole lot wrong, but they are major flaws. The biggest one is the sheer minuscule body count. It's almost not even right to consider this a slasher as there's nearly no slashing going on. There's a half-dozen deaths in here, several are off-screen and never found out what happened, one is run over in a car, and the others are so cliché and uninteresting that they don't deserve mentioning. These methods really decry the fact that this is a slasher film with pretty much easy picking. Another really big flaw is the really slow pace on hand. This takes forever to get going, spending most of the early going concentrating on the developing romance between the friends and how the son reacts to them. It's almost from out of another film entirely and doesn't really seem to be indicative of a slasher at all, as there's almost forty-five minutes until the first kill takes place on-screen, and with it's puny death-count, that leaves a lot of boredom in the early sections of the film. The other really big flaw is that this offers up no motivation for anything that happens. We never know why the killer is going on the rampage, what the reason is or why the targets where selected. They were simply out-of-contact with everyone around and there were no witnesses around, leaving only a state of confusion as to why they were inflicted. All these reasons drag the film down considerably.The Final Verdict: This one isn't all that spectacular a slasher film, and by most standards is hard pressed to be called as such. Really only recommended to the curious or the most die-hard fanatic, while more casual ones can skip this and get requirements elsewhere.Rated R: Violence, Language and children in danger