"Targets" is Erratic but Sharply Satirical and Shockingly Violent

There are two very different stories taking place in Targets. At times they feel like two different ideas for films sutured together haphazardly. But there's a gambit being played that pays off in the film's amazing final act set at a drive-in move theater. The two stories, one of Hollywood insiders attempting to escape or survive the industry and the other of a mild manner man (Tim O'Kelly) who snaps and goes on a killing spree, slowly start to comment on one another. The first story of a Hollywood writer (Peter Bogdanavich -- who wrote and directed the film, in his directorial debut) attempting to convince an aging star Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff with a character name that recalls Nosferatu) to back his script for a new horror movie is all about how the old-school horror of Frankenstein and Dracula (that Boris Karloff helped launch) is going the way of the dodo. The second story is the new horror in action. This new horror story is described by Byron early on as he reads a newspaper article describing the murder of children; a new age of terrors begs for a new type of horror to critique the new horrors of the day.

Bogdanavich slips in this social commentary into a brisk, bitingly sardonic film. Though it's shaky and loose in places, the satire is sharp and funny (and even frighteningly clear sighted) and the dovetailed ending is super intense and a fantastic statement of the film's themes.

Grade: B