A killer waxes philosophical in the 1980s slasher dramedy UNMASKED PART 25 on Blu-ray/DVD combo from Vinegar Syndrome.

Although born in London, Jackson (Gregory Cox) was taken away by his mother from his psychopathic father at a young age to America where they lived on a campground. After a freak swimming accident where Jackson "drowned" and was disfigured, he took to killing off camp counselors, spawning a slasher film series. Returning home, Jackson has started questioning the point of all this killing, but that does not stop him from picking off some obnoxious trespassers in the derelict home of his birth where his father (Edward Brayshaw) still lives. Having retired from his own murderous activities, his father has taken to cleaning up after his son and reminiscing about the good old days. While Jackson laments the pointlessness of killing, he thinks little of his humanity until he meets blind beauty Shelly (Fiona Evans) who is not put off by even the his scarred visage he hides behind a hockey mask; rather, she is quite taken with his eloquence in reciting Lord Byron (Jackson having read the books left behind by his unfortunate camp counselor victims) and reveals to his shock that her sweet blind girl façade hides a wild and kinky persona. In spite of the warnings of his father that such a match is not meant to be, Jackson finds himself the gentler partner with Shelly; on the other hand, it is getting increasingly difficult not to kill others, including Shelly's would-be actor friends who are planning a getaway weekend in the countryside.

A slasher film by a Swedish director and a Canadian producer shot in England at a time when that country's horror output was of the likes ranged from the conventional but entertaining SLAUGHTER HIGH to the campy but dull I BOUGHT A VAMPIRE MOTORCYCLE, UNMASKED PART 25 opens with a series of slasher kills – gore effects by Image Animation (HELLRAISER) – including a face-ripping, a FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2/BAY OF BLOOD double impalement, a wire garroting, and an electrifying blowjob alternative before radically shifting in tone. The comedic/dramatic monster and the blind girl story that takes up the bulk of the film might turn off the impatient viewers but Cox and Evans are sympathetic leads who take the relationship seriously even at its silliest, and Cox's features show through the monster make-up rather than obscuring his facial performance or requiring post-dubbing. The "meat" of the film may not be enough for gorehounds to wait for the climactic slice-and-dice setpieces, and the satirical aspects of the film towards the slasher genre might not be that insightful, but UNMASKED PART 25 is a novel genre work from the video boom era.

Released direct-to-video in the United States from Academy Home Entertainment in R-rated and unrated editions, UNMASKED PART 25 had a couple DVD releases overseas but was largely forgotten domestically. Sourced from a 2K scan of the 35mm original camera negative, Vinegar Syndrome's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen Blu-ray transfer – bearing the original title THE HAND OF DEATH – is in keeping with the late eighties neon look of the film with saturated hues in the wardrobe and set decoration while the heightened video resolution brings out detail in Jackson's make-up while also revealing the rough edges of the prosthetic gore. The DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono track sports clear dialogue and effects but the new wave rock score has variable presence. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.