Taking its lead from the slasher films of the 70s and 80s, Switchblade Romance follows the desperate struggle for survival that two friends, Marie and Alex, face after a psychokiller attacks the isolated rural home of Alex's parents, leaving a trail of blood and death in his wake. With nods to classics such as Bill Lustig's Maniac, Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre and John Carpenter's Halloween, Switchblade Romance is played without laughs but with plenty of scares, the acting is well above par for the genre, the direction flawless and the score suitably atmospheric. Despite the ending, which can hardly be called pc, revealing gaping holes in the plot, this is a classy and effective horror.