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‘Sledgehammer’ consistently baffling and compulsively watchable

Genre movies from the early 80s were characterized by two distinct cultural events. First off, there was a glut of slasher films trying to capitalize on the success of Halloween and Friday the 13th. A lot of these copycat movies found a home in the burgeoning home video market, theatrical run be damned. That same VHS technology was now available to the layperson, allowing them to basically shoot and cut their own movie with tapes you could buy at a Radio Shack. This confluence of newly-available tech, a thriving home video market, and a collective cinematic bloodlust was the perfect storm that bore Sledgehammer, a compulsively weird Friday the 13th rip-off shot on VHS for next to nothing, and for good or ill, does nothing to camouflage it.

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