This was only Bogdanovich's second film, and it's great -- a genre-bender, combining parallel plots concerning Karloff as an aging horror movie star, ready for retirement and disillusioned with the direction of his career, and Tim O'Kelly as an unassuming Vietnam vet and gun nut who murders his family and then goes on a killing spree. The two stories collide at a drive-in theater where Karloff is making his final appearance and O'Kelly is sniping innocent victims as they watch the film from their cars.
Karloff, as always, is great, and it is especially interesting to see him in such a seemingly autobiographical role. I imagine the real Karloff probably wasn't quite as bitter and fed up as his character is here, but I'm sure he had a lot more fun playing this interesting twist on his persona than the usual ghoul of the week that most Corman productions called for.
O'Kelly's performance is appropriately understated and what is most interesting about his portion of the plot is how timely it seems -- his deadly sniper character was based on a few incidents in the news at the time, most notably the University of Texas sniper, Charles Whitman. Still, it's probably even more timely today than it was back then, what with crazed gunmen seeming to strike at least once every couple months in public places these days.
At first glance it might seem strange to combine these 2 stories, but it is an interesting juxtaposition, putting the classing "monster" Karloff at odds with the present-day monster, a cold-blooded, seemingly motivationless killer.
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