Death Valley (1981)

Director: Dick Richards

Starring: Paul Le Mat, Catherine Hicks, Peter Billingsley, Stephen McHattie, Wilford Brimley

A divorced mother, her young son and her new boyfriend set out on a road trip through Death Valley and run afoul of a local serial killer.

Young Billy’s parents split up, and Billy (Peter Billingsley) goes on vacation to his mom Sally (Catherine Hicks), who lives in Arizona. Billy isn’t too fond of her new boyfriend, Mike, who takes them on a road trip through Death Valley. Whilst exploring, Billy stumbles upon an RV, where minutes before brutal murders took place. Unaware of this, Billy finds a gold frog medallion, and is interrupted by Mike just before opening a door to where the bodies are.

When at a restaurant, Billy notices the waiter Hal wearing the same medallion, and Hal notices the pendant in Billy’s hands, immediately setting up Hal as a suspect. Later, the same RV is found wrecked, with the police investigating. Billy tells the Sheriff (Wilford Brimley) about his find, and that Hal was wearing the same pendant.

When the Sheriff investigates, Hal realizes Billy was responsible for the information, and now he is after Billy. Filled with suspense, action and adventure, ‘Death Valley’ was a nice surprise in the 80’s horror genre. The performances – especially Peter Billingsley – were very good and the film also dishes up a nail-biting climax and an interesting twist. This certainly was a nice find!

Would I watch it again? Yes.