Those of you who have been involved in the genre for any length of time will quickly recognize that this film owes a lot to slasher films of the past. There are hints of Halloween II, Shocker, Visiting Hours and a slew of other classics. What is nice though is that they do manage to take the old and make it somewhat new again.

HEARTSTOPPER tells the tale of Sheriff Berger, wonderfully portrayed by legend Robert Englund, who catches and is present when serial killer Chambers is put to death. The execution goes a bit awry but they manage to fry Chambers enough that he is pronounced dead. On the way to the morgue which is located in the hospital basement the procession is brought to a sudden halt when a young lady who is sitting in the middle of the road is struck and almost killed. They load the injured teen into the ambulance that is carrying the body of the executed serial killer and proceed on to the hospital.

From this point the film takes a supernatural turn as our presumed dead killer reanimates and is able to regenerate himself by ripping the hearts out of his victims. What follows is a cat and mouse game between the supernatural killer, the sheriff and the girl and another teen that she befriends.

It is great to see Robert Englund in a role that allows him to do something other than spew poorly written one liners. He actually acts in this one and I had forgotten how much I enjoy watching Robert do that. His role is central to the story and Englund goes for it here and turns in what is for my money his best performance in years.

The rest of the cast is very strong and the FX are top notch and bloody.

This is one that you should at the very least pick up as a rental but I think the majority of you gore hounds are probably going to want to add this one to your collection.

HEARTSTOPPER is a keeper. Go pick it up and check it out.

The disc offers a very limited special feature package with only a short interview with Robert Englund and director Bob Keen but hey, it’s better than nothing.