Consider this a Japanese version of The Haunting while remembering that the movie may not be revolutionary, but the video game — which was released at the very same time — certainly was*.
That game’s creator, Tokuro Fujiwara, toured the film’s set to gather inspiration for the game. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse) gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted with the game, which laid the groundwork for survival horror games like Resident Evil.
In the film — and video game — a small film crew visits the abandoned mansion of artist Ichirō Mamiya in the hopes of finding several paintings he left behind and restoring them. However, minutes after they walk in the front door, poltergeist activity erupts.
Soon, the ghost of the artist’s wife, Lady Mamiya, has possessed one of them. It’s soon revealed that she and the artist lost a child after he fell into the house’s incinerator. She then began killing children to give the ghost of her child playmates before committing suicide. Now, she haunts the home, unless the crew can figure out how to help her pass into the next world.
Neither the game nor the movie were ever released in the U.S., but thanks to the internet, you can experience both.
*In an era when video game adaptions had little or nothing to do with the movies they had the license for, Sweet Home actually expands on the story of the movie.
Gary Brandner didn’t just write The Howling, he also wrote a book called Walkers, in which a woman named Joanna Raitt nearly drowns at a party and soon finds the undead coming after her, trying to bring her back to the world of the dead. If you’re thinking that a lot of that sounds very Carnival of Souls, well, the movie will confirm that suspicion.
The trailer for this kept talking about how it was directed by the master of suspense, but never said who it was. The answer is Paul Wendkos, who I guess gets that title from making The Legend of Lizzie Borden, Haunts of the Very Rich and The Mephisto Waltz.
Joanna is played by Lindsay Wagner and she’s torn between two loves — her current man Glen Eastman (Robin Thomas) and her old dude Peter Langford (Bruce Boxleitner) — when she isn’t being chased by zombies or shadow people or whatever this is, across two nights and nearly four hours of your life (with commercials).
Diahann Carroll shows up as Joanna’s boss and wow, her shoulder pads are out of control and probably worth watching this movie to see.
From the Dead of Night‘s screenplay was written by Bill Bleich, who wrote some pretty decent other movies, like The Hearse, The Midnight Hour and The Gladiator. He was also a producer, writer and creative consultant for Poltergeist: The Legacy, which was the TV series inspired by the film.
When the “Big Three” over-the-air networks began expressing a disinterest in the TV movie business, the USA Network — in the early days before they were swallowed by the NBC-Universal behemoth and turned into an NBC series aftermarket shill — took the torch with aplomb.
Just look at that overseas theatrical one-sheet, if you don’t believe us. You’ve got the Hoff, along with Robert Guillaume, Charles Haid, Angie Dickinson, and Tom Bosley. And you get Lawrence Pressman, Dean Jones, and John Beck in the bargain. So, yeah, basically all of the familiar, dependable actors we know and love around here at B&S About Movies.
Based on Fire and Rain: A Tragedy in American Aviation, a novel by Jerome Greer Chandler, the film investigates — with the usual artistic licenses of events and composite characters — the tragic flight of Delta 191 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in 1985.
Taking off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the flight crew (John Beck) is warned of a pending storm as it prepares to land in Texas. The crew jokes the plane will “get a wash” and decide to go ahead with a landing. Then, without warning, the storm slams the L-1001 into the ground a mile short of the runway. FAA agents Dean Jones and Angie Dickinson are dispatched to investigate the crash.
About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook. He also writes for B&S Movies.
Based on a true story? You know it. Alex Cutler (Brian Bloom, who would goon to write Call of Duty: Modern Warfare) and Cliff Petrie (Christian Slater, who would go on to skateboard, be a pirate DJ and blow up a high school) have been friends since, well, forever, but darn it if cheerleader Lily Becker (Tammy Lauren, Wishmaster) doesn’t get between them. Sadly for all these kids, Alex and Lily’s fathers have always hated one another, which leads to a breakup and a new relationship between Cliff and Lily that’s doomed to fail.
Ah man, sometimes I’m glad my teenage years are so many decades away.
This movie could be so much better, but it is afraid to wallow in trash. Look, Desperate for Love, you’re a made for TV movie about teenagers having sex and killing each other. Own it.
My grandfather drove a big El Camino that was painted with black primer and held together with hope and Big Red chewing gum. Whenever I’d ride with him, he’d generally be blasting an 8-track of “The Killer,” often pulling over and yelling at me to pay attention, telling me that no one could play the piano like Jerry Lee.
I kept that in mind while watching this movie, which is based on his biography by child bride Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr.
Directed by Jim McBride (who also made the American version of Breathless with Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2writer L. M. Kit Carson), this is a great way to learn just why Lewis was so important to men like my grandpa. (McBride also worked with Dennis Quaid on The Big Easy; he also directed the cable rock ‘n’ roll bio-flick Meatloaf: To Hell and Back.)
Would Jerry Lee have supplanted the King if he couldn’t keep his hands off his thirteen-year-old first cousin? This movie never really tries to answer this, instead showing us the fervor that The Killer* was someone who wasn’t above setting his piano ablaze to get a reaction. Dennis Quaid, well, kills it in this movie, absolutely inhabiting the soul of Jerry Lee on screen.
Silver, who co-wrote the book, claimed that the film was phony, while McBride said that he didn’t care about the facts. So while no one liked the film, nearly everyone liked Quaid in the lead. As for The Killer, he hated the book, so he wasn’t going to like the movie. Yet he did concede that Quaid “really pulled it off.**”
Winona Ryder is fine as Myra, but where the film shines is by placing real rock stars into unexpected roles, like John Doe — hey, the whole reason for this week on our site — as Myra’s put-upon pa J. W. Brown, Jimmie Vaughan as Roland Janes, Mojo Nixon as James Van Eaton and CBGB regular and New York Rocker writer Lisa Jane Persky as an early rival for Lewis’ affections. This movie also boasts Steve Allen as himself, Alec Baldwin as Lewis’ cousin Jimmy Swaggert, Nashville sound engineer David R. Ferguson as Jack Clement, the late Lisa Blount (Dead and Buried, Cut and Run, Prince of Darkness, Needful Things***) as Lois Brown and, of all people, Peter Cook as a British reporter.
*The official Lewis website states “Many people think it’s because of his rowdy reputation or because of how he knocked out audiences. The truth is that “killer” was a common slang term during Jerry Lee’s youth, and he would say goodbye to his friends by saying, “See ya later, killer.” This became his nickname before he had a performing career.” Or maybe he lived up to it later when he may or may not have killed his fifth wife, Shawn Stephens; definitely shot his bassist Butch Owens with a .357 accidentally and also showed up at the gates of Graceland with a loaded pistol on the dash, which sent him to jail eight months before Elvis died.
**To be fair, that’s really Lewis singing and playing the piano parts.
***Which also has the version of “Great Balls of Fire” that Jerry Lee re-recorded for this movie on its soundtrack.
Variety hated it. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times hated it. And it received five Golden Raspberry Awards nods for Worst Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor (Ben Gazzara? No, way, for he rocketh), Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. Then John Wilson, the founder of the Golden Raspberries, listed it in his The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of “The 100 Most Enjoyable Bad Movies Ever Made.”
Feldercarb, we say! For Pittsburgh born-and-bred director Rowdy Herrington* made this AND the Steel Town-set Striking Distance. And that’s the type of cinematic one-two punches we love ’round ‘ere in the B&S About Movies office cubicles, Big Hoss. Come on, now! A Doctor of Philosophy who travels the country as a bouncer kicking some town-psychopath ass and a Pittsburgh-bred, drunken river boat cop chasing down killers on the outskirts of Lawrenceville?
Seriously, what’s not to love here in this updated, glorified and horseless western (that takes place in Missouri, but was shot in California and Nevada)? And that’s what the mainstream critics who slagged Road House failed to see — and all of us lovers of all things “B-Movie” were able to see: Patrick Swayze’s Dalton is the new sheriff in a corrupt gold-mining town run by ex-Civil War hero-done-good, Brad Wesley. Only, this ain’t your granddad’s old n’ stuffy Cary Grant or Van Johnson western: this one’s modernized with a monster truck built specifically for the film**.
And Cary Grant or Van Johnson never delivered lines like this fan favorite:
Ah, but alas . . . for today, we came here not to bury Rowdy, but to praise John Doe, our favorite bassist from Los Angeles — this week of reviews is dedicated to him, after all — as the ne’er-do-well Pat McGurn, Brad Welsey’s favorite nephew with a weak constitution. As I look back on this film for “John Doe Week,” wow. Doe really shines in his role as Pat, whose loserville-status is what caused the whole dust-up between Sheriff Dalton and town “owner” Brad Wesley in the first place. Any other guy, after being fired — like myself, and Sam, B&S’s Chief Cook and Bottle Washer — would just find another job. But when you’re Pat McGurn: you run cryin’ to Uncle Brad who, in turn, gives you a couple of his guys to go kick some defenestration ass. Doc Clay, well, her stirrin’ up romance with the town’s new “bad boy,” that was just addin’ more tabasco to Brad’s breakfast Bloody Mary; lazy-ass Pat was the vodka, for you do not mess with the son of Brad’s only sister.
John, if you’re reading this: that’s sum mighty fine thepsin’, pardner!
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Movies.
* Rowdy Herrington sat down with us for an extended interview back in November of last year. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). He talks about Road House in the second part of the interview.
** In the movie, that truck, built in 1988 and known as Bigfoot 7, destroyed a new car showroom and crushed four new cars: a one-take shot that cost $500,000, a bill that could fund 10 of the low-budget flicks we normally review at B&S About Movies. And, yes, the truck did turn up again in Tango & Cash, another film that, like Road House, was slagged by critics across the board, but wow . . . we love that retro B-flick as well. The next time you’re in Kissimmee, Florida, for a Disney World romp, swing by Fun Spot America where Bigfoot 7 is currently displayed.
How do I keep going down the rabbit hole of David DeCoteau films? Well, here we go again, with Ms. Xenobia (Judy Landers, Hellhole, Stewardess School) coming from space to teach biology to a bunch of horndog teenagers, including Bad Ronald’s half-brother Bill Jacoby. He’s Wesley Littlejohn and gets to aardvark with Ms. Landers after a vitamin supplement causes a phallic antenna to emerge from his forehead.
He also has a band called the Sex Mutants, who play along with another band called the Poon Tangs (who are made up of Ginger Lynn Allen, Linnea Quigley and Laura Albert). Sure, he was trained as a classical pianist, but what our alien sex fiend really wants to do is rock and roll.
Karen Russell from Shock ‘Em Dead and Memorial Valley Massacre is also in this, as are Michelle Bauer, Olivia Barash (Repo Man, Tuff Turf), Edy Williams, Troy Donahue and Arlene Golonka from Mayberry RFD.
Originally called I Was a Teenage Sex Mutant, there was almost a sequel called Star Pupil. Writer Kenneth J. Hall also was behind Nightmare Sisters, Evil Spawn and Linnea Quigley’s Horror Workout, among other films.
Nothing in this is as good as the poster of Landers with a ridiculous looking alien. But you already know that going in.
We’ve already taken a look at Double D’s best-promoted and best-known film — via the back of pulpy, ’80s monster mags — Dead Girls, and his latest, 30th film, Camp Blood 8 — each part of our respective “Rock ‘n’ Roll Week II” and October “All Slasher Month” tributes. And, the best part: Dennis is a D-Town brother: he was born and raised in Detroit and graduated from Eastern Michigan University before heading to Los Angeles, graduating from Loyola Marymount University’s film school, and forming DJD Productions.
So, for this Drive-In Friday, lets load the projector with four more of Dennis Devine films. And not all of them are the horror films you expect them to be.
Next to Dear Girls, this debut feature — produced for $10,000 and shot-on-Beta with Dead Girls’ Steve Jarvis — is my favorite of the Devine canons and the Cinematrix imprint.
Starring Kay Schaber, Angela Eads, and Brian Chin from the later Dead Girls, they’re three of several people victimized by a Satanist-worshipping photographer-cum-serial killer who — instead of sealing his body in a doll, ala Chucky in Child’s Play (1988; 2019), Devine’s writing cohort, Mike Bowler (Hell Spa, Things, Things II, Club Dead, Amazon Warrior, Chain of Souls, Haunted), who spins an inventive change-up to the spiritual hocus pocus — commits suicide before the police can catch him, and seals his body inside a camera.
Years later, Amy Stuart (Lane Coyle who, in typical Devine fashion, never appeared in another film), an aspiring photographer who works for the town’s newspaper, purchases the vintage camera from a pawn shop staffed with a creepy, ulterior motive shopkeep — and everyone she photographs is tracked down and murdered by the killer’s spirit.
You can watch Fatal Images as a free stream on You Tube. Do you need a more expansive, second look? Then check out Sam’s review of Fatal Images. It’s true! We love this film and Mr. Devine.
Movie 2: Things (1993)
“A horrific and sexy romp in the dark.” — Joe Bob Briggs
Now, if that tag from the guru of Drive-In fodder on the VHS “big-box” doesn’t make you want to mail order this third effort from Dennis Devine, then nothing will. And yes . . . multiple titles alert . . . here are two movies carrying the “Things” title: the first is the infamous Canuxploitation-North of the Border Horror, Things (1989). And the three sequels from 1998 and 2017 to Devine’s film have nothing to do with the Canux one — or with each other — for that matter.
This “Things” is an anthology-portmanteau film in three parts: “The Box” directed and written by Devine,” “Thing in a Jar” written by Steve Jarvis and directed by Jay Woelfel, and the wrap-around/linking segment written by Mike Bowler and directed by Eugene James. All are film school friends and DJD cohorts, natch.
The segments come together as a woman kidnaps her husband’s mistress and tells the mistress two horror stories involving “evil things” — that’s all converged in a related, twist ending. And unlike the classic Amicus and Hammer omnibus flicks it homages, Things dispenses with the atmospheric-gothic angle of its Brit forefathers and goes straight for — the bountiful — guts n’ gore. The first tale concerns hookers who meet their fate to a cursed creature kept in a box; the second is about a woman haunted by is-it-real-or-nightmares “things” concerning her abusive husband.
You can watch Things on TubiTV. There’s no online copies of 2 or 3 (aka Deadly Tales, aka, Old Things) currently streaming online, but you can watch Things 4 on TubiTV. And again, DO NOT confuse this with the “North of the Border Horror” Things from 1989 . . . as that is a whole other “thing” to watch.
Uh, oh. As we rolled out another “SOV Week,” well, two, during the last two weeks of January 2023, we reviewed Dennis’s sequel, Things II.
INTERMISSION: Short Film Time!
The Things about Things Sidebar: Battlestar Galactica fans know Jay Woelfel as the director of Richard Hatch’s failed 1999 BSG theatrical reboot with the short “pitch film” Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming that Universal rejected in lieu of the eventual SyFy Channel series. You can watch Hatch and Woelfel’s vision on You Tube. As you’ll see the, concept of “evolved Cylons” and the new Raiders design for the series was pinched from this version — and the most popular characters and actors returned. Woelfel is still at it: he recently edited Art of the Dead (2019). We also reviewed his debut effort, Beyond Death’s Door, as part of our “Regional Horror Week.”
And back to the show . . .
Movie 3: Curse of Pirate Death (2006)
It’s more goofy, ne’er-do-well college kids of the Scooby Doo variety heading off — not into the Norwegian Slasher Wood (as in Camp Blood 8) — but the ocean, Pirate’s Point in particular, as they research the myth of a centuries old killer, Abraham LeVoy, aka Pirate Death. And if they find his legendary treasure along the way, all the better for Shaggy and the Mystery Machine gang.
You’ve got — even though some are cut-a-ways or off-camera (ugh, damn budget) — a high kill count and lots of zombie-ghost pirate fighting that reminds of the great Amando de Ossorio’s third entry in his “Blind Dead” series, The Ghost Galleon (1974; the one with the living corpses of the Satan-worshiping Knights Templar hunting for human victims trapped on a 16th century galleon), but it’s definitely not as good as a de Ossorio flick (and what film is). Yeah, this one’s suffering from its ultra-low-budget that lends to sketchy cinematography and strained acting in places, but this has the usual Devine heart n’ soul with a mix of dark humor and horror that lends to its fun, snappy pace. Bottom line: If you want to see porn-provocateur Ron Jeremy (Boondock Saints/Overnight; also of Devine’s Night of the Dead from 2012) get a (cut-a-way) sword in the gut, this is your movie. If you want to see girls dressed as a sexy cop and German Beer Wench (Get that Bud Light chick outta ‘ere, I want a St. Pauli Girl!) stranded on an island dispatched by a dead pirate with guacamole smeared on his face, this is you movie.
One of the few Devine movies available through the service, you can rental-stream Curse of Pirate Death for a $1.99 on Amazon Prime. The DVD has a director-actor commentary track, along with a making of, gag reel, and meet the cast vignettes. The Amazon Prime stream offers a clip sample and You Tube offers a trailer via the film’s distributor, Brain Damage Films.
Movie 4: Get the Girl (2009)
Dennis Devine makes the jump from the pulpy lands of back-of-a-monster magazine-mail order SOVs to the streaming world of Netflix in this pretty obvious Judd Apatow-influencer. It concerns a geek (Adam Salandra of Devine’s Don’t Look in the Cellar) who masters Guitar Master (aka a chintzy Guitar Hero knock-off) to impress a sexy-brainless co-worker, much to the chagrin of his dowdy, co-worker gal pal. Guess which girl he gets. (Yeah, I’d want to “get the girl” with the ponytail and eye glasses, too.)
You can watch Get the Girl as a free-with-ads stream on TubiTV. Other films in the Devine comedy canons include Kid Racer (2010; yep, go-carts), Dewitt & Maria (2010; a rom-com), Fat Planet (2013; aliens into food), and Baker & Dunn (2017; that also works as mystery thriller).
For you Devineites (Or is that Devineheads?) check out his TubiTV page to watch the horrors Don’t Look in the Cellar (2008), The Haunting of La Llorona (2019), and the comedy Fat Planet (2013).
We wanted to do Devine’s Vampires of Sorority Row (1999), Vampires on Sorority Row II (2000), and his campy-vamp comedy Vamps in the City (2010) for our recent “Vampire Week,” but were unable to locate online streaming copies for you to enjoy — free or otherwise. The same goes for the Reggie “Phantasm” Bannister-starring Sawblade (2010) for our “Rock ‘n’ Roll Week II,” about an extreme-metal band a trapped-in-a-haunted house-for-a-video shoot tale (i.e., Blood Tracks and Monster Dog).
You need more Dennis Devine? Check out this Spotify podcast (that streams on all apps, and browser PCs and Laps) courtesy of Inside Movies Galore in promotion of Devine’s latest film, Camp Blood 8. You can also catch the podcast on streaming provider, Anchor.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Moviesand publishes on Medium.
Primarily known as a talent manager, studio producer and engineer, Hungarian born director Tibor Takács worked behind the boards for the Canadian bands the Viletones and the Cardboard Brains before he became a director. His first feature film project was the self-produced Metal Messiah (1978), a long-form rock opera/video which starred two bands from his stable: Kickback and the Cardboard Brains.
Best known for the internationally-distributed “No False Metal” classic, The Gate (1987), he made his feature film debut with the 1978-shot-and-1982 released CBC-TV movie 984: Prisoner of the Future, which has long since fallen into the public domain and is easily found on a wide variety of bargin-basement sci-fi DVD sets. After the cult VHS and cable status of The Gate, he was poised to direct A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, but passed on the project . . . and he gave us The Gate 2: The Trespassers and the pilot movie for the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
These days, he’s churning out the mockbuster hoards of Ice Spiders, Mega Snake, and Destruction: Los Angeles, as well as other films concerning all manner of meteors, tornadoes, mosquitoes, black holes, and rats for the SyFy Channel . . . and he got into the Hallmark Christmas movie business alongside our equally beloved Fred Olen Ray and David DeCoteau.
Oh, and Hallmark romance flicks.
Did Sam and I watch The Secret Ingredient for its February 2020 premiere — making our significant others cringe in the process — as we chomped on our popcorn and gulped our A&W Root Beers with glee? Damn right, we did. And you know how B&S About Movies is about our Christmas movies . . . so yes, we did binge the Takacs X-Mas oeuvre of Once Upon A Christmas (2000), Twice Upon a Christmas (2001), Rocky Mountain Christmas (2017), It’s Christmas, Eve (2018), Memories of Christmas (2018), and A Christmas Miracle (2019). And when Tibor finishes off his currently-in-production Lifetime damsel-in-distress thriller Roadkill — his 48th directing effort — we’ll watch that one, as well.
But what we really want to know: Tibor, when in the hell are you and Eric Roberts going to do a movie together? It’s de rigueur for guys like you, Olen Ray, and DeCoteau. Make it happen, Tibor! Remember when you wrote and directed Redline, aka Deathline, that bionic-man-out-for-revenge actioner back in 1997 with Rutger Hauer and Mark Dacascos? Or Bad Blood, aka Viper, from 1994 with Lorenzo Lamas as a bad-ass trucker taking down the mob? Something like those flicks . . . just cut Eric Roberts loose to kick mercenary and mobster ass as an “aging action hero” thespin’ his little heart out . . . as a rogue C.I.A black-ops agent, like Mack Dacascos in 1998’s Sanctuary. Make it happen, buddy!
This is — non-CGI, mind you — a tale of an album known as The Dark Book by Sacrifyx — a band who died in a horrific accident after its recording — that serves as “the key” to opening a gate to hell . . . that just so happened to be under the roots of a lightning-stuck tree in the backyard of future Blu Cigs spokesman Stephen Dorff (he was 12 at the time).
How loved is this movie? You can buy Sacrifyx “The Dark Book” T-shirts on esty. Fans have compiled “Top 10” lists about the film. Sacrifyx is noted as one of the best “fake bands” on film. And . . .
There’s a (baffling, but awesome) Sacrifyx website, and . . .
An equally eerie album by a band called Sacrifyx listed on Discogs that recorded an album at Dunwich Analog Studios in Detroit, Michigan, in 1983 — with a song “The Gate.” But wait, the movie didn’t come out until 1987? Shivers. And guess what . . . the album is real. It’s on You Tube.
Which Old God is F’in with us, here? Love this movie, ye must!
Dude . . . imagine a Tibor-made Freddy Krueger movie? How awesome could that have been? Instead, we got a sequel to The Gate — both written by Michael Nankin, who made his debut with the David Naughton-starring (yes, the Dr. Pepper “Making It” Meatballs werewolf in London guy), Animal House-rip Midnight Madness in 1980.
The upside to this movie: Terry shoots and scores! He bags a babe. So, you see, it pays to worship Satan and dabble in the black arts. Do it! Chant Natas three times and the babes will come crawlin’ out the ground for ya!
Is The Gate II as good as the original? Nope. But it’s a lot of fun with great non-CGI effects, once again, from Randall William Cook, who also handles the SFX for the next feature on this evening’s program.
Intermission! Spin the dark circle, if you dare . . .
Long before meta-fiction became shot-on-iPhone de rigueur for the digital auteur crowd (For Jennifer), Julio Cortázarwrote a short story — La Continuidad de Los Parques (The Continuity of the Parks) — a tale that is three stories; each aware of one another in a universe where fiction collides with meta-fiction.
The much-missed Jenny Wright of Near Dark fame (I recall reading her interview in Shock Cinema Issues #45 that went into detail about the abuses she suffered and caused her exit from the business) is Virginia, a bookish girl obsessed with writer Malcolm Brand’s I, Madman. In the pages of that tale, the deformed Dr. Kessler attempts to win over an actress by killing people and adding their faces to his own. And she comes face to face, literally, with Dr. Kessler as he’s entered the real world.
Should this follow up to The Gate be as revered and remembered as The Gate. Yes. Is it? No. Love this movie, you must. It’s awesomeness and a bag ‘o garlic fingers.
P.S. You need more “film within a film” tomfoolery? Check out Anguish (1987).
Tibor’s first commercial film project was this failed Canadian TV series pilot programmer in 1978. Courtesy of the Star Wars-infused sci-fi market, it was shook loose from the analog dustbins onto home video shelves in 1982.
Also circulating on DVD bargain comps as The Tomorrow Man, it’s a surreal psychological drama concerned with the imprisonment of an intelligence agent in an Orwellian future. Don’t let the Dr. Who-esque TV production designs deter you from watching this well-written and acted sci-fi’er — a commendable start to the awesome career of Tibor Takács. We found a trailer upload on You Tube.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Moviesand publishes on Medium.
For decades, I’ve either stared at the box cover of this movie or looked at it while going through streaming movies to watch. I mean, it checks so many boxes, as it’s set in a post-apocalyptic future, has bounty hunters in it and stars Mark Hamill and Bill Paxton. Yet I’ve never watched it. And again, that’s why I love doing these Mill Creek months, because it’s allowed me to finally discover so many movies that I’ve previously skipped.
I don’t know if Slipstream is one of the successes of these experiments, but hey, at least I finally watched it.
It certainly has a great pedigree. It has a score by Elmer Bernstein, was directed by Steven Lisberger, who made Tron, and was produced by Gary Kurtz, who did the same role on The Dark Crystal, Return to Oz and oh yeah, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Before Jedi, Lucas and Kurtz had a falling out over the creative direction of the franchise.
That’s probably why this film has so many great actors in it. Beyond Hamill and Paxton, there are minor roles for Robbie Coltrane, Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abraham.
The film instantly tries to create a mythology of a world where the Harmonic Convergence — oh man, remember that and all the other pre-millennial apocalyptic insanity? — has caused drastic climate change in the form of the Slipstream, a strong series of winds that have encircled the globe. Humanity is mostly destroyed, but those left behind have learned to harness the Slipstream or at the very least respect it.
Bounty hunters Will Tasker (Hammill) and Belitski (Kitty Aldridge) are hunting Byron (Bob Peck, Jurassic Park), a man is seemingly unable to be hurt and who keeps quoting the poetry of John Gillespie Magee, Jr. and Lord Byron, who can also heal blind children (so there’s that).
As for Paxton, he plays Matt Owens, who angers the bounty hunters and then steals Byron, taking him to Hell’s Kitchen. It turns out that Byron is an android that dreams of a place beyond the Slipstream where more of his people reside.
Kurtz hoped that Slipstream would be a major success and start another science fiction franchise, so it’s pretty glossy and filled with all manner of characters who could have been spun off into future stories. But nope, it all ended here. It never received a theatrical release in the U.S. and was hampered by Kurtz’s divorce — man, the guy was having no luck in 1989 — which led to him having to use all of his Star Wars money to finance this.
Maybe people weren’t ready for a movie obsessed with aviation, free will and artificial intelligence, I guess. It’s not necessarily bad, but it doesn’t feel like a franchise starter that failed (see Krull for a good example of that). There’s some kind of good movie in here, but it never really takes off. And after that aviation-based pun, I’m out of here.
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