Rish's Reviews
Wait a minute, William Lustig? Didn't he direct Maniac and Uncle Sam? And Larry Cohen? Didn't he make the It's Alive pictures? If so, then how is it that I liked this movie?
In New York City, innocent(ish) people are being murdered. Nothing new, right? Well, in this case, it is new: the perpetrator is a cop of some sort. When Bruce Campbell is accused of the crime (poor guy was really cheating on his wife at the time of the murders), he has to prove his innocence and help Tom Atkins solve the case!
I liked the cast. Our buddy Bruce is always likeable and once again steals all his scenes. Atkins is great--as usual--as the gruff, haunted detective. I may just nominate him for Scream Fiend status after this. Richard Roundtree plays the police commissioner. Campbell's girlfriend is another cop, played by Laurene Landon, whose hairstyle confusingly changes from the first time we see her. Sam Raimi appears as a reporter.
A low-budget, but well-written horror flick. It was surprisingly effective. It featured a really cool scene where a scared woman blows away a red herring. There was nice stuntwork as the movie turns into an action flick toward the end. The titular villain had a good little origin, and they never made the mistake of trying to make us like him. At least one of the victims elicited a genuine pitious response from me (and this guy was male!). It even had a memorable tagline: "You have the right to remain silent...forever!"
It wasn't perfect, though. A car chase (padding anyone?) goes on and on and on. They avoid showing the killer's face until the 1:19 mark (somewhat deftly, even). And wisely so...he's real stupid lookin'. The movie was never in the vicinity of scary, but it was interesting and fun.