Three criminals decide to lay low in the country when they rough up a victim so badly they kill him. They choose as their hideout a remote farmhouse only populated by a young woman and her paralyzed grandfather. They decide to molest the young woman, unaware that she's not quite sane… and knows how to use farm tools.
This gory but extremely low budget movie actually comes across better than I thought it would, thanks in part by some creative film editing and sharp use of music and sound. It also taps into that sleazy, nasty atmosphere that is probably its primary appeal to some. Unfortunately, the movie drags, and for a movie that runs only 68 minutes, that's bad; several of the scenes run on far longer than they should, and any movie which stretches out about thirty seconds worth of closing credits to five minutes is a movie desperately trying to pad itself. The movie has its roots in the works of Herschell Gordon Lewis (Producer J.G. Patterson Jr. worked with Lewis on occasion and helmed the Lewis-inspired THE BODY SHOP), but in terms of the gore, this one is much tamer. And it doesn't quite live up to its "At Last, Total Terror" tagline.
A respected professor and surgeon comes under suspicion when it is discovered his assistant is a former Nazi.
The above plot description I cobbled together from what I could make out of the movie along with a short plot description at allmovies.com. My copy is in unsubtitled German, and it was only with the help of this plot description that I was able to avoid getting totally lost. Still, I did get lost enough at times, and I do know that not only was the assistant a former Nazi, but he is still engaged in highly questionable practices; there is a kidnapping of a woman at one point, and there is a plot about a patient at the clinic trying to make a desperate escape. The scenes are engaging enough that I really hope some day to see it dubbed or subtitled, so I can get the full effect of the movie. There are touches of horror and science fiction around the edges; the clinic is in a rather spooky castle, and I think they're planning a heart transplant at one point in the proceedings. At any rate, I'll have to reserve judgment on this one.
This movie seemed to have an unusually high-powered cast for what seems on the surface a fairly hackneyed story of the mad-relative-in-the-attic variety. However, I don't feel like I'm engaging in spoilers by giving away that plot element; the movie itself reveals that information early enough that it doesn't give away the ending. Of course, by giving away that information early on, the movie clues you in that there's more here than the familiar scenario, and sure enough, you find yourself given bits and pieces of backstory that really starts to pique your interest. You seen get caught up in the various mysteries; what drove the relative mad? What was the actual fate of the aunt's daughter? Why is the aunt so scared of the uncle? The solution is complex and very sad. In the end, it's more of a drama than a horror movie, but the theme of madness is prevalent. All in all, this one is fairly interesting.
A female doctor treats a senator who comes to the emergency room with appendicitis. The senator is killed when a liquid is introduced in his IV that drives him crazy and causes his death by being hit by an ambulance. When the senator's wife demands an investigation, the female doctor finds herself framed and sued for malpractice. The doctor discovers that she's the victim of a conspiracy caused by descendants from the ancient race of Amazons.
You know, this movie would probably have ended up better had someone taken a look at the premise and decided it would have been better to play it tongue in cheek. As it is, the silliness of the idea battles with the seriousness of the presentation every step of the way. Its worst problem may simply be that the script is nothing special; it's full of cliches and often contrived. I also think that any conspiracy of this sort would come up with a more subtle way of recognizing its members than to have them all wear these awkward-looking bracelets with bow-and-arrow medallions. I also think they'd be more apt to stick with guns than the old bow-and-arrow as their choice of weapons, but then, I'm not an Amazon, so what do I know? One of the user reviews on IMDB couldn't help but notice that this movie (which involves a conspiracy aimed at the presidency and features a presidential candidate who is female) was made about the same time Walter Mondale had picked Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, though I find the movie a little too silly to point at any meaningful political message.
Arch-criminal Dorellik undertakes a job to murder all but one heir to a vast fortune; unfortunately, this requires him to kill almost everyone in Paris with the last name of Dupont. A commissioner from Scotland Yard is called in to help in the investigation.
The idea of a spoof of the supervillain genre is a good one. I also like the thrust of the plot here; Dorellik has to kill more than 1000 people if he hopes to get paid, and the best moments in this movie involve the schemes he hatches to do away with them. Nevertheless, the movie is a disappointment; rather than trying to emulate the style of a supervillain movie, it takes on your basic comic style, and much of the movie lapses into uninspired slapstick. As a result, the movie isn't really that funny, and even when the idea is good, the execution is often lacking. The fantastic content is also extremely light; there are comic bits involving Dorellik magically vanishing while standing between two trees, and there are a few other unreal comic touches, but at heart I don't think this movie really qualifies. My favorite moment is the first murder, which Dorellik pulls off with one phone call and one well-placed phrase. And yes, the title does actually have three Rs in a row in it.