A repairman named Hadley
(Weston Blakesley) becomes obsessed with
his machine that was once the old haunted
laundry press that killed it's employees
a decade before.
He suddenly gets posessed by it and goes
to his clients homes, whacks them over
with a sledge hammer and brings them into
his home to feed to his machine.
Two criminals that break into people's
homes which happens to be a man named
Rick (Reggie Bannister) and his son Mike
(Scott Spieser) breaks into his home only
top discover many people being kidnapped
there and also discovering that they
cannot escape the house.
We have a rough beginning with a married couple Hadley and Beatrice having a dysfunctional argument as the dinner table as this looked very wooden and too obvious. Didn't seem to flow naturally as if these two were forced to get aggressive. However nice camera shots on a nightmare sequence with Hadley suddenly getting mangled in the machine but a cheesy moment with Beatrice waking up from a nightmare as this also looked too set out.
Yet we do have a mildly effective and creepy moment with Hadley acting possessed and holding a sledge hammer ready to break it down on her which was a nice start off to a horror story. Plus for the opening credits we have impressive moments on newspaper ads discussing what happened from the first flick of the laundry factory closing as this seemed necessary for the film.
Things again start out rough with Jamie coming home and her boyfriend about to leave her in which none of this looked convincing at all as well as this desperately needing to be whipped into shape. Already I was thinking that this sequel to the original was a pure joke.
Careful shots on Hadley coming into Jamie's home and about to fix her washer as well as him eyeing her as well as slowly coming up to whack her in the back of her head as things looked decent with all of this happening as well as her struggling in pain to try to get away which looked convincing as well. Lots of suspense with what we see on her trying to hide or get away from him plus good timing when he puts her in a bag while chasing after her outside and a neighbor is mowing a lawn as he doesn't hear this happening which is a nice touch to a horror story which works for the maniacs favor.
Then afterwards we have a trashy discussion in a car with Rick having an argument with his son Mike as this was incredibly lame to watch and an excuse for a time filler with bad one liners and everything else that we spot here.
Yet there's nice moments when Rick goes into the home to find clues on the murder cases as well as good shots on bloody hand prints to top it off. We have a good moment when he talks to his son on the walkie talkie on what he spots as well as hearing Jamie crying from a locked room in which this was supposed to add some psychological moments which almost works but it seems to drag a bit. Also there was supposed to be some suspenseful moments when Mike tries to tell his father to get out of the home as Hadley is returning but this doesn't leave the chills at all whatsoever.
However things look effective and unpleasant when Rick is attacked by this maniac as well as good shots on him being dragged up a case of stairs.
Things seem at first work in okay when Mike is talking to Jamie on the other side of the door but this also drags quite a bit but there's some effective moments when Hadley falls asleep and he tries to take his keys without waking him up as this I must admit makes you cringe for sure. Plus we spot him trying to find the right key to open the door as this gives you the creeps and having a feeling that this madman will catch him in the act.
A cheesy look at the machine as well as Hadley operating it to slice and dice his victims with gruesome results plus there's a scene of cannibalism as well as adventureous struggling with Jamie and Hadley's daughter Louise trying to find a way on escaping as well as trying to get the right key to unlock the door and then realising that one key was dropped that is the outdoor one which adds mild suspense but when we see this whole scenario it was just a total time waster.
Bottom line is that if I didn't read the dvd
cover that this was based after the
original movie of someone fixing the
posessed laundry press I would think this
is a different story alltogether as it
never explains it nor does it explain why
all of this is happening. This movie is extremely bland and made
on a Z-grade budget with barely a story
behind it. Avoid it at all costs.
The acting is quite wooden
but not extremely terrible. Aimee Brooks (Jamie) is rough in the
very beginning as when she shows her shocked or emotinal attitude it seemed very low on energy but she picks up her
perfromance a bit when she realises that
she is trapped in the psycho's house
showing her true fears. Does a nice job with her intensity when freaking out or crying as she seemed to show a good focus on all of this as well as showing okay energy with her shocking attitude or being aggressive.
Weston Blakesley (Hadley) was very wooden in his performance as well as very stiff within his speaking too in which he doesn't pull off his aggressive behavior off at all. Seemed to do well with his disturbed and expressionless attitude when acting possessed. However he doesn't seem convincingly violent when swinging down a sledgehammer to his onscreen victims. He needed some acting lessons big time.
Scott Spieser (Mike) tries to put
energy in his performance playing a role
of a criminal and is not bad. He offers good excitement when talking to his onscreen father on a walkie talkie to get out of the home in which he seemed to get into this a great deal. Also shows off some good energy when talking to someone else on another side of the door and really getting into this. Had a nice hyped up attitude when being frusterated on being locked into the home.
However, Reggie Bannister (Rick) who
plays his father (Yes the ice cream man
from Phantasm) is too
over the top playing an asshole criminal.
Good thing he was killed off during the
first few scene's of his performance. Yet there are times that he was concvincingly arrogant as he alsmot makes you feel like hitting him. Reacts well to suffocating to death as well.
Aimee Brooks
is taking a shower and there's a camera
shot on her breasts.
People are butchered by the
machine and there are also body pieces
and lots of blood.
The killers face has some of his flesh
torn off.
We have some good sharp
sounds by the Climax Golden Twins which
can work on a better film than this one. Also there's gr4inding noises and real annoying metal clanging with low windy gloomy effects here and there as well as intense type sounds. Alot of this really got to me and it was too over the top and seemed to overplay alot in which this can give you an extreme headache. |
