The New York streets at
night were reputed to be unsafe but they
are getting more dangerous as an ex-cop
who served time in jail for murder named
Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar) wears his
uniform and kills several innocent
people.
Police chief Frank McCrae (Tom Atkins)
tries to unravel this case and thinks
that one of his people named Jack Forrest
(Bruce Campbell) was a suspect after his
wife named Ellen (Victoria Catlin) was
murdered after she discovers him cheating
on her with one of his co-workers named
Theresa Mallory (Laurene Landon) and is
held for questioning.
Now, after Cordell breaks into the
headquarters by killing some of the
officers there Jack manages to escape
with his mistress Theresa as they try to
find some way on Cordell's case to prove
his innocence and to try and stop him.
This was a neat
low budget action and horror put in one
which makes the plot of this film very
exciting.
Cleverly written and shot with lots of
chasing and dark moments too.
However, although it was supposed to look
like New York and was filmed in L.A. you
can tell by some of the scenery with the
car chasing and other spots like that as
half of it was in NY and the other half
in L.A. It's a shame they couldn't cheat
it.
The acting is very
good. Tom Atkins really knew how
to come across playing a tough cop
showing all his actions to prove that.
Bruce Campbell is of course
phenominal playing a blunt and heroic cop
in the film proving he can do other
horror films that the Evil Dead
flicks.
Laurene Landon was perfect in her
role as an uncover cop as she seems very
outgoing in her role too and shows a
perfect tough as nails attitude.
William Smith looked great in his
part as a Captain on the police force
with his grunting voice.
Robert Z'Dar's appearance as the
maniac cop Cordell looked beautiful as he
truly did look intimidating and powerful
looking like in a Michael Myers fashion
but he stood out more than a Myers
character. This was the film that made
him a low budget horror film cult icon.
Supporting actress Sheree North had
the perfect part in the film which brings
to the horror story in it and knew how to
really snap and go nuts with her role as
the one befriending Cordell in a motherly
fashion and does this superbly.
Supporting actress Victoria Catlin
is one of the best cast members in the
film even if her role is fairly small as
a disturbed wife of Campbell's
character making her role seeming
extremely real.
We have a good uncredited cameo by
writer/director Sam Raimi playing
a Reporter at a Parade and says his lines
smoothly.
A woman's throat
is gruesomely slit.
Matt Cordell's face is slashed by
prisoners at a shower room plus he
smashes one of their heads against a wall
and blood pours out of his mouth.
The direction is
wonderful in this one by William
Lustig and shoots a perfect opening
in this piece showing Robert Z'Dar
putting on gloves a badge and other
police equipment without showing his
face.
We see a nice beginning of a scene with
small actress Jill Gatsby
walking down the street and being mugged
by thugs then she gets physically tough,
then runs to Z'Dar's character
as his presence looked perfect standing
in the dark and about to kill.
Lustig shows great close up shots on
Z'Dar pulling out a knife about
to kill his victim as well as him
strolling towards a car and knocking on
the persons car window with his gloves
exposed.
We see a nice close up shot on Bruce
Campbell putting on his police gear
and acting blunt and aggressive too
towards supporting actress Victoria
Catlin who acts believeably tense
and upset too scared to say anything but
does anyhow. She was perfectly directed
the most as you wonder if she is abused
by Campbell's character after
you see their discussions towards one
another.
Catlin really loses it towards Campbell's
character in a hotel suit by pointing a
gun at him acting crazy too.
We spot a nice 3 way dialogue with Tom
Atkins and William Smith
being aggressive towards Campbell's character
for the questioning of the murder of his
wife as it almost looked like a real
questioning session with police officers
towards a suspect.
Laurene Landon does well portraying
an undercover hooker and then being
grabbed by Z'Dar as she tries to
fight him off along with Atkins
and nice shocking reactions towards them
when they see his size.
We spot a nice horror scene with
supporting actress Sheree North
holding Z'Dar's hand near a dark
wreckage area acting motherly and telling
him about his insane behavior as this was
a great touch and well done making it
look like a good direction to the horror
in the film.
Of course we see a nice flashback scene
of a prison with featured extras as
prisoners staring at Z'Dar with
evil looks on their faces. We see a good
shot on Z'Dar's shower scene as
you can finally spot what he looks like
and was well directed on his brutal
battles with the prisoners who attack him
which was greatly choreographed and very
disturbing too.
There's a great sharp dialogue sequence
with Campbell and Landon
with supporting actor Erik Holland as
a Doctor discussing Cordell's history and
there's some fine disputes that looked
good especially from Landon with her
tough attitude.
We also see a nice squad car speeding
away causing damage.
We see a real strong and effective moment
with North whacking Atkins with
a metal object going crazy.
Landon has a real classic line
towards Z'Dar's character when
she is holding a rifle demanding him to
put down Campbell's character
and says it with heroic strength.
Jay Chattaway composed
the music for this one and does it with
great taste by having some icy
synthesizer music as well as some
whistling type sounds to the storyline.
He also composed some real dark and
intense music like the brutal shower
brawling scene and area's like that along
with some violin action car chasing music
for the other scene's too.
Sally
Noland: It couldn't of have just been
a bullet-proof vest. I hit him in the
head at least twice!
Frank McCrae: Look at the marks on
your throat.
Sally Noland: I'm telling you,
Frank. His hands were so big, and they
felt like ice... even through his gloves.
He wasn't breathing.
Frank McCrae: Hah... we won't put
that in our report, huh?
Teresa
Mallory(Holding a rifle
towards Matt Cordell holding Jack Forrest
in the air): Put him down
Cordell!!!!
|
