A football teenage jock
Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg)
expericens most of his family members
being slayed in his nightmares and then
they really happen afterwards in which is
caused by a TV repairman Horace
Pinker (Mitch Pileggi) who limps with one
of his legs while walking and then he
kills his girlfriend Alison (Camille
Cooper).
Jonathan's father named Lt. Don Parker
(Michael Murphy) whom they don't see eye
to eye tracks Horace down as Jonathan
tells him where he's going next in his
dreams and then he gets a death sentence
which makes matters worst since Horace
has been using Black Magic witchcraft by
giving his soul to the devil to possess
other people's bodies with an energy
source, killing others and seeks revenge
on Jonathan for getting the police to
track him down.
However, in Jonathan's dreams the ghost
of Allison brings him her necklace in
order to try and capture Horace and put a
stop to him in which he travels from one
place to another with electricity through
mainly TV sets in which this makes him
very powerful.
Wes Craven
tried to make a new type of A
Nightmare On Elm Street flick
with this dud which fell flat but it
wasn't such a terrible film. It wasn't
anyhwere as effective or scary but
bringing on alot of dark comedy which
tried hard to be funny along with the
horror in it which was quite stale.
There's great cheesy special effects in
the film which makes this one exciting to
watch imagining a TV repair man going to
a house and killing people in a
neighborhood and one of the surviving
victims having nightmare's on this killer
on when he's going to show up next in
which Craven tries to have a
different twist with nightmares by
instead of this dude being killed in his
dreams he predicts the future in the
dreams which only half works orignally.
There are some similarities with this
killer killing residents like Krueger did
but of course Krueger only killed
children and Pinker kills families and
other neighbors.
Great camera shots on Horace Pinker's foot limping as well as good close up
shots on him fixing a TV with a sharp
knife as well as good shots on the TV
screen showing deadly looking wars and
horror stuff.
Some good cheesy shots on Jonathan Parker on a highschool
football field staring at Alison with a shot on her smiling at
him and being distracted by falling into
a post or other objects there which
looked brutal when he crashes into them.
There's also a good camera shot looking
up on Rhino grinning and talking to him sarcastically
showing some good timing.
A good dusky shot on both Jonathan and Alison walking home and
haunting looking shots on children running by with other gloomy
looking moments as well as them looking
concerned at a home with a shot on a TV
cable repair van out in front.
A good shot on a corpse lying
there in a pool of blood inside the house
with a good shot looking up on Jonathan looking
shocked. Then there's a cheesy moment
on his mother crying and screaming with Horace charging in with his knife and then Jonathan himself trying to stop him. Although the
discussions seemed a bit corny on how it was
done it looked a bit disturbing at
the same time wondering if he will save
his mother in time.
There's good ghostly figures too in the
neighborhood during a dream sequence
which has a nice Elm Street
type of touch to it.
A great moment with Jonathan getting anxious towards his father detective by
telling him who this killer is and
insisting that he shows him which looked
quite well done.
There's good dark shots with a sergeant trying to search for the
killer in his TV repair shop and a nice
surprise shot on a wall door opening with Horace grabbing him and pulling
him in.
There's also a good camera shot on this maniac going out a window and limping on the
ground with a good suspenseful camera
shot closing in on
police officers with their backs turned.
There's a great shot on some bloody hand
prints scrawled on the wall as well as a
shot on Alison bloodied lying
lifeless in a bathtub as well as Jonathan looking shocked and devastated as well as
getting emoitonal and bringing all of
this together very well.
There's great suspenseful shots on Horace running away on a top of a building and
walking on a ladder to another building
with good movements on all of
this as well as him taking the ladder
away when Jonathan is on his tail.
There's a terrific suspenseful shot on him running and jumping
over the building to the next one which
looked scary wondering if he would make
it.
There's some cheesy choreography between the two of them duking it out on the
top of the building with cheesy camera
shots on all of this.
A good shot on Horace doing his own sort of black magic near a
TV set with candles around him in his
cell with good shots on two guards along
with a priest
freaking out on what is happening with
good camera shots surrounding around them
all.
Yet there's scene's like an execution one
which was incredibly corny as Pinker is
knocked unconcious after doing his own
Black Magic ceremony with one of the
guards doing CPR to try and revive him
when he was going to get a death sentence
anyhow which doesn't make sense as to why
they'd want to revive him.
Good circling camera shots on the
electric chair and the people
planning it all out. Then there's a nice
shot on Horace getting strapped
in it with him giggling evilly and
taunting the others watching.
A good moment with Jonathan walking into his bathroom and turning on
some water along with a good creepy
moment with Alison all bloodied
up walking towards him and then he tries
to back away along with a good shot
looking down on his bed turning into
water and him falling in.
Then there's possessions with Horace as a
ghost going into other people's bodies
which was a little too slapstick and not
at all dark and terrifying. But again I
think this was meant to be more funny
than anything. It didn't work for me
though.
At the same time there's nice gun chasing
scene's with possessed policemen and the
innocent teenager which brings on some
good action in the storyline.
A nice moment with an officer knocking
on a door and then shooting his way in
along with a great chase between him and Jonathan but yet with all on how they interacted it looked a little corny too.
Good camera shot on this officer shooting his gun towards a
jogger with him falling down and then
crawling towards him along with a good
camera shot rolling in on him.
There's some interesting shots on Jonathan towards a possessed little girl
picking her up and she acts violent and
vulgar towards him along with good shots
on the mother hitting him. Alot of this
looked quite tensed up.
A nice shot on supporting a possessed road worker
taking a necklace away with one of his
work tools and then heaving it in the air
towards a lake.
A good powerful moment between Cooper trying to talk to Jonathan near the lake with him running
into the lake not thinking straight
trying to find the necklace along with Cooper himself trying to talk sense into him and then he
gets violent about it all.
There's good dark misty shots on Jonathan in a lake looking for the necklace and Alison swimming up behind him with him getting
scared and trying to swim away with her softly talking to him not to be afraid
which looked peacefully done.
A good moment with Rhino getting emotional towards Jonathan about a situation and then going crazy
with a nice shot on him breaking open a
door trying to attack him.
Good shot on Don showing an evil grin towards Jonathan in a police car along with a nice
surprising shot on Cooper smashing through the car window and
letting him out telling him to run which
looked well done. There's many good
chasing scene's between Don showing some evil expressions and vulgar
behavior towards Jonathan by trying
to shoot him and he tries to
reason with him showing some decent
timing on the moments that it was
taking on all of this. There's also good
shots on them climbing up a radio tower
along with Don haging onto a
ledge and freaking out which looked
suspenseful.
A good powerful moment with Alison coming up to Horace and getting
tough towards him while holding her
necklace.
There's also some great dynamic fun with
Horace and Jonathan chasing after one
another through the TV cables which was
definetely worth watching which included
some wars, sci-fi battles and an Alice
Cooper stage act with him strangling
a nurse. Yet they jump out of a TV with
their battles which there's a family
watching this which totally psychs you
out too and Jonathan having the power
against Pinker with a TV clicker. What
more can you ask for to anyone who enjoys
watching extreme horror volence on TV and
getting it in real life?
Some good fighting scene's
between Jonathan and Horace after they jump out of a TV with a couch potato couple
watching them get into action. There's
also a good shot looking up on Horace
about to stab Jonathan with a knife and then him using the channel changer and pausing him
in which this had a great touch on the two of them.
Bottom line is this film was so bad it's
good as well as it being awfully cheesy
and corny which isn't too scary but still
well done with the effects and scenery
surrounding all of this. Alot of people
who worked for Alice Cooper were
involved with this film as the movie
seemed almost like a tribute to his stage
antics. Yet watching one of his concerts
is way more entertaining. If you're an
Elm Street fan and want one as effective
as this one was trying to be you will be
extremely disappointed as this killer
uses conrier jokes before he tries to
kill his victims and uses a TV repair
blade instead of finger bldes. The blade
looks deadly but not as effective. A
sequel never arose in which is kind of a
good thing.
The acting is not
too bad in which most of the cast members
were better with their comedic
performances than bringing out the horror
into it. Michael Murphy (Lt.
Don Parker) plays a
good hard headed police chief in which he shows a great
seriousness to his part in the film along
with his stern behavior. He also shows
alot of good aggressions when he needed
to do so in it including shouting out in a rage standing up during someone's death sentence which
looked highly energised. He was a true character
actor.
Peter Berg (Jonathan Parker) who plays his teenage
football jock son seemed a bit
clumsy with his work at first when he
tries to act anxious to all that's
happening at first but really gets into
it in which he really shows a great rage
with his anger and emotional behavior
too. He was great by acting vengeful to
top it off. He made his part necessary
and a nice character to a slasher flick
like this one.
Mitch Pileggi (Horace Pinker) who played our main
horror character showed
some good timing with his obnoxious
behavior as well as his dark comedic
jokes too while about to do in his
victims. He also had a great stocky look
to him which made him look a bit
intimidating too. However, he doesn't
come across as creepy like Robert
Englund would as Freddy Krueger
since this character was suppsed to be a
similar type of killer too. He seemed a
bit corny at times but yet comes across
as a brawly figure too so there's still
points for this guy.
Sam Scarber (Cooper) really showed a good
hearted tough guy in the film with his
guy next door attitude and really
bringing it on with a good high energy
level whenever he tries to help out with
the terrors going on. He made his part
incredibly effective and can be well
remembered for his role in this film.
Camille Cooper really had the
beautiful looks and the nice soft voice
in which she portrayed this part very
well and does a gfood job acting like a
ghost after she's killed showing a nice
haunting appeal to her personality. She
also knew how to act powerful too when
she needed to be making her part a great
key role to the film since we need a
beautiful character in a slasher flick.
She's not the daughter of shock legeng Alice
Cooper.
Although that Vincent Guastaferro (Pastori) didn't
have a big role in this film as an
obnoxious Sheriff named Pastori I still
thought that he should be mentioned here.
He really brought out great goofy
aggressions when he becomes possessed and
often played these types of roles as an
officer of some sort especially in Friday
the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.
He certainly really stands out with these
types of roles and was a true comedic
character actor.
John Tesh (TV Newscaster) really did well as a TV
news reporter since he has had experience
hosting shows like Entertainment
Tonight and just bringing it on
with what he had to do in which he was
just as convincing in this film.
We also have a cameo by body builder and
heavy metal guitarist Kane Roberts (Road Worker) whom was once in Alice Cooper's band as a possessed road worker and
certainly drew attention to his role in
this one and seemed very necessary for
his cameo in this film.
Many corpses are
lying in a pool of blood
A girl is dead in a tub of blood
An officer's mouth is bitten
A guards finger is bitten off
Lots of bloody stabbings
Some cut throats
There's some fairly descent
deep sounding classical music along with
the odd bumping and grinding sounds. Plus
there's some breezy sound effects too.
There's also the odd high screechy violin
music to top it all off. All of this was
brought together by Michael Bruce,
Alice Cooper and William
Goldstein which these composers are
legendary musicians.
The film had a bitchin' metal and hard
rock soundtrack with a great opening song
by a group of other artists like Paul
Stanley & Desmond Child
on vocals, Vivian Campbell on
guitar, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy
Lee on drums called of course
"Shocker". The song was
terrifically well done for this time
period and brings back memories of the
hair band years.
Then there's an oldie cover tune by Megadeth
during a scene of an electrocution with Alice
Cooper's classic titled "No
More Mr. Nice Guy" in which I think
they totally ruined the song but it suits
the scene.
Then there's the first song on the
closing credits performed by Bonfire called "Sword & Stone"
which adds a terrific touch for a closing
credits on a slasher film.
There were other songtracks too by
Iggy Pop, Dangerous Toys
and Dead On but these three
songs stood out the most in the film. All
in all it's an excellent soundtrack.
Horace
Pinker: [after being captured by
the cops, Pinker taunts Jonathan] Oh
by the way... she died real hard, ya
know? Your girlfriend?
Jonathan Parker: [Pinker
chuckles with glee and Jonathan tries to
pounce on him as Lt. Parker restrains him]
I'LL SEE YOU DEAD, YOU SON OF A BITCH!
Horace Pinker: So you like killin'
too, huh squirt? It's in the blood... you
and me, we're killers.
Jonathan Parker: YOU'LL DIE, YOU
MOTHERFUCKER! I'LL SEE YOU DIE... YOU
FUCKER!
Horace Pinker: [taunting]
Oh, ho, ho, ho! You're breakin' my
fuckin' heart!
Lt.
Don Parker: [tries to restrain an
angry Jonathan, after Pinker is taken
away, taunting him about Allison's death]
Easy now! You want him gone? Let the
state do it for you! He'll fry for
sure... he's history!
Jonathan Parker: [whispers
miserably] I wanna be there.
Lt. Don Parker: [puzzled]
What?
Jonathan Parker: [turns to face
him] If they give him the chair Don,
I wanna be there.
Lt. Don Parker: Don't be crazy.
It's over. Now let it go.
Jonathan Parker: [shakes his
head] I wanna see him die, Don. I've
earned it... I wanna see him die!
Lt. Don Parker: [thinks about
it and nods his head] Yeah... yeah,
maybe we've both earned it. I'll get box
seats.
Horace
Pinker: [after biting a guard's
fingers] Finger lickin' good!
[laughs]
Guard
Sergeant: [Pinker looks apparently
dead] Fucker alive?
Priest #1: I don't know!
Horace Pinker: [Pinker suddenly
recovers] Well I'm fine boys, just
fine.
[laughs]
Horace Pinker: Let's get on with
the killing.
Executioner:
[Pinker's execution] Does the
prisoner have any final words?
Horace Pinker: Yeah, as a matter
of fact I do:
[narrows his eyes at Jonathan]
Horace Pinker: Your pitiful
memories wiped it all out, didn't it? I
was beatin' you real good when your mama
tried to stop me with the gun.
Lt. Don Parker: [angrily]
YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU FUCK!
Executioner: [calms him down]
The prisoner has a right so speak.
Horace Pinker: [grinning evily]
That's right. I was beatin' you real good
when your mama tried to stop me with the
gun that she brought into our happy home.
You must've remembered it boy. Don't you
remember the way she screamed? And how
clever you were picking up that gun and
shootin' me right through the fuckin'
knee, you little peckerhead! Oh, such a
big gun, just blastin' at your dear old
dad with murder in your eyes. Like
father, like son, huh?
[Pinker chuckles evilly as Jonathan is
shocked to hear all of this and then
narrows his eyes at the Executioner]
Horace Pinker: Well what are you
waiting for, dickhead? You wanna fry me,
then get it over with you bunch of
fuckin' insects!
Executioner: [to one of the
security guards] Well, you heard the
man.
Jonathan
Parker: Can't we just talk about
this?
[a possessed Don Parker shoots at
Jonathan]
Jonathan Parker: Guess not.
Jonathan
Parker: [after freezing Pinker
with a remote control in the t.v world]
It's Showtime!
Horace Pinker: Hey! What the hell
are you doing?
Jonathan Parker: [smiles
cockily] You bought into t.v.,
Pinker. So now you're bound by it's
rules. |