A
troubled college student Alex
Gardner (Nicholas Celozzi) is constantly
having nightmares about being tortured by
creatures in some sort of an abandoned
prison on the island of Alcatraz as well
as people dying there.
Suddenly his brother Richard (Tom Reilly)
and their friends are seeing his
nightmares as the hallucinations happen
when he is asleep but disappear when he
awakens as he wants to save his life and
sanity as well.
Then Alex insists at going to the island
to find out why he is having these
nightmares and to solve his issues by
confronting a tortured spirit there as
his dream specialist Carolyn Harding
(Donna Denton) suggests that it's the
best for him. There they find the
abandoned prison and Alex meets up with a
spirit of a missing rock star Sammy
Mitchell (Toni Basil) as she tells Alex
how she got killed as well as others and
why they are there and how to stop the
evil forces from happening as she goes
into his soul.
Meanwhile, his brother Richard dies from
a posession and turns into a monster
going on a killing spree. Alex sees the
spirit of his dead brother as well as the
others that are being killed and Alex
must find some way to save himself and
his surviving friends by stopping the
evil and getting off the remote island.
During the beginning there's nice shots onAlex Gardner's feet in some dirty water
next to some stone walls as well as a
shot on him trying to cut open his arm
being chained up with a machette.
Suddenly there's a good shocking moment
on him cutting his wrist off and then
waking up in another dream with his wrist
cut off as well as waking up again which
gives you an impression if this is
actually happening.
There's many good horror shots
surrounding Alex like a
demonic hand crashing through a wall and
grabbing his throat which was supposed to
make you jump yet it looked a bit cheesy.
It still was an enjoyable moment.
There's also another scene with people in
a bar in slow motion smoking cigarette's
and drinking with the camera panning to him in a bar with a wall pushing through and
demonic hands are reaching at him.
There's some great moments with both Richard Gardner and Krista Halpern getting
it on and acting lustfull with one
another in their room while both Alex and Jan Squire have a boring
conversation in the living room which
looked nicely done.
There's many great cheesy one liners with
the friends like Richard and Krista hanging out in the living room along with
Jack and Marty acting
like jerk off's. Next there's great
shocked reactions after they open a
bedroom door and spot Alex in
bed with strange forces around him while
he's sleeping in which this looked very
effective.
A good confrontation with Carolyn Harding towards Alex about his nightmares and what happened at
a prison on an island as the situations
looked quite strong due to it's budget.
There's great shots on everyone in a boat
with mist around them as well as them
climbing up some rocks on an island
struggling to get to land as it shows a
nice horror feel to it.
There's great camera shots around the
prison hallways as well as shots looking
down on the cast too.
A nice shot on Alex near a chapel area with a shot on Sammy Mitchell with a good ghostly presence
towards him as why he's here and what he
has to do which looked quite impressive.
A good approach with Krista trying to come up to Richard while he's hiding behind a pillar and
drooling with fangs reavealed and then
him stepping forward about to attack with
the others screaming and trying to
get away while he tries to attack them
all. There's good close up shots on Krista tied down with Richard tearing
off her clothes and then biting her neck.
Next at the chapel there's good discussion
again between Alex and Sammy as well as Richard appearing as a
ghost and showing some humor on the
matter that's going on.
A good moment with Sammy trying to get Richard's attention
when he's the demonic monster while
trying to urge Carolyn to run
while she distracts him which was
terrific timing on the moments
surrounding all of this.
A nice shot on Carolyn trying to act brave towards Richard during a rainstorm and acting lustfully
towards him which really boggles your
mind.
We spot some more camera takes with Alex struggling in some dirty water trying to
survive on what is happening slong with
both Carolyn and Jan sobbing while trying to struggle against Richard and planning to light the area on fire as
there's terrific energetic force on both
parties.
Bottom line is that this is an
exciting teen party horror flick which
stands on it's own and is quite original
with it's story. I loved alot of the
sequences as you wonder what the hell is
going on. There is also some dark comedy
used in the film to uplift the terrifying
events that happen in this film. It's not a mainstream film by any means
and the story is hard to follow sometimes
but the excitement never stops in the low
budget flick with great effects too. However it borrows a bit from American
Werewolf in London with the
people already being killed returning as
scarred ghosts with their online humor
but that's not a big deal. I'd advise horror fans to check it out
close to Halloween since there's many fun
touches all the way through this movie.
The acting is passable for
by any means not award winning but still
passable so not terrible. Lead actor Nicholas
Celozzi (Alex Gardner) knew his craft as a teen
tormented by his nightmares as he shows
great energy to his part in the film as
well as acting insecure too on what is
happening to him. He really knew how to
act aggressive and anxious too.
Tom Reilly (Richard Gardner) did well as his older
brother who really did well with his
masculine looks as well as having a
masculine attitude and being full of life
to top it all off. He certainly does a
great job when he is turned into this
demonic beat by showing great monstrous
expressions as well as having a good
growly voice apart from the sound effects
that were used on them. Energetic he was
and I have no criticism on him.
Toni Basil (Sammy Mitchell) really drew an eye to the
audience as a ghost as she had the right
looks looking almost fragile and
mysterious looking. She said her words
quite well by speaking ghostly and
brought some great chemistry to her part
while trying to save others on the
island.
Donna Denton (Carolyn Harding) had a great strong
attitude as a specialist in the film and
stood out just perfectly. She also knew
how to act creeped out when the terror
starts to happen as well as trying to be
brave at the same time.
Playboy Playmate Hope Marie Carlton (Krista Halpern) looked stunning in her role and seemed to
do so-so with her emotions on set of
filming this piece by trying to show off
more than her lusty looks. I can see her
getting other work in low budget movies
like this one mainly for her looks
though. She does well crying in pain and
terror after being bitten on the neck.
Tamara Hyler (Jan Squire) really pulled off her
role as the girl next door type and
seemed to pull it off well by acting
sympathesing as well as doing a nice job
by crying in fear with all that's
happening with everyone. She only had a
handful of other gigs which is a shame.
Cult actress/model named
Hope Marie Carlton appears topless
before and after a sex scene.
She also gets her top ripped off by
Tom Reilly's character when he is
posessed again and so exposing her
breasts.
During
hallucination sequences a guys hand is
chopped off, his face is mangled, body
burned, body cut open.
A neck is bitten.
Many scarred victims are exposed as
ghosts.
A fist is punched through a guy's head.
Devo musicians Gerard
Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh
are terrific with their rockin composing
especially during the dream sequences and
during the terrifying battles with the
great high and low keyboard and heavy
guitar riffs especially with the opening
credits which was total kick ass. We also
hear some cheesy 80's light synthesizer
music for many moments of the film which
totally works too.
In fact, we have a bitchin
soundtrack by the group Devo but
what song really bears in my mind is the
one that was used in the closing credits
titled "The Only One" as it's
totally 80's type for a motion picture
like this one with a woman singing the
song. |
