In short: Bordello of Blood (1996)

Caleb (Corey Feldman) the rebellious (if you’re really really old) brother of TV preacher’s assistant Katherine Verdoux (Erika Eleniak) disappears without a trace after a fight about his horrible lifestyle (consisting of the loud playing of the Devil’s music itself and wearing poser-metalhead clothing). Little does Katherine expect he’s found a sticky end at the claws and teeth of chief vampire Lilith (Angie Everhart) while visiting her secret bordello situated below a funeral parlour. Even less does she expect Lilith is actually (via some magic gizmo) forced to work for her own boss, one Reverend Current (Chris Sarandon), who uses the ancient yet rather style-less evil to murder people whose morals he doesn’t approve of.

Katherine will find out in the end, though, thanks to the help of sleazy yet boring private dick Rafe Guttman (Dennis Miller), and because this would be a rather short movie if she didn’t.

On the other hand, I’d have rather liked if Gilbert Adler’s movie spin-off of Tales from the Crypt (the TV show, not the comic, so it’s the spin-off of a spin-off) had been much shorter. Say about ten minutes or so of total running time? Because, even if you lower your standards for this one as deeply as seems appropriate for the low brow horror comedy this is supposed to be, Bordello of Blood is the living (undead?) embodiment of the word “lame”. There are lame jokes, lame one-liners, really lame acting (Angie Everhart certainly can’t deliver a line to save her life, and it’s not as if Miller or Eleniak fare any better, which becomes a problem when a film spends most of its time on them), lamer dialogue, lame direction, even lame nudity (and that in a film called Bordello of Blood). In short, what should be a dumb yet fun ride turns out to be torturous sequence of scenes that neither work nor are funny, with about one and a half good ideas (I kinda liked the cross-drawing laser gun), and what I find terribly difficult not to read as heavily misogynist subtext (particularly in a film doing so little to distract me from it).

Some of the general lameness of proceedings is easily explained by the Rule of Camp, which clearly states that everything consciously made to be campy will always turn out to be crap (see the second half of John Waters’s career, or Ken Russell on his bad days), a series of knowing winks only ever meant to demonstrate the superiority of a filmmaker over his or her material, always resulting in me not caring a lick about the results.

But hey, the special effects aren’t too bad.

Technorati-Markierungen: american movies,in short,horror,comedy,gilbert adler,dennis miller,erika elaniak,angie everhart

In short: Running Red (1999)

Russian special ops soldier Gregori (Jeff Speakman) retires after a job that leaves his brother dead and an innocent child killed by his superior Alexi (Stanley Kamel). Eleven years later, Gregori has become Greg, some sort of American business person, happily married to Katherine (Angie Everhart), with one daughter, Amanda (Cassie Ray).

Unfortunately, Greg has never bothered to tell his wife anything about his past, an omission that makes it that much easier for his past to come back to him with a vengeance. Alexi and his associate Strelkin (Elya Baskin) are involved in some rather shady deals surrounding an American Football stadium (oh the irony!), and they really need somebody to kill a few people for them. Greg (who, we are repeatedly and helpfully informed, "is the best") is the ideal candidate for that kind of job. And my, wouldn't it be sad if anyone told his wife about his past, or, once things escalate, if something happened to that fine family of his? At least, Alexi does sweeten the deal for Greg with the identity of the person he wants dead: Mercier (Bart Braverman) just happens to be the man who killed Greg's brother, so there shouldn't be too many conscience problems for our hero.

Of course, things become problematic quickly.

Jerry P. Jacobs's Running Red is as fine an example of US direct to DVD action filmmaking as you'll probably find, with nary a flaw disturbing the series of bus chases, shoot-outs and scenes of Jeff Speakman kicking ass.

Of course, if you're very deeply into logically sound plots, Running Red won't make you happy, even though it's actually one of the better motivated direct to DVD actioners I know. Well, Greg's actions do at least make sense; it's a bit doubtful why Alexi doesn't just hire a professional killer for the job and be done with it without going to the trouble of making "the best" very angry at him, something that never works out too well in action movies.

But really, that sort of thing isn't too important in this kind of movie. What's important is that Jeff Speakman has enough motivation to go through an escalating series of cheap yet well-staged action sequences, the audience has enough motivation to cheer for him (and what's easier to relate to - and more caveman simplistic - than a guy protecting his family from problems that are completely his own fault?), that people are pretend-shot, and something exciting happens at least every second scene. Running Red is a movie really good at that important stuff; in fact, from time to time it's downright riveting.

As an added bonus, Jacobs also has a bit of fun with the concept of Being American, rather sarcastically declaring both Alexi's criminal enterprises and Greg's conservative family life to be expressions of the American Dream. Give me that and scenes of Speakman kicking and shooting people, and I'm happy.

 

Technorati-Markierungen: american movies,in short,action,jerry p. jacobs,jeff speakman,angie everhart,stanley kamel,elya baskin