Die Höllenbrut

A disappointingly routine action thriller with an interesting premise in that conditioning - used in laboratories to shape the behaviour of animals, the most famous case being that of Pavlov's dogs - is used on children to transform them into ruthless murderers. Unfortunately the premise is only a set-up for some stale antics involving a captured killer, and his subsequent escape and chase. By the end of the film we've gone through the run-of-the-mill confessionals and surprises but the film only impresses us during the frenetic action sequences, which are well-choreographed for a television music and enlivened by some pulse-pounding music. The opening in particular is a real showstopper with a public assassination attempt followed by an explosive double suicide. There's also some cool antics involving a train and a helicopter which makes for one hell of a cliffhanger.

Unfortunately the film becomes less interesting as it goes along, packed full of plot contrivances and attempts at mood which aren't too successful. It ends in a final shoot-out which really isn't that interesting and a bit of an anticlimax. The D-grade casting doesn't help this film much either. Firstly we have the bland straight-to-video man Andrew McCarthy as the hero, Ben Carroway. No matter what role he plays, good or bad, McCarthy just seems to be so damn boring in every film he appears in that you can't care less about him. The much better and under-appreciated actor Robert Patrick (TERMINATOR 2) is relegated to a useless comic-relief irritating sidekick type role when in reality he would have been much better as the hero. Portia de Rossi makes for a sassy and beautiful love interest/female lead but her character is given nowhere to go and extraneous to the plot. Old-timer Nick Mancuso is the mad scientist bad guy but he plays it low-key, with none of the overacting you might expect from the role. A BREED APART is only worth watching if you're really stuck for something on telly, as the couple of good action sequences it does have are surprisingly well-staged, but as a film it's a failure.

Given the names in the cast this movie was exceptionally bad. Poor acting, poor scripts, poor directing. Miss this one on purpose. The settings are about the only things, that have any redeeming quality. The weapons are nice but have unrealistic damage to objects also. I'd rather watch Lion King for the 10millionth time with the kids, than watch this one again.

I have a bit of a confession to make. I kinda sorta got to liking Aaron Lohr a couple months back. Unfortunately the first thing I saw him in consciously knowing it was him was the VH1 movie about The Monkees and...well...he made me mad in it because, let's face it, he didn't fill the part of Micky Dolenz. Sorry good buddy.

But I decided to give him another chance. So I picked up this movie to see what it may be like and to see Robert Patrick again other than an evil shape-shifting robot like in T2. Let me tell you, this movie made me feel so much better after the VH1 movie. It was so awful that I was laughing my head off. Funny though, I found it in the Adventure section of the store and not Comedy. The plot was terrible, the story was that worthy of late Sunday Night Sci-Fi Channel and the acting was...well, take a guess at it. I'd just like to thank this movie for giving me the biggest laugh I'd had in a good couple months. Sorry Aaron ol' pal. My advise is stick to musicals and dancing and the Gap commercials, not this.

When Dr Ben Carroway (McCarthy) is involved in an assassination where the killers commit suicide once trapped he finds that the killers have no criminal record. However they are all registered missing children and sets on a journey with one of the killer's sister (Portia de Rossi) and a mob hitman (Robert Patrick).

This is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Usually anything with Andrew McCarthy in the lead is the equivalent of the kiss of death, but here he seems to have done alright here. The action scenes are fast moving and have a quota of tension, even the gunfights etc are exciting if a little far fetched at times. The main strength here is the plot, it starts out a little unbelievable but once it starts moving you forget the problems and see the bigger picture. The story holds several little twists and turns that hold the interest well, and the final resolution tidies up the problems of the unbelievable story by offering a solution that isn't that far-fetched (in fact depressingly possible). Nick Mancuso's Dr Greely is far too hammy and is bordering on a bad spoof of a bond villain, but happily he doesn't drag the surrounding film down with him.

McCarthy is pretty good as the hero and only the plot makes his job harder by making it all too personal and relying on too many coincidences. Patrick is as good as he usually is, albeit he's lumbered with the wise-cracking mobster but he still is entertaining. Rossi (best known for Ally McBeal) does well at first as the sister of a stolen child, but her sudden transformation into a gun-toting fearless warrior is a little too much to swallow.

Overall this is much better than you'd expect from this type of DTV film, the plot is a little far-fetched at times but the drama and action make up for the lack of realism.

I don't think it deserves all the negative comments it has gotten, but that's just my opinion. If other reviewers didn't like it, they have the right to say so. So be it. It wasn't the best made-for-TV movie I've ever seen but it wasn't the worst either.

I did like it well enough to watch it when it came on CineMAX and I was entertained by it. This same sort of "conditioning" that was depicted in "Telefon" in 1977. I'm sure the concept has been used in a few other films as well. I watched it all the way through to see how they chose to end it and ended up enjoying the experience despite my disappointment.

My favorite part is when Lana shows Leo she can "handle herself" as she puts it. The reaction is subtle but unmistakable. I laughed out loud when I saw it. However, I was a bit disappointed at the ending but based on the time when it was made, I guess I should have expected it.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to younger kids as some of the content is a bit gruesome and I can see how it earned its TVMA rating. But as far as entertainment value goes, I liked it well enough to add it to my collection. I give it 5 out of 10.