I love the occasional low-budget exploitation horror movie. They're usually good for a laugh. LUKAS' CHILD, like most of the movies in its genre, has its share of funny bits and t&a. It is, however, too slow and repetitive to be really entertaining. The plot has a smalltime Hollywood production company sacrificing girls to a creature referred to only as "the child." From that creepy, promising start, we descend into boredom with the introduction of a detective investigating the disappearances of beautiful babes. He's semi-good-looking, and the women he questions are all hot and interested in him, but, honestly, who needs him? The real star of this show is Lukas, an old man in a bathrobe who is priest to a strange cult. The guy can act and his dialogue isn't bad either. He and the victims have some good scene together that have a dramatic quality that makes you forget for a minute that this is an exploitation movie you're watching. The funny bits of this movie are good stuff, too. One of Lukas's thugs (who a witness described as looking "like Charles Manson") abducts women by night and takes them back to the cult's lair in coffins. It's a pretty funny sight to see a pick-up truck driving through LA at night with a coffin not quit fitting in its bed. There are some pieces that don't fit, though. Two children witness the strange goings on and dutifully inform the police. The kids really bring this movie down by a lot (they're right out of the 50s). If this thing had been made a mere two years later, the influence of SE7EN would have improved the whole detective angle by a lot, and this movie would have been much better. As it is, this film suffers from the stagnant state of the horror film at the time. It's a pity, too, because Lukas and his child were a pretty interesting idea (at east until the child is shown). LUKAS' CHILD is a fun movie watch with friends while having a few beers. At the very least, its better than the other three movies on the DVD horror-anthology I found it on. If you do happen to find this movie and for some reason want to watch it, keep your expectations low and you might enjoy it.
