1995's Last Gasp is a such a fun flick that is very entertaining & has a great performance from the underrated Robert Patrick.
First off I've been a huge fan of Robert Patrick since Terminator 2 & Die Hard 2 way back when i was little & watching them on video. Patrick has a look & presence that stands out & after the excellent From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) he became one of my favourite actors ever. I used to hunt down Patrick films on video way back the late 90s & early 2000's & i found a great little video shop called Enterprise Video & there they had a section or shelf just for Robert Patrick (i also got many James Belushi films there too) I discovered some Robert Patrick gems in there such as Hong Kong 97, Tactical Assault, Zero Tolerance, The Vivero Letter & Last Gasp. I also loved Patrick in The Faculty, Cop Land, D-Tox, Backflash & more. Patrick is a guy that can pop up in anything from many direct-to-video films to big budget movies & he's always damn good. Although Patrick is mostly looked at as a "Character Actor" or a B-movie actor, he's still one of the best. Checkout Patrick's small but damn good role in the Denzel Washington Thriller Safehouse for an example of what a scene stealer & screen presence he is.
Last Gasp is a supernatural thriller with slasher & horror elements with a bit of that very 90's erotic thriller stuff mixed in. Robert Patrick (a very physically strong & menacing performance) plays a ruthless land developer named Leslie Chase & he wipes out a forest tribe somewhere in Mexico, so he can build a hotel on their land but the tribes leader with his Last Gasp cursed Leslie to live as one of their tribesmen. Leslie becomes rich with his land developing & lives in a huge mansion & drives expensive cars but he doesn't have it all as he's driven to paint himself up in tribal makeup & run around at night half naked like a warrior & kill. Leslie sacrifices & eats his victims & hunts like a savage beast & Patrick gives a damn convincing performance with his muscled physicality & evil eyes he's creepy. The Totec Indian tribe he slaughtered posess his soul. Things get crazy when a lady named Norah, a great performance by Joanna Pacula (Marked For Death,Virus) sets out to investigate what happened to her boyfriend when he disappeared after working for Leslie. Also Norah's best friend Blondie is a great character played by Mimi Craven, both ladies are so natural on screen & i like both characters alot. Also bit-part actor Shashawnee Hall (RIP) has a perfect little part as a Detective & he's also been in another Robert Patrick B-movie Thriller called ZERO TOLERANCE (its excellent) there Hall played one of Patrick's fellow FBI agent's, he was a decent little B-movie actor.
There's a nice supernatural fantasy atmosphere to this classy flick & i love that it's so perfectly 90s as i have great Nostalgia for that era & time & the film actually feels strangly comforting, probably because i grew up in that era & the simpler times.
Anyway, Last Gasp is damn good piece of old school direct-to-video 90's thriller entertainment with a great Robert Patrick performance.
The look (very cosy & erotic thriller style) & the music also pure 90's & nice. I love these types of B-movies because they give the supporting actors & "Character Actor's" a chance to be the lead & let's be honest that Actor's like Robert Patrick, Ron Perlman, William Sadler, Ernie Hudson, William Forsythe, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Tom Atkins, Lance Henriksen, Tony Todd, Barry Pepper, Robert Davi, Robert Forster,
James Belushi & that's just an example, are way more interesting to watch than most of the "Popular" Actor's (bland Brad Pitt & Tom Cult Cruise come to mind) that everyone seems to love!!!!
There's some erotic sex scenes that are cheesy funny but mostly Last Gasp plays it properly & the violent scenes are proper bloody slasher stuff.
A real GEM.
