My review was written in October 1987 after watching the movie at a Times Square screening room.
"Retribution" is a hyped-up supernatural horror film, substituting a noisy soundtrack, gore and a fidgety camera for any substance. It stands an okay chance at attracting less discriminating horror audiences during the Halloween season.
As implied by the title, pic concerns the standard revenge from beyond the grave plot. Dennis Lipscomb plays George Miller, who commits suicide, almost dying, jumping from his hotel roof in the pic's protracted (8-minute) prolog. A man who is brutally murdered at the same time (and who shares Miller's April 1 birthdate) seemingly possesses Miller's body, meting out sadistic, gory deaths to his killers while Miller sleeps. Pic's protagonists, including Miller, his kindly and beautiful shrink (Leslie Wing) and stone-faced cop on the case (Hoyt Axton in a bored walk-through) are much slower than the audience in picking up on the obvious clues.
Padded film runs at least two reels too long for its own good, as feature-debuting filmmaker (after tv experience) Guy Magar dwells unwisely on boring plot recap scenes, a silly excursion to a rastaman witch doctor and overly cutesy filler involving Miller's neighbors at the hotel. Film's biggest fault is that despite Lipscomb's technically okay, twitchy performance, the central character is thoroughly unsympathetic and it remains unbelievable that he has so many friends looking out for his welfare.
Explicit gore and blood is laid on to delight the fans, but pic is needlessly ugly, with Fuji color (by United Lab) that is garish with a greenish tint even in "normal" scenes (plus ugly color filters and lighting for effect). Alan Howarth's score is way overdone in a vain attempt to supercharge the visuals, which consist of familiar horror effects. Acting is tolerable, though Suzanne Snyder, playing Miller's prostitute girlfriend, is shrill and campy for the second time in a row, following her "Prettykill" shriekathon role. Finale and some of the effects are overly reminiscent of "The Exorcist", with a very corny final twist.
