The Immortalizer

I just saw this movie this morning and oh my GOD it was horrible the story was so bad until I had to continue to watch it just to see what was going to happen next. The acting was horrible also it look like the actors was standing around waiting for each other to say there lines. And if they forgot their lines the other actors will say it for them. The only one in the whole entire movie that could act was the noisy neighbor across the street. Of course they had to do away with her. And you never seen what happen to her body later on. The movie quality was so low budget until I could've made a better movie off of my entire milk money at the 99 cent store. But if you wanna great laugh go buy it. If it cost more and 2 cents please call the police and let them know your being rob.

My review was written in August 1990 after watching the movie on RCA/Columbia video cassette.

Gore is the goal of this 1988 sci-fi/horror production bowing domestically in video stores.

Success of Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator" was bound to inspire imitations, of which "The Immortalizer" is an idiotic example. Ron Ray is a mad doctor running a clinic where people routinely trade in their bodies for beautiful, young ones -latter obtained in the usual Burke and Hare fashion.

Four teens are doped and shanghaied in an alley by two monsters sporting poor makeup effects (courtesy of John Naulin) and taken to the clinic. One of them escapes, leaving Bekki Armstrong conscious (but pretending to be doped) to suffer innumerable indignities not uncommon to starlets appearing in exploitation films.

Although director Joel Bender gets some overacting here, nothing reaches the campy, enjoyable levels of "Re-Animator". Experimental failures are kept locked up as cannibalistic geeks, a poor taste subplot which wastes (beneath monster makeup) Raye Hollitt, the bodybuilder who had a memorable tryst with John Ritter in Blake Edwards' "Skin Deep".

Armstrong is an alluring heroine who deserves better assignments, but the rest of the cast is unimpressive. Script overworks its "boy who cried wolf" premise, as no matter what happens the sheriff (Bo Byers) doesn't believe it and refuses to intercede. Yucky gore during the brain transplant operations is a turnoff.

In my opinion, great B movie from 80's! Very good idea of movie.

Once again a devious, dastardly doctor is up to no good: the nefarious Dr. Divine (Ron Ray) runs a clinic with the equally slimy Dr. Price (Clarke Lindsley) and their devoted nurse (Melody Patterson of 'F Troop' and "Blood & Lace"). Their mission is to transplant the brains of elderly & wealthy clients into much younger, healthier bodies in order to prolong their lives. But they make a mistake with the latest batch of youngsters whom they abduct: Gregg (Chris Crone) manages to escape, but is determined to save his friends as well. Naturally, the jerk Sheriff (Bo Byers) is no help at all, but Gregg gets some assistance from a snooping neighbor (Elmarie Wendel, 'Third Rock from the Sun').

Entertaining gore effects, as well as a subplot involving unsuccessful donor bodies, makes this a reasonably engaging direct-to-video B flick. This viewer was overall fairly satisfied, and would chalk this one up as "good" dumb fun, even if he was often questioning character decisions. The characters, by and large, are all pretty standard, and the script may be not so hot, but director Joel Bender ("Gas Pump Girls", "Rich Girl") still delivers a consistently amusing, trashy horror flick, complete with nudity and a pretty typical ending. The performances are actually a bit better than one might think, with Crone making for a decent-enough hero and Lindsley seeming to enjoy himself as the not particularly loyal Price. Viewers will also recognize American Gladiator Raye Hollitt ("Skin Deep") as one of those "creatures" whom our villains keep locked up in the basement. Bob Verne and Terry Miller are good for some chuckles as two brain-dead henchmen. And Ray is fun to watch as the pompous chief antagonist.

"The Immortalizer" is no unsung B movie gem, but if you're anything like this viewer, you may have a fairly good time with it as well.

Six out of 10.

The Immortalizer (1989) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi and tells the tale of some scientists who have created a machine that helps keep you young forever. However, everything has its catches and this machine is no different. The scientist needs to kidnap the people whose bodies his older clients want, he then transfers the old people into the young bodies and vice versa. Can the latest victims find a way to escape and expose scientist?

This movie is directed by Joel Bender (Gas Pump Girls) and stars Melody Patterson (Blood and Lace), Raye Hollitt (Skin Deep), Elmarie Wendel (Lorax) and Karen Moore (Quantum Leap).

The big guys makeup in this was just okay but they were fun characters. The monster fights were entertaining, especially the female fighter, and was probably the best part of the film. The dialogue in this was awkward and painful at times. The acting was also just okay and fairly clumsy. Unfortunately the attack and kill scenes were nothing special.

Overall this is a below average addition to the horror genre. There were some elements that had potential but the film unfortunately doesn't hit the mark. I would score this film a 4/10 and only recommend it if nothing else is on.