Retribution

Manic depressive artist George Miller snaps one Halloween night, decides he wants to end it all and jumps from the top of the inner-city fleabag motel he calls home. Across town, small-time gangster Vito Minelli finds out the hard way, what happens when you don't pay off your gambling debts, as his vengeful cronies blow out his kneecaps, then douse him in gasoline and set him on fire.

Somewhere between life and death, George's and Vito's lives intersect, and both will be changed forever. This is not a good thing for George, and even worse for Vito's assailants, as they will each discover to their horror and dismay...

As low-budget supernatural thrillers go, RETRIBUTION manages to strike a nice balance between the yen of those horror fans who like character-driven stories, and the gorehounds who like to see "folks git blowed up real good." TV and movie vet Dennis Lipscomb, who very rarely gets to carry a picture, delivers a scary and sympathetic performance as the troubled George. He has the chameleonic ability to disappear into his character, which is both a blessing and a curse to the best character actors. They make it look so easy, most people don't even consider what they do to be "work," and that's the trouble.

Another out-of-print, hard-as-hell-to-find but worthy entry into the B-movie hall of fame.

Dennis Lipscombe is a depressed artist who throws himself off the roof of the hotel he lives in on Halloween. He survives, but starts having visions of a small time gangster who died the same night. Soon he is having nightmares about stalking and killing strangers, and the murders he dreams of are really happening. His psychiatrist and his hooker girlfriend try to help him figure out what is going on, while cop Hoyt Axton investigates the murder spree. This is a pretty solid mid-80's horror flick with colorful photography, creative, gory deaths, and a really solid cast of recognizable character actors.

I think i'd like to live in this world - all low rent film noir, new wave neon, coloured gels where your best friends are bikers and hookers and its full of Rastafarian mystics and cliched cops in shiny suits and dogs in sunglasses.

In the film industry, its a huge rarity to have a cult classic come from a first time director, especially one who has worked strictly on TV episodes. Egyptian born, Guy Magar who started out working on such iconic television shows such as Hunter, Werewolf, The Powers of Matthew Star, and Buck Rogers had written this film which is a amalgamation of his love of revenge films, possession films, and the human condition.

Retribution was Guy's 1987 feature debut which starred Dennis Lipscomb (In the Heat of the Night, The First Power) who plays George Miller. Hoyt Axton (Gremlins) as Lt. Ashley, Suzanne Snyder (Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Return of the Living Dead Part 2) who is Angel the whore with a heart of gold, & Leslie Wing (Strangeland, High School Musical Series) who plays as Jennifer Curtis the shrink who befriends George.

The film opens up with depressed artist, played by Lipscomb who attempts suicide in front of a crowd of friends as he falls to his short lived death. At the same time, across town a underling gangster is meeting his demise at the hands of four mob bosses. The two men's lives clash as one is successfully brought back to life and rehabilitated and trying to get his life back on track and the other is nothing but murder on his mind, and with the help of his physical unsuspecting host - there will be vengeance and lots of blood.

Once George is brought back, his nightlife is plagued by nightmares involved a green eyed daemon who looks eerily familiar to the scared man. He begins seeing Dr. Curtis who tries to help, as the bodies pile up around town. This leads him into the crosshairs of Lt. Ashley who is determined to get his killer, all the while George's dysfunctional family try to play off his fears as its all in his head.

This movie is hands down one of the coolest and original films from the 80's era, from clothes, the music which includes a great score from John Carpenter Alumini - Alan Howardth. The colours used, the visual effects, and especially the brutal deaths and kill scenes really make this a film that has to be seen to be believed. Its sad that the director Guy Magar did two more direct to video films, I personally feel he was one talented voice in the horror genre who never really got his voice heard.

I was sent a LE bluray from Severin signed by both Magar and Howardth and was able to enjoy not just the film but the added bonus features as well. Which included some in depth and BTS stories from the set and about the film itself, Suzanne Snyder, Mr. Howardth, and several others all of which were short but informative and well worth the watch.

Another cool bonus was BINGO: Student Short By Guy Magar. This 3 disc LE release also included the Score written by Alan Howardth himself as well as the rare UNCUT Dutch version of the film!!

If you are a fan of 80's possession/revenge films then this is definitely one not to miss!!!

Santa Maria Mother of God HELP ME!

Solid B-movie with OK performances and slam-bang special effects. This is one of those neglected little thrillers that set out not to offer anything new to the genre, but at least to give fans of those movies their money's worth. And this one generally seems to know its business (although it does get a little too loud near the end). (**)