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| MISFIRE |
An
odd thing happened recently as I was milling through my movie database. I
noticed a strange similarity. During the '80s, there were a handful of action
flicks that didn't just have a villain bent on revenge or world domination.
These villains were all formed out of horror chiches. So, all aboard the
“Action Movie Time Machine” as we travel to the '80s to find slashers and
murderous cults in the genre of action.
The
year is 1988. Michael Jackson wasn't yet the butt of a joke and instead was in
his own anthology film “Moonwalker”. A group of teenagers were “Saved By the
Bell”, and Stephen Hawking becomes a bestselling author with his book “A Brief
History of Time”.
THE
SKINNY
“Hero and the Terror”
is about detective Danny O'Brien, Chuck Norris, who has become a bit of
a celebrity since he captured Simon Moon – a man who has committed a series of
vicious murders in which he stalks women, snaps their necks and keeps them as
rag doll trophies. It's explained in passing conversation that Moon was abused
as a child and has grown up deranged. No, this isn't a Slaughter Film review,
even though we're in horror movie territory.
O'Brien
has since been given the nickname “Hero” by the local media. A name that he
laments. O'Brien is the type of guy who's too modest to accept the praise and
would rather avoid it all in place of some hard detective work.
Things
aren't all rainbows and lollipops for O'Brien. Since he apprehended Moon, he
has been terrorized by reoccurring nightmares of Moon on his killing spree. He
reaches out to a psychologist to help interpret and overcome his dreams, who he
later develops a relationship with and even knocks up. Between his night
terrors and his pregnant girlfriend, Kay, we get to see a just how complicated
and caring O'Brien is... But I just wanna see Chuck Norris deliver some justice
to the skulls of mindless thugs in the form of a roundhouse kick. Am I right?
O'Brien's
nightmares become reality when Moon escapes from his prison cell and disappears
into the rural wilderness. Actually, he steals a van, rams it through the
facilities guard gate, then off a cliff and into the ocean. LOL He escaped only
to, seemingly, kill himself in a car accident. Oh, but Moon lives to kill more
women.
Once
the bodies of young women start turning up in Los Angeles, the media explodes
with theories that Moon has returned. The Mayor, played by Ron O'Neil – aka
“Superfly” himself, calls in the chief of police and O'Brien to take a look at
the evidence and re-assure the public that these recent killings are not the
work of Moon. Of course O'Brien can't do that.
Things
spice up when one young woman turns up missing and another is found dead
outside the town's recently renovated historic theater.
O'Brien
orders a search of the theater – from top to bottom – suspecting that Moon,
injured and weak from his car ride over the cliff, made his way to the vacated
theater. The search reveals nothing, but O'Brien takes it upon himself to
investigate further. In the attic above the theater, O'Brien discovers a series
of catacombs. This doesn't make much sense to me. These catacombs look more
like sewer tunnels. Why would these be above a theater? I don't know, I'm just
along for the ride.
O'Brien
follows the tunnels for a while before he finds Moon's roost. A room willed
with candles and several more dead women that Moon was saving as his trophies.
Moon appears from the shadows and a firght breaks out that leads through the
attic of the theater and onto the roof.
O'Brien
delivers some sweet kung-fu justice before he manages to get behind Moon to
choke him out. In classic slasher movie tradition the killer comes back to life
for one last scare. O'Brien throws Moon through the theaters skylight, and he
falls to his death.
The
film ends with O'Brien visiting his girlfriend in the hospital -- she just gave
birth to their child. He hobbles through the hospital halls, broken and beaten
by Moon, as he grabs a priest to wed the them there in the hospital. The End.
I
guess O'Brien didn't need a shrink to cure him of his nightmares. Just a
healthy dose of murder.
THE
VERDICT
“Hero
and the Terror” has potential, but it lacks in story telling. The direction
and/or editing leave something to be desired. The plot and characters are just
fine, but my god, everything this film has in it's favor is completely avoided.
As if it were on purpose.
My
first problem is with the killer who isn't developed enough to be a true
“terror”. Even though Moon follows in the footsteps of other silent killers
like Jason, “Friday the 13th”, and Michael Myers, “Halloween”,
there isn't enough suspense to make him, or his actions terrifying. The
fact that Moon never speaks is a bit of a missed opportunity to expand the idea
that he's deranged. We should get a glimpse into the mind of the man behind all
the killings. Unfortunately, Moon exists only for O'Brien to have something to
do.
O'Brien's
girlfriend, Kay, being pregnant and having second thoughts about her life isn't
important and too much time is spent on it. The pregnancy is a just a way to
show that there is more to O'Brien than the other, more action packed
characters portrayed by Norris. The problem with this is that people don't
watch Chuck Norris flicks to watch him share his emotions.
Speaking
of emotions, Norris isn't the best actor, but by no means is he a BAD actor.
However, in this movie, he seems stiff and uninteresting. Again, I point my
finger at the director. As if no one explained to the actors how they should
act, and many of them deliver their lines devoid of emotions.
It's
a shame Chuck Norris wasn't in more better movies. Some aren't bad, but largely
they go unnoticed or forgotten. But not anymore! Lets see what other Chuck
Norris flicks I can uncover with the “Action Movie Time Machine”.
I’m Cory Carr and this concludes
another trip on the “Action Movie Time Machine”. Until next time, Semper Fi
Punk!
For more from Cory, check out his
website slaughterfilm.com, where he and his good friend
Forest Taylor record weekly podcasts, reviewing the films that are legendary,
even in Hell!
