(1990)
Dir - Mark L. Lester
Overall: GOOD
Following up his 1982 movie Class of 1984, filmmaker Mark L. Lester jumped ahead a decade and a half with Class of 1999; a dystopian action variation of the comparatively more down to earth themes of delinquent violence that were explored in the first outing. Screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner steps in to crank everything up, presenting a world where the American school system has gotten so overrun with crime that a covert military operation has stepped in to implement a new disciplinary program involving cybernetic soldier teachers run by a sleazy Stacy Keach with a ridiculous haircut. In typical sequel fashion, everything is done to a more outrageous degree; the setting is one step away from a Mad Max post-apocalypse, the villains are more cartoonishly one-note, the gore is a plenty, and super-powered cyborgs are brought in to go sentient with their "eliminate the enemy" agenda. It all builds to an over-the-top finale where everything blows up, everyone is covered with blood, and teachers with animatronic bodies need to be liquefied in order to be stopped. Subtly is not the game in other words, but Lester sticks to the schlocky tone and for anyone who wants to see Pam Grier brutally murder a bunch of high school punks Terminator style, this is your movie.
WITCH HUNT(1994)
Dir - Paul Schrader
Overall: MEH
Replacing Fred Ward with Dennis Hopper in the lead as private investigator Harry Philip Lovecraft, screenwriter Joseph Dougherty churned out a sequel to the 1991 HBO film Cast a Deadly Spell, here titled Witch Hunt. Julian Sands in an Irish accent playing yet another warlock, Penelope Anne Miller as a Hollywood starlet, Eric Bogosian as a corrupt political hopeful, Angelo Badalamenti providing the music, and Paul Schrader of all people behind the lens, it has plenty of star power to be of interest. Unfortunately, this particular yarn slams home the metaphor of magic as communism via a McCarthy-style witch hunt for practitioners, (hence the film's title), and is only moderately successful in the process. There are a couple of wacky set pieces where spells are cast that can transform women into bosomy screen queens, sick ravens on people to make them fall asleep, or in the most ridiculous showstopper, make somebody's literal "true self" emerge from their bodies after throwing-up a toad. Though all of the other performances are captivating enough, Hopper seems to be going through the motions here with a surprising lack of charisma as a film noir private dick, plus the period setting of 1940s LA is poorly convened to the point of being indistinguishable from the early 90s when it was actually made.
(1995)
Dir - Steve Latshaw
Overall: WOOF
Though it may be of interest to horror buffs for technically containing the final film roles of both Cameron Mitchell and John Carradine as well as Linnea Quigley's naked boobs, Jack-O is an inexcusably embarrassing piece of Z-grade garbage. Hilariously and, (more importantly), boringly failing at every level, it marks the third collaboration between producer Fred Olen Ray and director Steven Latshaw, with several of the duo's usual cast and crew members adding another dud on their resumes. Carradine and Mitchell's footage was each taken from unrelated projects considering that the former died almost a decade earlier and 1990's Demon Cop literally contains the same shots of Mitchell sitting behind a desk as a TV horror movie host. For Quigley's part, her introduction here is in her birthday suite while showering and due to the incompetent editing, it takes several minutes before we realize even who in the hell she is supposed to be, making one of several unintentionally funny moments along with insultingly tedious nonsense taking up the majority of the proceedings. Every other "actor" on screen could not possible be worse and the whole thing leaves one with that feeling of sinking into your chair in uncomfortable unease as a pathetic, no-money, no-talent variation of Stan Winston's Pumpkinhead plays out before you.
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