(1990)
Dir - Bert I. Gordon
Overall: MEH
The penultimate film from director Bert I. Gordon before he briefly reemerged in 2015 to make Secrets of a Psychopath for some reason, Satan's Princess, (Malediction), is a typical straight-to-video thriller in most respects, yet the presence of an overqualified Robert Forster and a handful of ridiculous moments make noteworthy. For a police procedural, Stephen Katz' script has a fair amount of snappy and wise-ass dialog, most of which is given to Forster who does his professional best to pretend that he is in a better movie. There are some surprisingly exploitative bouts of gore and sex, including a lesbian relationship spearheaded by Lydie Denier, who Forster also gets to roll in ze hay with while smacking her ass and engaging in dirty talk about wanting to see her tattoo. The plot gets convoluted at points, throwing in murdered women, an immortal demon, possession, a kid with a mullet and a learning disability, and typical cop movie cliches like dead partners and "I quit the force yet am too obsessed with my job to actually quit" nonsense. Sleazy in a late night cable kind of way, but Denier tries to drive away in a car in full monster mode after Forster shoots her into a pool with a flamethrower, so that is worth something.
THE DARK BACKWARD(1991)
Dir - Adam Rifkin
Overall: GOOD
Dir - Bert I. Gordon
Overall: MEH
The penultimate film from director Bert I. Gordon before he briefly reemerged in 2015 to make Secrets of a Psychopath for some reason, Satan's Princess, (Malediction), is a typical straight-to-video thriller in most respects, yet the presence of an overqualified Robert Forster and a handful of ridiculous moments make noteworthy. For a police procedural, Stephen Katz' script has a fair amount of snappy and wise-ass dialog, most of which is given to Forster who does his professional best to pretend that he is in a better movie. There are some surprisingly exploitative bouts of gore and sex, including a lesbian relationship spearheaded by Lydie Denier, who Forster also gets to roll in ze hay with while smacking her ass and engaging in dirty talk about wanting to see her tattoo. The plot gets convoluted at points, throwing in murdered women, an immortal demon, possession, a kid with a mullet and a learning disability, and typical cop movie cliches like dead partners and "I quit the force yet am too obsessed with my job to actually quit" nonsense. Sleazy in a late night cable kind of way, but Denier tries to drive away in a car in full monster mode after Forster shoots her into a pool with a flamethrower, so that is worth something.
Dir - Adam Rifkin
Overall: GOOD
Adam Rifkin's The Dark Backward, (The Man with Three Arms), follows up his doofy boner comedy/sci-fi hybrid The Invisible Maniac and is a deliberate midnight movie anomaly. Accurately described as Eraserhead meets Pink Flamingos, the mark of John Waters is all over the production with its tacky and filth-ridden set design and top-to-bottom oddballs on the screen, not to mention a juvenile reveling in grossness that is as uncomfortable as it is hilarious. Stylistically, Rifkin goes one further with garish, expressive, and colorful lighting which along with the head-scratching story line and kitschy cynicism, breathes grimy life into a script that the writer/director allegedly penned when he was only nineteen. Of course the wide cast of familiar faces makes the whole thing even more strange than it unavoidably is. Judd Nelson is as against type as a spineless protagonist as Bill Paxton is perfectly suited doing a Bill Paxton impression as his scumbag, "human cockroach" cheerleader sidekick, stealing all of his moments with the type of jacked-up hillbilly mugging that only Paxton can effortlessly dial in when called for. James Caan, Wayne Newton, Lara Flynn Boyle, Claudia Christian, and a cameo by Rob Lowe as a sleazy TV executive, (a year before he would do the same thing in Wayne's World), round out an ensemble of thespians who one cannot believe actually signed on to such a project.
(1999)
Dir - David DeCoteau
Overall: WOOF
Even by Full Moon Features standards, The Killer Eye is some poorly executed crap. As was often the case for no budget B-movies directed by David DeCoteau, (utilizing the alias Richard Chasen here), gratuitous nakedness and sex scenes are thrown into an idiotic story line that may as well have been made up on the fly. DeConteau has proven himself capable of delivering a couple of purposeful nyuck nyucks in his wide assortment of boobie flicks, but his work here is pathetic. Whatever jokes may be lurking around would take a diligent level of perception to detect as the plot just bounces between roughly three cheaply decorated rooms where characters talk, take their clothes off, and occasionally interact with the killer eye of the title. Though both Nanette Bianchi and softcore mainstay Jacqueline Lovell show off their birthday suites at regular intervals, the film is oddly homoerotic with guys fondling their shaved chests, two of them hanging out in only their underwear while bro-ing it out with candy-colored drugs, a boy prostitute who becomes the first victim of the monstrous optical organ, and a Reg Park Hercules poster chilling in the background. The premise is ridiculous and there is no attempt to hide the insufficient production values, but the whole thing is flatly delivered without emphasizing its camp appeal, completely missing the mark in the process.
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