Fleshburn - In der Hitze der Wüste

Sonny Landham portrays a confrontational Vietnam veteran who is wrongfully sent to an institution. He eventually escapes, Hell bent on revenge against those responsible for having him locked away. These folks are rounded up like cattle, bound and gagged, and left in the middle of the desert with no shoes or provisions. In the face of their quandary, they quarrel ceaselessly with one another, growing ever weaker in the elements as the crazed madman watches from the distance.

Nothing to sing high praises about, but it manages to remain variably suspenseful and resourcefully appointed on an obviously skimpy per-diem. For such a picayune effort, it's not a complete toss-out, but it definitely could have benefited from a stronger denouement.

Despite being a somewhat neutered thriller, FLESHBURN is still one of the more professional offerings from the bozos at Crown International Pictures...which, of course, isn't saying much. 4/10

The title and cover try to promote this as some sort of horror thriller, but don't be fooled; it's really a revenge/survival story. It's meant to be about man's primal instincts, which surface under extreme circumstances, but it's so unconvincingly done that the four protagonists never seem to be more than an hour's walk away from civilization. Completely boring, filled with scenes of people just walking or driving around, it also resorts to all the usual stereotypes about paranoid Vietnam vets and evil, witchcraft-practicing Indians, having as a villain a man who is both of the above! In short, I'd rather be stranded in the middle of the desert than having to see this film again. 0 out 4.

Fleshburn (1984)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

In 1975 Calvin Duggoi (Sonny Landham) deserted his troops in Vietnam due to spiritual beliefs held by the Native Americans. When he returned home four psychiatrists deemed him mentally unstable so the court systems threw him into a mental hospital where he remained for the next nine years. When the nine year mark hit, Calvin decides to break out and track down the four responsible for having him locked up. After stealing a truck Calvin kidnaps all four people and drives out in the desert where he drops the four off and demands that they live like Indians. Meaning, the four city folks will have to find their own food and water and perhaps, die under the heat of the sun.

When VHS took off Fleshburn tried to hide itself as a horror title but that's certainly not the case. This film is part drama, part action film and it really doesn't do either genre any justice. The low-budget nature of the film doesn't help matters either nor does the childish acting, which grows very tiresome very quickly. The film could be seen as a forerunner to the hit show Survivor but even that show features better acting.

The film has a very interesting idea to work with, although it's certainly not anything original. The idea of an Indian seeking revenge by forcing the white man to live as an Indian should have made for a more entertaining movie but instead of anything smart, the director has the viewer out in the desert just watching people sit around and wine. Really, not much happens in this film, which is a shame. We see them learn how to catch food, find water and finally try to walk out of the desert but all of this takes a total of three minutes so the other 80+ minutes we're just watching them sit around. The only saving grace the film has is in the first twenty-minutes when Calvin is tracking down his victims. He does this by breaking into their houses and the director actually does a nice job getting a few jump scares as I like to call them.

From the description of "Fleshburn" - a crazed person dumping several people in the desert, and the victims have to struggle to survive not only from the elements but the person who put them there - you might think that this is yet another rehash of "The Most Dangerous Game". Actually, only parts of the movie suggest that earlier movie. Most of the movie has the victims struggle to survive under the heat of the desert while arguing with each other. As you can probably guess, all that stuff is not a lot of fun. It gets tiresome quickly. Former porn star Sonny Landham does show some creepiness, but he doesn't get enough scenes to make him a prominent menace. If you are still wanting to watch this movie, a word of warning - the DVD uses a television print, meaning the movie's "R" rated elements like language are censored. Also, there are several video glitches. If the DVD company didn't care enough to give this movie a good presentation, that should give you a clue of its general quality.

A Native American Vietnam veteran with war traumas is institutionalised. He escapes and kidnaps the four psychiatrists responsible for putting him there. He maroons them in the middle of the desert and a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.

Despite the promise in its set-up, Fleshburn doesn't make the most of these potentially suspenseful ideas. I've seen other films where characters are isolated in a wild environment they are unaccustomed to while being terrorised by a villain perfectly at home there and it's obvious that the basic concept is quite a good one. But for this to work it helps to have characters you can empathise with and a real sense of danger; an interesting villain is also a bonus. This film really fails on all these counts, with a story that moves along tediously with very little overall dynamism. It is, however, notable I guess for featuring the actor Steve Kanaly of 'Dallas' fame in the role as the central hero.