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This ineptly plotted yet quite well-produced piece, having an alternate title of "TRAPPED!", suffers from some extreme cutting that eliminates entire scenes of narrative importance, as well as performers such as Barbara Bain, eventually settling into a weakly directed and purported suspense film set in the San Diego, California area. In reality, it was shot within the Turks and Caicos Islands, notably upon Grand Turk, a very scenic site indeed, but not at all resembling San Diego and its environs. Alexandra Paul leads the cast as computer expert Samantha, who is kidnapped, along with her teenage daughter, both subsequently kept captive at the mercy of a poorly defined band of terrorists whose ultimate purpose is not made clear, but who are obviously true to an ideology, and who threaten the captured women with death if Samantha does not complete some computer function that will result in the demise of a prominent dignitary. Notwithstanding the film's arresting scenery, its storyline is routine and very predictable, from its initial pages. A quaint choice of casting places Nick Turturro, with his firmly embedded Queens accent, in the role of a Southern California deputy sheriff. Dennis Christopher is a standout as head of the unidentified Forces of Evil. Paul is clearly in need of closer direction, not available here.

Alpha Video provides a valuable service for cinéastes through its fresh release of vintage films. However, as these are not remastered, not all are in good condition, some having soured over time. Nonetheless, Alpha offers new art work, as well as informative liner notes for these films, despite their ofttimes sub-par audio and visual quality. The history of the Panama Canal's construction supplies the background for this film. Following the fruitless efforts of France to complete the project, that was broken off due to the deaths, from yellow fever, of tens of thousands of imported contract laborers, an exceptional medical team, under U.S. leadership, isolated, and then destroyed the disease's carrier, the common mosquito. One-time matinée idol Ian Keith is cast as leader of the research team, an internationally flavoured collection of not inconsiderable scientific expertise. However, a large portion of his efforts are employed to show the way for available U.S. military personnel to coat local waters with oil as means of stymying mosquito movements, including breeding. Keith has the lead here, but merely walks through his turn with a dour performance. Slipping past him is the talented Tala Birell who is given the best passage of the film: when Keith's character tries to become more friendly with Birell's (Dr.Stern), he inquires "Dr. Stern! Is there a first name?" Her reply - "Doctor". Surely this is one of the most perfect squelches within the annals of cinema history. Gathering in the performing laurels here is veteran character actor Rollo Lloyd for a strongly defined Colonel, military commander of the Canal Zone's troops. He effectively handles a disturbance caused by unruly military personnel along with civilians who wish to avoid rules and regulations. Longwhile D. W. Griffith assistant Karl Brown is the director, with his efforts being undermined by his own screenplay, a disordered mixture composed of drama, action, romance and comedy. This makes for an unconvincing storyline, although the script is consistently handled throughout the affair. In sum, the film is denied that which it sorely needs, a secure hand at the helm, to highlight the drama within the story in order to outline the events of a fairly recent period (at the time of the work's release, only about 30 years prior); a missed opportunity, indeed!

It is difficult to find a copy of this film other than a VHS "screening cassette", involving a process that includes an introductory preview of the feature film itself, along with an audio free grouping of ostensible trailers for this thin narrative. Additionally, the words "screening cassette" and the name of the production company are permanently set in mid-frame. Just how this would beguile a viewer is difficult to imagine. Action opens as Greg Hagen (Frank Marty), a Miami area police department homicide detective, is being assigned to investigate the murder of a prominent prosecuting attorney. Hagen's investigation rather haphazardly leads him to a South Beach modeling studio stocked with nubile lasses, from one of whom Hagen seeks assistance with his search for the attorney's killer. This young woman, Danielle (Therese Marie Gutierrez) is very eager to become involved in the murder case, although her behaviour towards the handsome young detective is more amatory than one might expect to be proper while seeking a killer. During this same time, Hagen's detective work becomes secondary to his romantic proclivities. As a result, there is a plenitude of nude flesh thrashing about in varying beds, tedious to watch and altogether without a connection to the plot line function, but plainly enjoyable for the engaged cast members. These dreary scenes are accompanied by many repetitive numbers of D.J. scoring, very much less than tolerable when repeated throughout this movie. This is the sole recorded effort from director Joe Hernandez, who is also responsible for the producing and scripting credits in addition to a brief turn as a vacuously grinning "actor" of some sort. In sum, this is a lamentable work that few will struggle to sit through more than one time. Gutierrez adds to her role with an attempt at creating her character, but other performances are drab, thereby contributing to the raft of reasons why this movie is such a messily constructed, flatly handled, affair.