Psycho Killer

What at first seems like yet another bleak cop drama/vigilante thriller from William ("earth tones and unappealing locations ONLY, please!") Lustig gradually turns into a fine little sleeper. "Relentless" is robotically assembled in certain aspects (killer strikes; cops consult; quality time with wife and kid (repeat), but the sharp script (by Phil Alden Robinson under a pseudonym), excellent performances, and steady pace help redeem the more trite elements. Leo Rossi and Robert Loggia are two cops assigned to a rash of murders committed by Judd Nelson, the son of a deranged 'hero' cop (played in flashback by Beau Starr), who has just been rejected from the Police Academy on--you guessed it--psychological grounds. There is a definite snap to the banter shared between Rossi and Loggia (the rookie and the jaded veteran), and certain touches, like the high-strung police captain, lend much to the film's intentional humor; the scenes with Rossi and his wife and son are well-handled; and the killer's contrast is appropriately oppressive (Nelson's performance is more about body language and facial expressions than dialog). Lustig once again tries to ape William Friedkin's tough-guy, action-oriented style (Rossi even gets a chance to race against traffic in the third act), and the result is quite successful--"Relentless" is seriously worth a look.

I am a really big fan of Judd Nelson and he ruled in this movie. He's so good at being the bad guy. Judd plays Buck Taylor, a demented serial killer who picks his victims from a phone book and calls them before he enters their house and kills them. And the victims' names resemble his. And he tears the pages out with the victims' names underlined in red with messages like "catch me if you can" that he leaves on the dead bodies for the police. Buck does these horrid things because his father was abusive and he kills to show his dad that he's good at something. I really enjoyed this movie and it showed how good of an actor Judd is. Great film!

Judd Nelson rules in this flick. I'm surprised nobody seems to know about this one. If you see in the store, give it a try. I think you'll be entertained. Rossi is pretty good in this too. His banter with Loggia is straight out of a buddy-cop movie encyclopedia, but it works.

This crime story has some scary scenes, with an especially memorable one early on with a woman hiding in a clothes dryer. In fact, the first half of this is excellent but it peters out that point with two typical Hollywood clichés of crime movies of the period.

They are: 1 - the good cop (Leo Rossi as "Sam Dietz") going it alone despite the orders of his superior; 2 - the killer going to the good cop's house to kill his family. Too bad it stooped to these obvious story lines because this could have been an outstanding serial-killer movie. As it is, it would up being slightly better- than-average. By the way, what's with Meg Foster's eyes? It looks like they have no pupils. It's eerie to look at that woman's face.

This movie spawned several sequels and the sequels were better and better as they went along.

Two Los Angeles detectives (one a veteran, the other a rookie) work the case of a psychopath who is killing people in the Sunset Blvd. area of L.A. The film is not a whodunit. The script's POV alternates between the Sunset killer (played by Judd Nelson), and the two cops (played by Robert Loggia and Leo Rossi).

The only mystery is at the beginning, with the killer's motivation. But that clears up as the plot moves along. The film offers a fair amount of suspense, as the killer pops into scenes unexpectedly to assault his victim. Some of the drama involves feisty banter between the two detectives, with the rookie showing insight and unorthodox determination, while the veteran seems slightly bored and wants to follow conventional police procedures.

Though fictional, the overall story is believable enough that something like this could happen in real life, if the dreadfully clichéd ending had been excised and replaced with an unexpected and more potent climax.

Visuals are dark, consistent with the thriller genre. Cinematography is conventional but competent. I really liked the opening credits' sequence with that overhead perspective that traverses a stretch of Sunset Blvd. Acting is competent.

"Relentless" manages to present a more believable villain than what we typically see in fictional serial killer scripts. And the plot steers clear of silly absurdities that plague similar films. I just wish the ending had been stronger and more original.