Inferno

Wow, this movie is almost like a Road House for the late 90's. In other words, this is a good, no, GRRRREAT bad movie. Van Damme effectively plays another dumb guy / bad ass/ good guy. JCVD arrives in a small desert community populated almost entirely by abrasive creeps. Abrasive is putting it mildly, these guys snort crank/coke and verbally abuse old folks/hot waitresses around the clock. Of course Van Damme must help out the old folks and hot waitresses, probably because he's on some spiritual journey, or maybe he just wants to get laid, or maybe because he was planning suicide anyway. Whatever, the case may be, 2 old indians (one a motorcycle, the other an actual human being) help him get it done. The mullet adorned red necks and bikers which he awkwardly incapacitates are worth the price of admission alone. For my money this belongs amongst the best of Van Damme's entertainingly stupid body of work. Don't miss it!

I chanced upon this screen gem on USA as part of their Jean-Claude Van Damme summer movie marathon. Kind of a bizarre mix of "Mad Max", where a loner takes on thugs on motorcycles who are terrorizing the citizens of some out-of-the-way "town" ("town" as in five buildings and a law-abiding population of 12); "A Fistfull of Dollars"/"Yojimbo"/"Last Man Standing", where a loner pits two rival criminal organizations against each other; and gay porn (two sweaty men in their underwear massaging each other's feet!).

All of the supporting characters are campy caricatures and the interaction is comical. Gee, Rhonda's world famous apple pie was so good that JC took only one bite and left the rest... and apparently no one in the desert bats an eye at murder, or drinks water for that matter.

The action was OK for a DTV flick, but don't rent it if that's what you're looking for. Its real appeal is the campiness. "Desert Heat" is a good pick if you want something mindless and off-the-wall to kill a couple of hours.

I saw this movie on Tv. It started good with showing a coyote running in the desert. But after that it became machoactioncomedy. As Van Damme fan I could watch it. I even enjoyed somehow. The story is simple: Bad guys steal his bike that belong to his friend and shoot him. He survives and he wants revenge and take his bike back. The movie tries to be this spiritual movie and it even succeeds in it but the comedy kinda spoils it. I liked the set where the movie was shot. The old people were funny. Ohh that sex scene was hilarious. There is man who goes straight to action! And of cource everybody love Van Dammes martial art kicks and we see them. They save best for end of the film. Checkout Pat Morita from Karate Kid series. Danny Trejo played JCVD´s mysterious friend. Like every review I tell you: If you are Van Damme fan you might like it. The movie went straight to video but I think it would do okay in the Box Office. Overall **/*****

Hey, if you want art go to a museum. This thing is entertaining. Slow start but it makes up for that. Funny in understated ways. Vivid characters that weren't all made with cookie cutters. If the dialog had been witless the life would have drained out of this movie as easily as the bad guys die. But I'll wager the writer (Tom O'Rourke II) was awake and had some fun. I was too and I did too. Hats off to him.

We (viewers) made Hollywood (filmmakers) to have a steady source of diversionary schlock. This one delivers.

P.S. Should get an award for egregious miscasting: Vincent Schiavelli as a Sikh?

I originally didn't really have any intentions of watching Dessert Heat. As much as I love a Van Damme film, the fact this is one of his released straight to DVD films did put me off. I only ended up purchasing it because I happened to come across it in the 50 Pence section of a DVD and Games store we have in the UK. I thought for 50p why not. And to be fair, I really enjoyed it.

If you can prepare to watch a movie and not take it too seriously then it's worth a watch to let the time pass and entertain you. Don't get me wrong, it's not Universal Soldier or Sudden Death. But Van Damme kicks ass in this.