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I saw Fleshburn on video. The picture on the video cover suggests that the film is some kind of post-apocalyptic B-movie, but in actual fact it's nothing of the sort. As it happens, Fleshburn is based on a novel by Brian (Death Wish) Garfield, and is an outdoor thriller akin to Deliverance, The Most Dangerous Game and Open Season (1974).

Navajo Indian and ex-Vietnam vet Clavin Duggai (Sonny Landham) has spent several years in a mental institution, having left a bunch of Indians to die in the desert over an argument about witchcraft (!) He escapes from the institution and sets about finding and kidnapping the four psychiatrists who recommended that he be sent there in the first place. First on his list is unhappily married couple Shirley (Karen Carlson) and Jay (Robert Chimento), followed by resourceful Sam (Steve Kanaly) and homosexual Earl (Macon McCalman). Having rounded up his victims, Duggai drives them off into the middle of the desert, where he abandons them. From a safe distance he watches as his four victims weaken physically and mentally in the unforgiving desert environment.

Fleshburn falls between two stools. It isn't quite fully-blown trash, nor yet is it a serious psychological study. Landham as the despicable Duggai isn't much of an actor, though his weak performance is counter-balanced by Kanaly's excellent work as the most gutsy of the victims (wonder why he was never a bigger star?) The film is interesting throughout, if never truly engrossing, and director George Gage manages to tell his story competently. The ending tries to be clever - a compromise rather than a confrontation - but it feels oddly unsatisfactory. All in all, Fleshburn is a passable film, never quite as good as it wants to be yet never so bad that it taxes one's patience.

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.

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.

Another selection from the 200 drive inn cult cinema box set from Mill Creek.

Reading the plot synopsis I was excited to watch this one.

Vietnam vet is sentenced by 4 psychiatrists to send the rest of his life in an asylum, for the crime he committed. He breaks out to get his revenge.

Great idea but doesn't quite pull through. He kidnaps them and makes them try to survive the harsh desert.

Lead is pretty great in this one but that is all. I found myself not cheering for anyone. As this one plods along.

Still I didn't feel like I wasted my time on this one. But probably will never watch or think about it again.

Here's a great premise for a film, that sadly wastes a bunch of bloody good actors in what is one hell of a disappointing and short changed result. I had seen this movie on the video shelves in the 80's and pictured a different story and made Kanaly as the star lead, another disappointment, as I really wanted to see this good actor strut more of his stuff. On the flipside, in what must be his first and only lead, is the underrated Indian actor, Sonny Landham, and I was quite taken aback by this cast placement. Who's, Sonny Landham, may you ask? You'll know if you watched a lot of Walter Hill, or Arnie movies, etc, in the 80's. He really turns in a good, if fine performance, but also he's a character we kind of sympathize with, someone unfairly institutionalized kind of his religious beliefs, marking him as a looney. Taking revenge, he escapes, the first scene, heralding a much exciting show to follow. But like the arid, hot bitch of a desert, he dumps these four psychiatrists off, responsible, for his incarceration, the movie becomes an arid watch and adventure, a game of wits to overthrow their nemesis, who seems to be one step ahead, and not far out of reach, the suspense factor takes an actual dump, like other things. There is a beautiful panoramic, if quite mesmerizing, bewitching, five second shot, just as the four are dropped and the camera does one of those now, childish slow zooms in. The story does work to a very realistic, 'What you would do scenario?", but the movie is just one long arid bore, with little violence,and a little of anything else in it. The ending sucks, and you'll see why, relieved, nut unfulfilled. Film's only worth is in it's honest and good performances. Karen Carlson is good in anything too. Your might feel your flesh burn in this movie, but your anger and anger and patience may boil. The writer of this film. deserves to be dropped off in the hot stinking desert.

Fleshburn is a violent revenge story starring minor action hero Sonny Landham. The story really doesn't really break any new ground in terms of its structure, but it does incorporate a strange, spiritual element in its central conflict, and uses a Native American villain in a non-typical, not-so-stereotyped way.

The action in the film is intense, as it emphasises the psychological trauma of those involved in the peril of being stranded out in the desert by the Landham character, as opposed to a lot of gunplay or explosions. Fleshburn is something a bit off the beaten track, for those who want a look at a different action-type film.

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.

"Fleshburn" is an independent, low-budget movie made in 1984 and probably played the drive-in circuit before heading to the VHS universe. Despite the economic restraints, a strong cast does what it can with this tale of a demented American Indian hell-bent on punishing the four psychiatrists who placed him in a mental hospital for nine years. Steve Kanaly heads the cast of victims and he is the major force in combatting the wily Indian, played by Sonny Landham. Steve's three other cohorts are forced to combat being thrown into a wilderness setting with neither food nor drink. Unusually strong as the survivalists are Robert Chimento and Karen Carson. How they all end up is something I'll leave for future viewers but my DVD must be the one censored for television viewing because of several abrupt changes in scenes with no explanatory bridge. For beefcake admirers, three of the men offer admirable naked chest scenes, in particular Robert Chimento with a torso that would look great in a body-building pageant, in addition to Sonny Landham who, unfortunately, doesn't get a chance to prominently display his heroic build. Main star, Steve Kanaly, looks quite fit as a mature man who proves to be a hero of them all. This is a fun movie to watch and to witness some strong actors working hard to make us believe this tale of terror could really happen.

Cheapo film that manages some suspense. However, it's too uneven to fulfill the premise. Three men and a woman are left to die in the searing Arizona desert. Their crime is having institutionalized a crazed Navajo Vietnam vet. Now he wants revenge, and just as importantly, show that his "medicine" is stronger than the white man's.

Though the acting is better than expected, the survival element comes and goes. The early part, where Sam shows how to get food, water, and keep cool by digging holes, amounts to an interesting survival manual. The trouble is many other logical precautions are implausibly lacking, like covering bare skin in the sun or seeking shade while talking. Then too, Sam seems to get stronger as the movie progresses, which makes little sense given the draining heat. That, plus a meandering narrative, doesn't help. Frankly, events appear to have been made up on the fly, maybe as the budget or conditions permitted. As a result, a finely adapted musical score is also largely wasted.

Too bad, because at times the film shows genuine promise. But a basic lack of coherent narrative and thematic development undercuts that promise. For a more riveting tale of desert survival, catch Robert Ryan in Inferno (1953).

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.