Lucas McCarthy (Lance Henriksen) hunts, fights and finally catches the serial killer Max Jenke (Brion James). But after Lucas witnesses Jenke's drawn-out and violent execution - via the electric chair - he instead begins to see and hear him everywhere!
Lance Henriksen is as always great, and much of the movie's appeal comes from him - and, even more so, from a completely insane Brion James!! His totally unrestrained scenery chewing is exactly the right tactic in a film like this. If you blend into the background, you will definitely become part of the crappy movie, but if you stand out from the crowd, you have a 50% chance of being the positive thing that people remember afterwards.
-And Brion James, in the role of Max Jenke, is hard to forget!
On the plus side is also KNB Effects (Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger), who went all-in and created lots of grotesque and disgusting makeup effects and loose body parts....most of which both the American and in particular the Swedish censors then hacked away (however, I did watch an almost completely intact Blu-Ray release).
The story (what story?) is completely bonkers, most of the supporting characters are made of see through plastic played by b-actors, and the very sudden happy ending feels like a bizarre tacked-on solution.
Lance Henriksen, a madly entertaining Brion James and KNB rescue it from the bottom of the barrel, and they - and ONLY they - are what makes me give it a pass.
