Night Trap

When running Action International Pictures, filmmaker David A. Prior made a bunch of ultra cheap and tacky B movies. When A.I.P. transformed into West Side Pictures, things improved - but not by much. For this West Side production, Prior was able to afford a decent cast with talented actors Michael Ironside and Robert Davi. And the movie looks somewhat slicker than Prior's past productions. But apart from those things, not much else in this movie succeeds. Ironside and Davi give decent performances, but you don't see them acting to their full potential. Maybe it was because of the low budget, which constantly films in run-down and anonymous locations. It might also be because of the script, which is sorely lacking a decent explanation for Ironside's villain character. But the biggest problem is that the movie unfolds very slowly and with little excitement. Oh, there are a few unintentional laughs along the way (a car manages to overturn and explode while going five miles an hour, and Davi keeps on all his clothes during a sex scene), but there are not enough to even recommend this movie as camp. One final word of warning: the DVD release just copied an ex-rental VHS tape, which makes the movie look even more tacky.

Night Trap is so old, obscure and out of print that I had to order an Amazon copy just to make sure it was even real, and not some dream I had as a kid. It's real enough, and a glorious helping of low budget supernatural tomfoolery at that, with two charismatic character actors headlining. Robert Davi, in a rare lead role, plays a headstrong New Orleans cop who is hunting down a serial killer (Michael Ironside) that appears to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for invincibility and a host of freaky deaky evil superpowers. Davi's father was also a cop who pursued Ironside, and the monster likes to taunt both of them, leaving a trail of bodies in the hectic celebration of Mardi Gras. There's a million of these type of movies, and they're all across the board in terms of quality. It comes down to script and actors, really, as there's never enough money to make any real visual magic. This one has a mile wide mean streak though, Ironside's villain is a full on moustache twirling, nightmarish fiend and the veteran tough guy plays him as such. Matched against Davi, another notorious badass, it's a B movie royal rumble that hits high notes of intensity, schlock and pulpy, violent delirium in all the right cues. Fun stuff if you're a fan of these actors, and can actually locate a copy.

NIGHT TRAP takes place in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. A serial killer is on the loose, and the police, headed by Officer Mike Turner (Robert Davi), are on his trail. The cops have no idea that the killer, named Bishop (Michael Ironside), has made a deal with the devil, rendering him immortal and unstoppable!

When Turner and his partner corner Bishop, he displays impossible abilities that render Turner baffled, and his partner dead! Bishop also gives Turner a bizarre, time-sensitive ultimatum.

With the clock ticking, Turner enters into a game of cat and mouse, in which the mouse is chasing the cat.

Director David A. Prior outdoes himself with this supernatural action film. Davi is great as the determined cop, and Ironside plays his wicked role with gusto! The only fly in the ointment is the very anticlimactic climax. After all of the terrific buildup, the ending runs out of gas!

So, this is about 97% of a good movie...

Robert Davi is Awesome that's the first thing i have to say!!!

Davi is one of those rugged cool tough guy solid acting B-movie stars, who is always good in what they star in even if the movie isn't that good.

Night Trap is a fun pure 90's straight to video supernatural Thriller. There definitely a very slow pace to this film but i find it relaxing & very chill.

Robert Davi is a gem of an actor in my opinion, he's been there in so many movies we grew up watching like The Goonies, Predator 2, Die Hard, Raw Deal & has had a good career within the video store era. I've been a Davi fan since Maniac Cop 2 & Maniac Cop 3, he was great in those sequels & I've checked out alot of his DTV work & discovered gems like Center of the Web, The Bad Pack, Peacekeeper & Night Trap. Davi is always enjoyable on screen to me & i always like his serious approach to his characters with his usual characters traits like always smoking & often sarcastic & cynical. Davi is a rugged looking "Character Actor" that has had a solid career in B-movie land & he's always interesting & better when he gets to play a hard-ass cop like he did here in Night Trap, a tough no-nonsense New Orleans cop & one of his best roles. Low-budget production yes but Night Trap is a fun, relaxing supernatural thriller that really has a nice ambience to it & makes for a great piece of late-night B-movie entertainment.

It's got a nice creepy atmosphere & a cool new Orleans setting & two very good B-movie stars Davi & Michael Ironside, both great & a nice face off together.

Ironside plays an evil serial killer with supernatural powers who is stalking & killing beautiful ladies at night & Davi is the rugged, plays by his own rules tough cop, trying to stop him & it all plays out rather good & sometimes exciting!!!

Yes there's times it's not very exciting & it feels slow but then something cool will happen & Davi & Ironside are always great to watch on screen.

I liked the voodoo type stuff that's in here & it makes New Orleans a cool place for our hero to investigate, i really like the Madi gras carnival scenes with everyone having fun & celebrating while Davi is on the hunt for Ironside it's all done well & exciting.

It's dark & fun & has that early 90's low budget sleazy cheap feel to it at times, but that's fine i loved & lived that era of straight-to-video slashers, cop thriller's & Horror's starring cool B-movie actors & i love it.

If you grew up watching this stuff like i did than it's an enjoyable little flick, rough & cheap in all it's low-budget vhs charm.

"Night Trap" is a slow, plodding thriller from AIP regular David A. Prior.

New Orleans Detective Mike Turner (Davi) is trying to catch a devious criminal named Bishop (Ironside). Bishop has magical powers that include flying, and having a cool but pasted on beard. No one believes Turner that Bishop is evil, especially his captain who thinks he is "on the sauce" again. Turner is then partnered with Williams (Starr) to find suspects who have seen Bishop....as usual in other cop flicks, Williams and Turner bicker and eventually become buddies during their pursuit. Can they find and destroy Bishop before he strikes again? The main problem with "Night Trap" is that it really wants to be good, but possibly out of guilt, it sabotages itself at every turn.

Every time Night Trap gets a good rhythm going, it pulls back for a ridiculous action scene and it loses focus. There is one scene where Bishop jumps over a car and the driver inside covers his eyes and then he slowly crashes into another car. 30 seconds later, the car blows up.

Davi puts in a good performance. Ironside has been in better work and he looks like he wants to take a nap. Starr tries his hardest to breathe life into his character, but the script fails him.

Every scene feels like it is in slow motion to stretch out the running time. There are a bunch of scenes with Davi just standing around doing absolutely nothing.

Overall, if you are a fan of Robert Davi, watch it. Anybody else should stay away.

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