The Lucifer Complex

But it has its moments. Not a great sci-fi flick, but not a total waste of time either. I thought the choreography was poorly done, and certain special effects, principally blowing stuff up, weren't done to well. But Robert Vaughn was, as always, cool. The "Nazi bitch" with the bride of Frankenstien hair style was kind of campy. Aldo Ray, and I've always enjoyed his work, didn't have much of a part or come across that well. The premise is okay but the plot, not to mention the characters, is never really developed. And the guy in the cave, watching all of this via computerized film footage? Well, lots of what he sees, which is what we watch with him, took place behind closed doors and in swamps and ... Who was holding the camera? Ahh, nothings perfect. This is OK sci-fi if you don't set your expectations to high. Its worth a watch.

"An intelligence agent is set off to investigate events surrounding some of the world's leaders and he comes to a shocking discovery. A plot by former Nazi scientists to clone the world's leaders, in order to return the Third Reich to power, has been undertaken and he must try to stop them from completing their evil plans. Tracking down the headquarters of the Nazi scientists brings another surprise to the agent, when he uncovers the madman ultimately behind the sinister plot," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

One of the most boring films every created. Dare an insomniac to stay awake during the first twenty minutes. If you can keep your eyes open, as William Lanning seems strangely able to do, watch for the "Area L7" sign (probably the film's highlight). Then get ready for a spit upon Lesbian prison guard and a few explosions. A not so shocking surprise guest appearance would make the most ardent xenophobe racist swear off holocausts forever, lest they be exposed to more films like "The Lucifer Complex".

* The Lucifer Complex (1978) David L. Hewitt, Kenneth Hartford ~ Robert Vaughn, Merrie Lynn Ross, Keenan Wynn, Aldo Ray

A reviewer here on the IMDb said this is what THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL would look like if directed by Ed Wood and I have to say that assessment is pretty dead on. A young guy wanders around an island before heading into a cave with computers that have history on laserdisc. After checking out WWII and Vietnam, he heads to the "big war" of 1986 and the movie begins proper. Government guy Glen Manning (Robert Vaughn) catches wind of the Fourth Reich when his plane crashes on a small island off the coast of Florida and he finds Nazis working on a clone of Hitler. With the help of April Adams (Merrie Lynn Ross), Manning manages to escape and blows lots of stuff up with a tank and stop the bad guys. The end. Cut back to the guy in the cave who says something like, "Will man ever learn? I've got to explore this island more." Vaughn has a filmography that extends to over 200+ movies and TV series, but I'm going to boldly claim this was the worst thing he has ever been it. It was a production rife with problems and I'd say the Vaughn material amounts for maybe 65 minutes of the 90 minute running time. The wrap around screams of padding and doesn't make a lick of sense (man had the ability to record every single moment on laserdisc?). Keenan Wynn and Aldo Ray show up for a few scenes.

When asked about the worst film ever made, it might be safe to take the easy road of listing cult favorites like 'Plan 9 From Outer Space', 'The Room', or 'Birdemic', but I firmly believe that films giving viewers the perverse pleasure of laughing through them, or indeed the type that invite midnight screenings, cannot truly be considered the worst. If you had fun watching it, how can it possibly be that bad?

'The Lucifer Complex', on the other hand, is the worst film I've ever seen.

It starts off promisingly enough: a man walks alone on the shores of a deserted island, rhapsodizing over the collapse of society and the fall of humanity. He returns to the confines of his man cave, full of futuristic tech that would've looked dated on 'Star Trek', and has a seat to reflect on the folly of his erstwhile descendants. Seemingly off to a great start, right?

Then, he watches film of what life was like at the turn of the century. War. Newsreels. Concert film? Five minutes becomes ten, and the next thing you know your brain is slithering out your nostrils. The story proper finally kicks in as one of these films, featuring a tired and bloated Robert Vaughn as the world's least convincing spy, uncovers an island where existing members of the Nazi party look to revive the Third Reich using clones. Yeah, it's basically an unauthorized rip-off of 'The Boys From Brazil', but even a plot this outlandish can't save the film for the midnight movie crowd.

Cheesy movies can be fun. 'The Lucifer Complex' is only cheesy enough to be depressing. Uninspired camera work, dialogue too stale to be droll, exhausted performances, locations that kind of work, editing that drains the energy from each scene... it's as much fun as waking up to discover that your arm is asleep.

I won't spoil the film more than the description already does, but rest assured, the film within a film ends, leaving our terminally bored, island-locked protagonist to mumble some commentary on mankind that was probably insightful before the transgenerational degradation of bad writers borrowing from good ones reduced it from Arthur C. Clarke to L. Ron Hubbard to Stephanie Meyer; it's so bland it's useless to mock.

On the plus side, it's a fascinating experiment in relativity. If you really want to make 90 minutes feel like forever, watch 'The Lucifer Complex'.

The trivia says this movie was never released to theaters, and I believe it. It's pretty bad.

It doesn't help that there's some sort of frame story involving a guy sitting inexpressively in front of a bank of TV monitors, watching a library of all the videos ever recorded (or something like that). He muses to himself in voice-over how there is more about wars than anything else. Most of the movie is something he's watching about a war in 1986 (or 96?). That story doesn't start until about twenty minutes in; probably once you realize how long the opening drags, you'll fast forward judiciously like I did.

A bunch of important people are killed on a bus. Robert Vaughn's character investigates, after he watches a belly dancer in a bar. He finds a camp of Nazis and is captured, and they try to convince him he never saw the Nazis. It turns out they're cloning world leaders, and the women in the camp help Vaughn fight the Nazis. That might sound sort of exciting, but it's not terribly engrossing at all, and it doesn't help that they keep cutting back to the guy watching all of this on video.

Not recommended at all. This is the sort of movie that would be helped by some special features explaining what they were going for with the movie, the trouble with releasing it, etc. I saw it on video, though, an old big box from a closing video store.