Adrenalina

I was at the local DVD retail store a couple of weeks ago and found ADRENALIN sitting on one of the shelves, first time I saw it was years ago when it first came out on VHS I actually liked it, I mean it was no masterpiece and surely wasn't as bad as people said it was, well okay if you want something that has more of a story, I recommend you try something else, because this film only sums up the story as follows.

A chemical leak in Europe has caused a deadly new virus, as the disease starts to spread towards the U.S, the government sets up quarantine camps in order to contain the large number of immigrants, now two cops that patrol the camps, one a rookie, (Natasha Hentsridge of Species and Ghosts of Mars) the other a seasoned veteran (Christopher Lambert of Highlander and Fortress) discover that a deranged killer is stalking the camps, but what they don't know is that he is infected with another type of virus that poses an even greater threat.

Now I have Adrenalin on a very worn out VHS tape, but I decided to buy the DVD for better quality, and to my surprise turned out to be a longer version of the film, the difference between them is the longer version has a longer pre credit sequence that paints a grimmer picture of what went on, and has a few extra scenes and some of the scenes you might be familiar with in the shorter version are extended, but I still like it, despite what others think.

Lastly, I have to admit I find Albert Pyun to be an interesting director, sometimes he directs a lot of really good films and other times I wonder is this the same guy? because considering his standard of good films, the bad ones actually leave your jaw hanging open and asking yourself, does this guy make movies to reflect in what kind of mood he's in at the time? Because when his movies are bad they're bad all right.

Chris Lambert, you might think, is always good value for money. Or you might not think that at all. In fact, realistically, you're more likely to think that Natasha Henstridge (her out of Species) is always good value for money. Well, it doesn't matter in this case because you're wrong either way. Stop crying, you fool.

The first thing you'll notice about Adrenalin is that it all appears to have been filmed in a few scabby streets just behind the director's back garden. He probably thinks this looks authentic. It doesn't. It looks tragic. The entire film consists of Chris, 'Tash and a couple of other disposable rentacops legging it from one end of a street to the other and back again, popping into disintegrating buildings here and there along the way so that bits of it can fall on them, and occasionally pausing at either end of the street for a random shoot-out and/or for someone to get eaten by the startlingly unscary maniac they're supposed to be chasing. It must have taken such a great effort on behalf of all involved to keep the production values so consistently low that it somehow seems deserving of applause.

Ms. Henstridge, predictably, has very little to do except look scared, not manage to shoot anything and almost die every so often, while the inestimable Mr. Lambert seems to be here for no other reason than to get shot loads. It speaks volumes that he doesn't even attempt to rescue the film by interjecting his endearing trademark cackle into the dialogue at key moments. Not that he'd get much chance anyway: nobody really says anything but "Yowch, aargh, shoot him, he's eating me, aargh, oh no we're trapped, yowch, shoot him, aargh, my leg's fallen off."

The plot's some tosh about a plague having wiped out most of humanity, again, and towards the end of the film the wonderful scriptwriter comes up with the idea of having some Virus Control people turn up, mumble something about this killer they're chasing actually being the carrier of a new and far more deadly strain, then go away again and leave everyone to carry on getting shot. Everyone, that is, except for the people stuck with the job of writing up the box blurb, who seize this precious jewel of hope from the pigsty of horribleness and nurture it as if it were their own rancid offspring.

Adrenalin, then. It's one of the most boring films I've ever seen, which, for something that bills itself as a sci-fi horror thriller, isn't very good really.

An interesting concept and a fast paced movie.

This feels like movie that was dubbed into English from the original Linear A. Adrenaline was surely a mistranslation. The word they were looking for was "Don't".

Lambert and Henstridge are competent actors. They have earned themselves a better film than this. There are plot holes you can fly the space shuttle through. Enough continuity errors for a drinking game. The production crew should have waited for the gaffer to return from vacation before filming. And vampires. Vampires! How original.

Three stars for Lambert and Henstridge doing their best to turn nothing into something. Zero stars for the nothing they had to work with.

Three stars.

Rock-bottom stuff in most respects, but fairly energetic camerawork, short running time and the gorgeous Henstridge keep it reasonably painless - if you don't mind the sloppy editing and the fact that the script is virtually non-existent. (**)