Altar do Diabo

When a horror film is as dull as this, I don't understand why they don't add a bit of blood for at least some minimal entertainment. Even if they had of used red paint, it would have been more interesting. As it is, Evil Altar is a deadly boring film that could have been good if directed properly. I mean come on, the plot involves abducting children for sacrifices, and yet there is virtually no gore or blood in this film! There aren't even any bare breasts. There is perhaps only one half-decent scene when a man is set alight and falls into a swimming pool, but apart from that the pace just plods along like a tortoise.

This is another 80's "horror" flick to be avoided, unless you're a die-hard collector.

EVIL ALTAR has very little going for it except for the story, which in more capable hands could have been compelling, in an epic and gruesome sorta way. But as it is now, the whole production is almost amateurish. I've never seen so many continuity errors or truly bad framing. The camera's positions were often at the wrong spots, which created a confusing sense of placement. The acting was nonexistent. The characters were nearly all awful. Only Robert D'Zar was sorta convincing as the evil sheriff, and the evil man himself was well cast but his acting was, for the most part, lazy (which is understandable. He must have known this flick wasn't worth it). The dialogue was totally pitiful. You could see the microphone bobbing up and down at the top of the picture. And the horror elements of the story were, for the most part, unintentionally funny. A floating killer baseball? One has to see the scene to believe it. Who would have imagined that anyone would have ever conceived the idea that a floating ball would be terrifying or scary?!?! Certainly in the way it was made in the movie. Then there's the whole bit with the collector appearing on TV and killing the reporter. I really laughed out loud then. The "Freddy Kruger-inspired" scene doesn't make any sense and is ineptly done, making it golden in my book of really bad cinematic moments.

I like watching horror movies. The more obscure, the better. Unfortunately, there's very little to recommend of EVIL ALTAR. As bad as a lot of it was, there were simply too many boring moments for the movie to be entertaining on a continuous basis with its sheer ineptness. I recommend this only for horror completists. Others should steer clear from this crap.

Evil Altar stars gravelly-voiced tough guy William Smith (The Ultimate Warrior) and the mighty-chinned hulk that is Robert Z'Dar (Maniac Cop 1, 2 & 3), but even these B-movie legends cannot save this dreadful mess of a movie.

Smith plays warlock Reed Weller, who needs to sacrifice 103 children in order to achieve full power; to this end, he sends an immortal 'collector' (Pepper Martin) to kidnap youngsters. When his son Troy (Marcus Chong) is abducted by the collector, big city lawyer Daley Long (Tal Armstrong) contacts Sheriff O'Connell (Z'Dar), unaware that the cop is in league with Weller.

The script for Evil Altar is full of hokey clichés and terrible dialogue, and director James Winburn handles matters with very little zest or innovation. The one scene that does display some energy is utterly ridiculous, as a young girl, Teri (Theresa Cooney), is menaced in her bedroom by a floating baseball - if there was more of this kind of totally inept lunacy, Evil Altar would be a lot of camp horror fun, but the majority of the film is just tired, predictable and boring, with both Smith and Z'Dar going through the motions for a paycheck.

2.5/10, rounded down to 2 for the really lame sex scene (blink and you'll miss it side-boob from hot blonde Connie Woods) and a missed opportunity for a splattery exploding head effect (when Daley puts his undead son out of his misery).

My review was written in July 1989 after watching the movie on South Gate Entertainment video cassette.

Satanism rears its head once more in "Evil Altar", a direct-to- video release with few new wrinkles for the genre.

William Smith portrays a guy sho's sold his soul and become powerful enough to run the little town of Red Rock. He's sent his minion (Pepper Martin) to collect 103 young souls for sacrifice.

With burly local cop Robet Zdar under Smith's spell, the disappearance of various youngsters is covered up until a visiting lawyer (Tal Armstrong) teams up with locals to root out the evil.

Pic suffers from meager special effects, including a poorly done climax in which heroine Theresa Cooney is threatened in her bedroom by a floating ball reminiscent of "Phantasm". Bald-pated Smith makes a solid villain.

Satanist Reed Weller (William Smith) need to get 103 children for sacrifice (the last one must be a virgin) so that he can become immortal. Trouble starts when Teri (Theresa Cooney) accidentally shoots and kills Weller's kidnapping henchman while hunting with her dad. D'oh! And he was so close as he was on body no. 102. But, since this is an 80s horror movie, it doesn't matter as Weller resurrects his helper and decides Teri will be the final sacrifice. This really drops the ball in terms of 80s horror as you have very little gore and no nudity. It actually reminds me of one of those cheap horror novels you would buy back in the day with a myriad of small town characters running around and somehow it all comes together. This was co-writer Brent Friedman's first screenplay and he went on to do quite a few horror films including the superior SYNGENOR, THE RESURRECTED, NECRONOMICON and TICKS. Superchin Robert Z'Dar is the small town sheriff under Smith's control and their scenes together seem to be a battle of who can deliver the raspier voice. Smith wins, we lose.