Leofwine_draca

TOO SCARED TO SCREAM is a little-known but enjoyable slasher picture from 1984 with an uneven provenance. Originally conceived of as a TV movie in the Hitchcock mould, it ended up having extra nudity and violence added to make it suitable for cinematic release as an R-rated slasher, and the end result is both refreshingly gritty and mildly tense.

The story is set in an apartment block plagued by the usual murders of nubile and usually naked women. The list of suspects is varied, centring on Shakespeare-quoting doorman Ian McShane, who spends his spare time caring for his wheelchair-bound mother Maureen O'Sullivan (the original Jane to Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan!). The cast is populated by plenty of other familiar faces like Mike Connors and Murray Hamilton, and the whole thing has a good psychological angle that reminded me of the classic days of the 1960s-era psycho-thrillers. The ending is particularly exciting. Fun stuff!

A relatively little-known MAD MAX rip-off from the 1980s, sent in a post-apocalyptic desert valley where drinking water is now the world's scarcest commodity. Our community and wells are protected by Bruce Dern, playing the usual kooky character that he seems to play identically in every single film, but when the area is menaced by a psychotic cult and its leader, he needs to call in extra help. It turns out that despite the trappings and look this is a straightforward MAGNIFICENT SEVEN copy, which does well to employ a number of oddball actors (including the creepy chauffeur from BURNT OFFERINGS), chief of whom is the finely entertaining Adam Ant who makes a strong impression as a Manson-style cult leader called, somewhat improbably, Derek. There's a tongue-in-cheek aspect to all this which works, and plenty of action to make it an easy watch.

ULTERIOR MOTIVES (aka KILL FEE) is a film that surprised me. Previously I only knew Thomas Ian Griffith for his roles in some cheesy DIE HARD clones so I wasn't expecting him to actually be able to act, but he does so in a refreshingly able way here. He plays a private detective tasked with investigating a conspiracy involving state secrets being sold to the Yakuza, so it being the 1990s there's the usual round of hara-kiri, samurai swordplay, and bloody action. Although the latter is in short supply given the usual heights of this genre during the decade and the rest of the actor's filmography. This is definitely more of a plot-based film, which unfortunately in the end makes it rather forgettable, delivering little that hasn't been done many times before.