Déflagrations

I remember actually watching this television movie when it was broadcast back in the day. I didn't particularly watch a lot of movies back then, so this was something of an exception. The reason I did so was that I knew that it starred Heather Locklear who was a rising star at the time due to her appearances in the cop show 'T.J Hooker' and the super-soap 'Dynasty'. As a young teen I recall quite clearly that Heather was one of the first women to generate some new interesting thoughts in my head. So of course I was going to sit with the family and watch this movie called City Killer.

A deranged demolition expert blackmails his ex-lover into getting back with him by systematically blowing up a series of high-rise buildings in the middle of a city.

When I saw it back in the day, I thought it was pretty good but nothing special. Having seen it again, all these years later, I still think that original assessment isn't too far off the mark. It obviously feels a little bit ropier now than it did back then though but for what it is, it's okay. It's a film that benefits from TV movie charm and is on the whole reliable without ever moving very far outside the box. One scene that did impress me a bit, however, was the part where we see a building basically fall apart only to see a helicopter immediately rise out and above it – this was a pretty convincing, dangerous looking and well executed shot I thought. In the final analysis though, this is middling stuff on the whole but certainly worth a viewing.

CITY KILLER is one of those eventful little TV movies that America did so well back in the 1970s and 1980s. Long forgotten, of course, yet with a novel premise and plenty of decent moments, this is the sort of film that deserves reappraisal by modern movie fans.

The story is simple: pretty Heather Locklear is at the mercy of a sinister stalker, played to the sweaty hilt by Terence Knox. Knox is far from an ordinary film villain along the lines of other stalkers like Richard Thomas or Patrick Bergin, though; instead, he's a lunatic bomb who thinks of nothing else than demolishing a number of high-rise tower blocks in downtown USA! Cue lots of stock footage of real-life demolitions mixed with footage of people desperate to escape.

It's a crazy premise and yet one that works well due to the police procedural focus and the willingness of those involved to take the premise seriously. Locklear is a more than adequate as a woman at her wits' end, and there are interesting performances from character actors like Peter Mark Richman and Gerald McRaney as the cops assigned to protect her. Knox, meanwhile, is a hoot.

What have we here? Heather Locklear (from 'Spin City' and 'T.J. Hooker' among other things) is being stalked by mad ex-lover Terence Knox (who I know best from 'Tour of Duty' and 'Children of the Corn II'), as the ex-marine/bomb-expert who wants her to realize that she should only be with him, and nobody else by demolishing a bunch of buildings in the city! His performance is really good, and kept me interested.

She falls in love with the psychologist/cop in charge of the situation, played by Gerald McRaney (who I haven't seen before). He helps her along the way, and predictably becomes her new lover. I also liked the role by Peter Mark Richman (who I know from 'Friday the 13th' and 'The Naked Gun 2½') as the police captain, who runs things.

There's a lot of nice shots of buildings being demolished, and good character development, although there aren't enough plot twists to make it thoroughly exciting.

But all in all a good way to spend an hour and a half. I even saw it on VHS, but that didn't ruin the experience, just made it look more 'old', and that was very fitting, since the movie is a bit out-dated.

Since I watched this movie 19 years after it was originally made....it couldn't help but be a little dated....but it was a fair TV movie from the early 1980's. Heather Locklear is sweet and tiny and Gerald McRaney plays a cop well. It kept me interested, but wasn't really anything special.

Andrea (Heather Locklear) has been receiving strange hang-up calls around the time that her creepy, volatile ex-boyfriend (Terence Knox) starts trying to get back in her life. He's the sort of possessive nut that won't take no for an answer.

It turns out that the situation is far worse than Andrea could ever imagine. Soon, the entire city finds out just how crazy this man is when a series of deadly bombings begins.

CITY KILLER is a very good made-for-TV thriller. Ms. Locklear is quite good in her beleaguered role, as is Gerald McRaney as the main cop assigned to the case. Mr. Knox shows the twitchy intensity that made him so awesome on ST. ELSEWHERE.

EXTRA CREDIT FOR: This movie's economical use of scheduled demolitions as stand-ins for structures targeted by the madman!...