Les Forces du mal

Surprisingly good!

A plain, somewhat overweight, nerdy-looking man stands on the edge of the roof of the Don Hotel (no "tiny bubbles" jokes in the movie, though). From the masks on the people below, we can tell it's Halloween. He jumps, and the monsters below look sad. We see the tunnel of light, but a burnt or mutated face appears as emergency responders try to revive him.

In the hospital, he's rehabilitated, though he now walks with a cane and limp. The people in the Don Hotel, a somewhat strange bunch, are sympathetic, as is a neighborhood hooker he's friendly with. However, he has horrible vivid nightmares involving murder. Additionally, while he paints blood appears out of nowhere, and does at other times too and isn't just a hallucination it seems.

In the nightmares, he visits people and brutally kills them with some sort of telepathic abilities while his eyes glow. In the morning, the deaths are in the paper. Though there aren't a lot of murders, the scenes are pretty strong. One begins with some particularly graphic (possibly real) shots of a slaughterhouse. The way a man dies there is quite memorable.

While a Catholic priest works at the hospital, and the main character visits a church, the one attempt at exorcism is done by a "Dr. Rasta"! Perhaps more surprisingly, he's a friend of the hooker.

Solid B-movie with OK performances and slam-bang special effects. This is one of those neglected little thrillers that set out not to offer anything new to the genre, but at least to give fans of those movies their money's worth. And this one generally seems to know its business (although it does get a little too loud near the end). (**)

Starving artist George (Dennis Lipscomb) decides to end his life by jumping off his apartment building on Halloween night. As he lays dying, his body receives the spirit of a man who shares his birthday and is killed at the exact same time (confused?). He lives and the spirit takes over when George goes to sleep and seeks retribution on folks who burned him alive (Freddy who?). Of course, his psychiatrist Dr. Curtis (Leslie Wing) thinks he's crazy and Lt. Ashley (Hoyt Axton) thinks he is the killer. This is a pretty solid horror flick that I liked even more watching it now than back in the 80s. You can hear the filmmakers whisper, "It is like ELM STREET, see?" (the burned villain even looks like Freddy), but writer-director Guy Magar does enough to make it stand apart. The only misfire is a visit to one Doctor Rasta, a Rastafarian voodoo doctor. Oh, and lots of 80s neon. Was it really that prevalent? Lipscomb, looking like a nerdy Christopher Walken, is an interesting choice for a leading man and I like that casting. On the technical side, there is lots of great camera work and some interesting use of lighting. The gore appears to be cut, but is still plentiful. Magar cut his teeth on TV work and this was his first feature. He went on to do THE STEPFATHER III, which I also thought had great cinematography, and one of the CHILDREN OF THE CORN sequels.

I first saw this movie years ago when it was released on Virgin Video and I seem to remember that it was a pretty scary movie. Years later, in 2006, I finely get to see it again and unfortunately it wasn't as good as I remember it. The premise is a man called George (Lipscomb) decides to commit suicide on Halloween night. He jumps off of an apartment building and barely survives. After spending 3 months in a hospital, George has a new lease on life and kind of starts off with a fresh new start. The problem is when George falls asleep his body is taken over by a spirit with demonic powers and the spirit is out to kill the people who murdered him in life. This is actually a well directed movie with some great acting and good cast. The problem I had with the movie was for one, it is a very dated film. For instance, the music for the movie was so typical of the era it takes away from the seriousness of the story. And the ending seemed way to rushed. This movie runs almost two hours with some great build up to the climax but in the end the movie falls on its face. It is to bad because this really had some great potential and the makers of the film probably could have easily made this a 2 and a half hour movie and still keep your attention. I do, in the long run, recommend this movie because it is still an enjoyable experience. 6/10 stars

In the film industry, its a huge rarity to have a cult classic come from a first time director, especially one who has worked strictly on TV episodes. Egyptian born, Guy Magar who started out working on such iconic television shows such as Hunter, Werewolf, The Powers of Matthew Star, and Buck Rogers had written this film which is a amalgamation of his love of revenge films, possession films, and the human condition.

Retribution was Guy's 1987 feature debut which starred Dennis Lipscomb (In the Heat of the Night, The First Power) who plays George Miller. Hoyt Axton (Gremlins) as Lt. Ashley, Suzanne Snyder (Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Return of the Living Dead Part 2) who is Angel the whore with a heart of gold, & Leslie Wing (Strangeland, High School Musical Series) who plays as Jennifer Curtis the shrink who befriends George.

The film opens up with depressed artist, played by Lipscomb who attempts suicide in front of a crowd of friends as he falls to his short lived death. At the same time, across town a underling gangster is meeting his demise at the hands of four mob bosses. The two men's lives clash as one is successfully brought back to life and rehabilitated and trying to get his life back on track and the other is nothing but murder on his mind, and with the help of his physical unsuspecting host - there will be vengeance and lots of blood.

Once George is brought back, his nightlife is plagued by nightmares involved a green eyed daemon who looks eerily familiar to the scared man. He begins seeing Dr. Curtis who tries to help, as the bodies pile up around town. This leads him into the crosshairs of Lt. Ashley who is determined to get his killer, all the while George's dysfunctional family try to play off his fears as its all in his head.

This movie is hands down one of the coolest and original films from the 80's era, from clothes, the music which includes a great score from John Carpenter Alumini - Alan Howardth. The colours used, the visual effects, and especially the brutal deaths and kill scenes really make this a film that has to be seen to be believed. Its sad that the director Guy Magar did two more direct to video films, I personally feel he was one talented voice in the horror genre who never really got his voice heard.

I was sent a LE bluray from Severin signed by both Magar and Howardth and was able to enjoy not just the film but the added bonus features as well. Which included some in depth and BTS stories from the set and about the film itself, Suzanne Snyder, Mr. Howardth, and several others all of which were short but informative and well worth the watch.

Another cool bonus was BINGO: Student Short By Guy Magar. This 3 disc LE release also included the Score written by Alan Howardth himself as well as the rare UNCUT Dutch version of the film!!

If you are a fan of 80's possession/revenge films then this is definitely one not to miss!!!

Santa Maria Mother of God HELP ME!