Les Forces du mal

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). (**)

Dennis Lipscombe is a depressed artist who throws himself off the roof of the hotel he lives in on Halloween. He survives, but starts having visions of a small time gangster who died the same night. Soon he is having nightmares about stalking and killing strangers, and the murders he dreams of are really happening. His psychiatrist and his hooker girlfriend try to help him figure out what is going on, while cop Hoyt Axton investigates the murder spree. This is a pretty solid mid-80's horror flick with colorful photography, creative, gory deaths, and a really solid cast of recognizable character actors.

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!

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.

One really good episode of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE that I remember is "Dead Man's Shoes," where an average Joe finds a pair of shoes and decides to put them on. The shoes, however, belonged to a recently deceased mobster, who decides to possess the man and seek revenge on those who sent him to his grave. RETRIBUTION is just like that, only a lot bloodier.

George is a depressed painter who's had it with life. On Halloween night, he jumps off the roof of his apartment building and dies. However, he is brought back by some paramedics, but something isn't quite right with him. Whenever he falls asleep, he has dreams of killing people in gruesome ways, and when he awakens, these people are actually dead. You see, he is now possessed by a mobster who not only shared his birthday, but he was gunned down at the same time George realized he can't fly, so now, the mobster is killing those who killed him. Can George stop him before the killing begins again?

RETRIBUTION is a decent enough watch, but it could have been a whole lot better. Considering this was released in the trash-tastic year of 1987, they managed to have a really intriguing plot, great actors, and good gore effects. Unfortunately, they underplay everything except the actors.

Yes, there is a lot of talking and a lot of character building, which is both a good and a bad thing. Good, because we actually begin to like and connect with the characters. Bad, because it keeps us away from the good stuff.

The kills in RETRIBUTION are all gory, all inventive, and there aren't many of them. There are only four people who gunned down Vito (the mobster), and he doesn't even get his revenge on all of them. There is some great build-up and suspense with the deaths and the "possessed George" is frightening enough to work.

There are a lot of scenes where George's possession takes hold, like when they go to a spiritualist, or when he paints several portraits of the charred Vito (which looks eerily similar to Freddy).

Don't get me wrong; RETRIBUTION is from being a bad movie, it's just not all that great. I liked all the characters, I liked the gore, and the scares were good, it's just that each of these is either underplayed or overplayed. It's "technically" a lot better than most late-eighties direct-to-video garbage; it's just not as entertaining as it should be.

Still, it's worth watching.