Le trésor de San Lucas

Well, you expect it to be bad, and this particular Pyun movie is no exception. About the best that can be said about it is that the photography is somewhat improved, and you can occasionally see signs that SOME money was spent. Though it was clearly still an economic shoot, considering the number of close-ups and scenes that seem to have been very quickly set up.

The rest of the movie is a dull slog through the ugliest Mexican locations Pyun could find, and a story that's particularly incoherent. In his defense, there are signs that the movie was cut up from a longer version, since some stuff that occurs in the movie seems to come out of nowhere.

"Down Twisted" was apparently geared as a major release, but it seems that Cannon dumped this directly to video (or, at the very most, gave it a release in one or two cities.) For one thing, about THREE YEARS passed between the year it was made and the year it appeared on video.

Albert Pyun.... Please, please, PLEASE stop making movies! You can't direct! You're an awful director (and screenwriter)! You're the Ed Wood of the 21st Century. Well, I'll take back that last remark, because as bad as Wood's movies were, he at least made them entertaining and easy to sit through!

Cannons take on Miami Vice mixed with Romancing the Stone and James Bond

The film starts off with a fun chase sequence set to Oingo Boingo's Dead Mans Party. We then meet our main heroin in a series of scenes almost barely different from our introduction to Sarah Connor in Terminator before she gets involved with a drug deal gone bad where her roommate is killed and she finds herself hi-jacked en route to San Lucas with a seemingly bumbling insurance salesman. But all is not as it seems...

Seeing the cannon logo and Albert Pyun's name you'd think the rest would be a cheesy action thriller. But Down Twisted aka Treasure of San Lucas has almost zero action scenes after its opening bit. Instead we get a lot of plot twists set to a fun theme. Thom Matthew's has a fun role as a hitman who leaves too soon. I'd really only recommend this film to cannon aficionados as there's not a whole lot here for the casual viewer. The music is easily the best part, and it ends with a very long cover of Suspicious Minds by Fine Young Cannibals that plays over a character montage that was 100% meant to have each actors name on screen during their part but somebody forgot to add the titles(!)

Great 80's verité (like Miami Vice). A low-budget but likeable caper movie.

A wealthy industrialist hires six thieves to steal a valuable relic from the fictional country of San Lucas just before the annual parade celebrating the relic. He gets double crossed by his own team of thieves, most notably Charles Rocket (SNL, Earth Girls Are Easy). Carey Lowell (Law & Order, Sleepless in Seattle), the baddest Bond Girl. is an innocent bystander dragged into the plot.

Keep an eye out for Courteney Cox at the beginning of the movie.

OK, so you probably already know it's not on the leader board for best movies of the decade. But, really, it is a fun movie. If you like campy comedies you will really like this one. Sure its a bit predictable, sure it doesn't have a-list stars, sure it requires willing suspense of disbelief, but come on, if you look at the cast and director, what more can you expect. Charles Rocket does a fine job as the bumbling hero and everyone else fills in the necessary protagonist and antagonist roles. Give it a chance. You remember Evil Dead? Stakeout? Big Trouble in Little China? As long as your expectations aren't too high you won't be disappointed.

DownTwisted is not a good movie but Charles Rocket made it bearable. Carey Lowel was so pretty but she wasn't the real star of this average crime thriller .

It's too bad Charles Rocket killed himself. He was a really good actor, he just wasn't in movies that gave him the ability to really shine. Downtwisted gave him a chance to show us that he really is a good actor. Carey Lowel did a Bond picture a few years after this. It's not a stupid movie but it isn't something I'd want to watch with a date. Well, maybe it is a good date movie. If you make-out during the film it's not like you really will miss out on anything good. Watch it but I don't recommend it.