Le trésor de San Lucas

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.

Prolific film-maker of low-grade cheapies Albert Pyun provides the audience with a tolerably haywire, if blotchy little action adventure escapade with "Down Twisted" aka "Treasure of San Lucas". A billionaire art collector hires some international thieves to steal a religious artifact the crucible of San Lucas where they would switch it with a replica and fly the real one back to Los Angeles. However they find themselves being double crossed. Suddenly a waitress finds herself caught in the middle and being abducted when her roommate confesses that she and her boyfriend have gotten themselves mixed with these smugglers. This grungy low-rent Cannon fodder by Golan Globus might be remembered for Courtney Cox's debut performance, where she gets a bit of screen time in a throwaway part. But outside of that distraction, this is an agreeable outing with flavoured Mexican locations and amusingly fine performances by some Pyun regulars. Charles Rocket plays it suave as ever, still with a clumsy edge with the amount times his character gets knocked out. You know, for comedy purposes. Thom Mathews sticks out as the bleached blonde thief with a killer instinct and so does Linda Kerridge as a fellow partner in crime. Carry Lowell's unlucky waitress character Maxine who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time might have gotten on my nerves at times with her constant wailing, but no wonder with the amount of times she asked about the key that she doesn't have. Also showing up is Norbert Weisser and Nicholas Guest. Pyun's style is not fancy, but sturdily achieved with some hip touches as the eventful story's framework is a twisty chase formula with a contemporary noir quality and a snappy soundtrack back it up.

"Oh, the deal's going down... but it's going down twisted."

For years, the only way to see Down Twisted was to catch it late at night on Cinemax. The movie was not available on VHS (except for $100 rental store copies), and isn't currently available on DVD, so you'll have to beg AMC to broadcast it.

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!

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.