Director: Thomas R. Rondinella
Year: 1989
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Cursed Object
Plot:
After a series of strange deaths, the local-pro at an exclusive golf resort finds that the cantankerous relationship with the other workers present must be put on hold when the deaths point to a possessed runaway lawnmower, and when no one believes his story sets out to stop the murderous thing.
Review:
This was quite a decent if slightly silly offering. One of the more engaging aspects of this one is the fact that there's quite an overall effective grounding of the bizarre scenario. The main gist of the storyline, about a killer possessed lawnmower running rampant at a golf resort, which is a solely goofy premise and yet is handled with somewhat enough class to make for a decent enough effort here. What really helps this is the inclusion of so many plot-points and references to other films in the structure of how this plays out which is quite obviously referenced as it goes along.
That in turn leads this one to a series of incredibly fun and exciting confrontations with the killer object that tackles that follows up that sense of parody and homage. The opening series of attacks on the group out partying on the golf-course is quite enjoyable with the suspenseful stalking of the kids through the cornfields, the attack on the worker in full-view of everyone participating in lessons gives this a strong setup for the glorious rampage through the crowds at the tournament which is nicely caught on TV cameras to add an extra sense of cheesy fun to it all. The finale, with them out on the course hunting the thing down in a straight-up parody, creates plenty of goofy action setpieces and some gory dealings in the kills which offer up some rather funny moments. These here hold it up over it's minor flaws.
Among the few flaws with this one is the fact that the soap opera dynamics of the residents at the club aren't that fun to sit through. Granted, it makes for a much longer effort by going through the motions of the various subplots involved in the feature, from the new golf pro on the job to the various workers upset over the new hierarchy of the employees, really isn't all that enjoyable as the film doesn't do anything interesting with these elements. They grind the film to a halt in their bland, prototypical dealings which are quite boring and do nothing but make this way too long.
Likewise, some here might find the manner in which it's created and conceived might be a little too much for some out there. The fact that the story runs so close to perhaps the most hallowed and important genre film in history with the way it's story and plot-points hit so closely and score as many impressive ripoffs of those scenes that it could be taken in the wrong tone. Not only is does the low-budget, cheesy tone of this one serve as a tough hurdle to handle by itself, but those when done in conjunction with the overlong setup serve as the most crippling factors. Otherwise, this really doesn't have much wrong with it.
Overview: ***/5
While it does come off as a cheesy, overlong, low-budget ripoff of a much more beloved and enjoyable genre effort, taken on it's own terms the action scenes and silliness become quite enjoyable. Give this a shot if you're into the silly end of the spectrum or can appreciate the tone and go with the flow of what the movie's trying to do, while those that have no tolerance or patience for this kind of effort should heed extreme caution.
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