Director: Ernest Dickerson
Year: 1995
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
Chased through the desert, a loner hiding out with a group of strangers at a remote boarding house finds the demonic emissary trailing him has brought along demonic helpers to retrieve a sacred artifact he holds and tries to protect everyone from the dangerous being.
Review:
This here was quite the enjoyable and entertaining effort. One of the better features here is the fact that there's an exceptionally fun atmosphere present which comes from the rather high quantity of action in this one. The opening car crash makes it go off on a great note and gives this a fine fiery finish, while the big revelation scene at the boardinghouse in front of everyone is a spectacular highlight which features the incredible initial reveal as well as the resulting gunfight to clear him out as going for the fun of the creature attacks with the beasts launching attacks themselves which gives this one the frenzied action and over-the-top scenarios needed for this kind of effort.
The later scenes of them clearing out the demons attempting to break in past their defenses leads to even more good times with the gun-battles clearing them out of the building, while the scenes down in the underground mines makes great use of the atmospheric location for some really fun and thrilling encounters, while the latter half features some even greater encounters with the possessed coming after them from all angles in the building which all makes for a non-stop offering of big action scenes. As well, the large amount of action here means this one goes for some rather impressive amounts of physical effects for not only the demonic creatures but also the deformities of the people possessed by the creatures that give this one some really graphic bloodshed and gore that's needed here to give this one the crazy, out-of-control comic book feel which really works so well here.
The cast here is just as good. Billy Zane has the time of his life as The Collector, clearly enjoying his time playing a seductive, wise-cracking villain that's clearly going by his own rules which makes for a captivating, charismatic performance. Jada Pinkett (going by that name at the time) as Jeryline the maid at the hotel starts off nicely as the meek and timid girl clearly with a kind heart who becomes a tough fighter by the end of it. William Sadler as Bryker the guardian of the blood offers up the usual role of the individual with all the information about what's going on and tried to keep everyone safe during the night. Alongside these main three, the supporting cast including professionals CCH Pounder, Dick Miller and Thomas Haden Church all offer memorable turns and help set the stage nicely here. These here make for a great time even though it does have a few flaws.
The main element against this one is the fact that there are some minor subplots that do hold this one back in the middle and it drags the pacing down. Spending the majority of the time dropping the physical tortures for mental temptation is quite out-of-place for what's going on to the rest of the group, and these really drag out this section. Likewise, there's also the fact that the heavy-handed religious backstory which is dropped so late into this one that it really comes off as such an afterthought and could've been brought up in the storyline sooner instead of placing it near the end. These here are what hold this one back.
Overview: ****1/2/5
One of the finest, most enjoyable horror/comedies from this time period, this one has plenty of fine work throughout here and not a whole lot really holding it back. This is certainly a recommended effort for all genre aficionados or those looking for a fine mixture between the two styles while there isn't much to dislike here at all.
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