Director: James KacKinnon
Year: 1994
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Working at a dive restaurant, a bartender hoping to get with the girl of his dreams while she’s making mistakes in her life, he believes she can fix, but when it becomes obvious there’s something dark about the nature of their arrangement tries to put an end to it before it comes to life.
Review:
This was a disappointing enough follow-up that it does have some watchable elements. Among the better features here is the decent enough attempt at a storyline that provides a reason for the initial infatuation at the core of everything. Presented early on to the point that there’s a rather obvious account of what the guy sees in her with her being way too good to spend time in that kind of restaurant that he works at, the relationship they share with her being sexually open to others instead of him but willing to share her struggles with him, and the sense of betrayal he feels when learning of her transgressions helps to sell everything incredibly well. With the attempts by his friend to help him get over it to no avail, the relationship here becomes a fun one to play out that becomes obvious what the whole thing is about.
That leads into the more frantic and enjoyable final half, where it’s time to reveal what everything was about, involving the pact with the demonic figure and how that’s going to impact his life. With all the hints finally leading to a rather dark conclusion involving the confrontation in the devil’s lair that descends into a twisted card game for his life, a series of real-world implications that manage to affect what’s going on, and the introduction of some incredibly fun action involving some cheesy effects to showcase the creatures being brought to life to pull the point together, this is where the film gets the most to like. As there’s enough fun nudity to go along with this kind of cheesy genre fare that ends everything on a high note, this comes together with enough to make it somewhat watchable overall.
There are some big issues here that hold this one down. The main drawbacks at the center of the film are based mostly around the generally underwhelming tempo and pacing that hardly ever comes off with any kind of interesting. Watching the series of incidents that help to set up the plot within here, from her going around sleeping around with other guys that treat her wrong and then complaining to him about her lackluster love life as he then complains what it will take to get together with her, this melodramatic first half is excruciating to sit through with no genre material to speak of and almost nothing worth watching beyond the nudity. It’s decent enough for a starting point, but beyond that, it never develops any kind of genuine interest or fear in what’s happening.
That’s due to the other issue here, in that it never introduces its purpose or point until the very end. There are only one or two minor hints about what’s going on or who the friend is throughout the first hour, as there’s more focus on the relationship and how the guy’s lack of confidence in his ability to become more attractive to the girl he wants, so that it forgets to introduce any kind of supernatural shenanigans to the plotline. It’s over the hour mark where we learn what the entire purpose of his visiting the guy is supposed to represent and what he wants from him, and spending time on this level of outright bland non-genre material when it could’ve introduced something much earlier than it does is an issue. Alongside the cheap production values throughout here, these all manage to bring this down.
Overview: */5
A generally problematic and underwhelming genre effort, this one comes off rather bland and unremarkable overall that has some positives that barely register. Those with an interest in completing this style or who want to follow up from the original will be the main target audience here, as most others out there should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment