Omen IV: The Awakening (1991)

A spit in the eye to righteousness

By: JWBM

"For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist." - 2 John 1:7

There are those, like myself, that wanted to see the series through. We clung to the edge of our seats with morbid fascination as the story of Damien Thorn unfolded: with those close enough by his side to feel the flames, or with those left to the cold trail on his path towards total superiority. What was thought to be a final chapter in the early '80s, spawned into a fourth part in '91 with a made for TV movie produced by Harvey Bernhard of the first three films.

Jumping right into it with a young and hopeful couple mysteriously unable to have kids, they head to local church to adopt what they think is God's little, innocent gift to their home. Soon enough, the wife, Karen, becomes suspicious that her little bundle of joy could be a basket of ruin when people inexplicably end up dead. Similar to the first and second film, the husband is connected in politics and begins to set the stage for their less-than-holy child, Delia, to possibly someday go from high chair to a throne of dark power.

"Omen IV" took the platform from the first and essentially attempted to do an updated version from the early '90s with a few different variations. Though instead of coming across as edgy, it's as if they forget to sharpen the knife. Cuts are eventually made, but it makes for a jagged, silverware-against-polished-porcelain noise that's cringing to the senses. On paper I'd imagine this looked to be another worthy addition to the franchise, however, played out, it doesn't have a flowing personality to it. Rather, it feels like a concocted persona imitating its parent: the result being a disjointed experience that's noticeably pieced together; like a collection of scenes, rather than a cohesive picture that flows as one unified experience.

What made the original film so great was that it was a simple story that played on moral fears, along with a dividing point of how far we would go to love and protect our child despite the implications or odds. What once was fresh and ferocious as an idea of having a little monster in your midst you'd never suspect, feels tired and lacking in imagination beyond the square box it made itself home to here. The film never makes you suspend your disbelief even for a second. It feels too comfortable—like a co-worker that's become complacent enough to shamelessly turn in shoddy work and shadow right behind everyone else.

There was a switch of directors at some point. If I had to guess, it was right up to the point they went to the psychic fair—you read that right. There's more overacting, and downright silly moments going on—wordless, cartoonish bulging eyes to boot—to lose the audience in one fell swoop. If Time were embodied, the rest of the experience can be summed up as about as exciting as crawling through a rose garden in the dark with a person just out of reach talking out of order. The score has tendency to feel intrusive to what's actually shown. It can make the overall tone conflicting and confusing: from more whimsical and magical than anything scary or dark. The most menacing or captivating music is that of Jerry Goldsmith's from previous films.

Few actors manage to captivate beyond their roles. Faye Grant comes with the most layers to her character of, Karen, and in areas gives a natural delivery that doesn't just feel like a warm body, or that she's just woodenly delivering her lines. But, even so, with the poor dialogue, direction, and editing, there's only so much even the most talented actor can pull off. Some things do line up and show some unpolished potential, though with all things considered, aren't enough to make up for it.

This isn't the worst film out there, but it does certainly have its hangups and pitfalls that make the experience tiresome, rather than exciting. It falls into shortcomings similar to the second film: in that the audience is well aware of the nature of the little devil, but constantly plays on everyone else being slow on the upkeep. Surprises start to dwindle, and eventually begin to feel like hopeless attempts to capture your attention. They play on resentment and frustration from no one seeing what they see. It could have been a pulse-pounding thriller with good and evil pitted against each other similar to "The Exorcist III" of the year before. Yet, they don't make it a sweating-at-the-palms experience, or even an engaging cat and mouse game. In almost every respect it feels like a gimmick and a lazy capitalization of the series in that regard.

Rating: 3.5/10

Director: Jorge Montesi, Dominique Othenin-Girard
Actors: Faye Grant, Michael Woods, Michael Lerner, Asia Vieira
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link

Dead Dudes in the House (1991)

Nothing fiercer than a possessed old lady

By: JWBM

What looks to be some lost and forgotten low-budget horror film that has all of the glaring attributes of the year—hairstyles and clothing included—and plays out to a one-by-one-they-die type of film... is, well, exactly that. If you were expecting less, you won't get it. If you were expecting more, you'll get it in different variations of the genre, rather than something profoundly off the charts. It's not new, per se, but somewhat innovative, and still comes with its own memorable personality. It plays on a formula that works, because it's fun, somewhat daring, and just plain ol' entertaining for one guilty pleasure or another. Take your pick.

The plot is fairly simple: a group of adults with nothing better to do help out one of their pals fix up a mansion in the middle of the woods. Things start out innocent enough, till one of them desecrates a head-stone: from there on out, it becomes a need-to-get-out, fight for survival. This comes with its own rules that don't apply outside of this film. Such as sound doesn't travel, the dead aren't really dead, and old women have the cunning of a vicious predator and the strength of Schwarzenegger in his prime. There's nothing more chilling than an all-too-calm hunched-back elderly lady with a talent for creative violence. Her voice goes from sweet innocence to might-as-well-dig-my-own-grave creepy by the time you see what she's capable of.

This shifts in and out of fairly amateur looking filmmaking—from the acting, story, setups—to other scenes that are somewhat impressive in how simple but effective they are. Often times with shoe-string budget features, you get a redundancy of certain aspects. One of the familiar trappings is forced drama between the group to create tension. In a rare move that does work in its own twisted way, this uses a guy who should rightfully be promoted to the kingpin of jerks. He's a professional smart-aleck that gets I-can't-believe-he-said-that-laughs from his off-the-cuff commentary, or his back-and-forth with the others who look annoying enough to deserve it.

The film wastes little time to step up the ante. In under 20 minutes, blood is already splattered on the walls. Like beaten and battered bowling pins just waiting to be knocked down, the characters get it in unique ways. However, the film does start to lose a little steam and become repetitive when it goes from a kind of haunted house/slasher to a sort of survival horror to give the audience a person to root for. This is the kind of experience that's best enjoyed with a group who can point out its pitfalls while simultaneously going along for the entertaining ride that is "Dead Dudes in the House."

Rating: 7/10

Director: James Riffel
Actors: Victor Verhaeghe
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link

(Writer's note: the front DVD cover is cringe-worthy, showing six unrelated actors to the film and looking about as trendy and upbeat as an episode of "Saved by the bell." The much cooler looking VHS version, "The House on Tombstone Hill," grabs your attention over this eyesore. Troma needs to get up on showing the real dudes and dudettes involved. There's also conflicting dates: from IMDB's site with '89, Troma's site saying '91, and another version having '92.)

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991)

A hero with disregard for hierarchy

By: JWBM

This is the definition of perfectly-imperfect. It's the kind of film that is endlessly entertaining for all of its over-the-top and outlandishly excessive setups. It's like one of those friends that compulsively exaggerates everything they do enough that they grow a knack for it. You don't believe what you see or hear, but it fits the mood to be overlooked as another outlook. "Story of Ricky" knows no bounds, and has few limits to get a reaction and a rise from your senses. It's laughably cheesy and badly acted in every sense, but, man, is it inspiring in some far-out, demented kind of way. Some wish they could be him. Others wish they had him as a friend in grade school.

So who's Ricky? He's a buff, super-human, morally-steadfast guy in the near-future that gets locked up in a privately run prison for a crime he may have been justified for committing. Let's just say little is made in the way of looking like the future, but who's paying attention to intricate details here? He's surrounded by scum, and is incidentally a bully pulverizer with extraordinary strength they talked about in whispered legends to actually do something about it. I mean, going toe-to-toe with the Gang of Four—or Four Heavenly Kings in Chinese mythology—might be a statement in itself. He also cries for the lower man who can't help himself while throwing shadow punches at nothing in the rain. It's just the kinda complex being he is.

This has a simple set-up for any typical martial arts film to give an excuse to show off some fancy moves. Except this raises the bar not just a few notches, but makes a leap to the skies—which incidentally are pouring out red droplets in buckets. It's where Hong Kong kung-fu influence meets late '80s/early '90s Japanese levels of excess. Other manga source material has rivaled it in violence—think "Baoh," "Violence Jack," "Fist of the North Star"—though it's a one of a kind feature for being one of the goriest live action/martial arts movies out there. "The Street Fighter"—with Sonny Chiba, of course—gave it a push. "Story of Ricky" gives a shove down the most unforgiving of escalators and punches your head clean off for good measure.

Like an SNES or Genesis classic, such as "Final Fight" or "Streets of Rage," the film keeps you busy with an assortment of goons, gangs, and end-bosses. There's a hierarchy that should matter and is something you should be afraid of breaking. Though, this doesn't stop a guy who can literally punch holes in people and play tunes in key with nothing but a leaf. Instead of over-the-top Chuck Norris jokes, we should instead have them about Riki Oh: the man who's got the chiseled back muscles and high kicks to back it up.

The acting has that characteristic Hong Kong charm where we have to not only say what we're doing but over-gesture what we're doing as well. It's like they're trying to communicate with both the hearing and hearing impaired at the same time. Either purposely or by mistake, there's never a lulling point here. The filmmakers always seem to top themselves scene after scene. So much so, I haven't seen another film like it since. One could look at the story as one man's unconscious mission to clean up all the bad people in the world. They just happen to be locked up in one building trapped in there with him, not the other way around. Their do-anything-I-please egos—that got them in the slammer in the first place—are about to get checked in some of the most creatively violent ways. Break out the bleach and popcorn, because it's gonna be a messy, though entertaining ride.

Rating: 9/10

Director: Ngai Choi Lam
Actors: Siu-Wong Fan
Info: IMDB
Trailer: Youtube

Story of Ricky (1991)

Bullies beware!

This was a Hong Kong made martial arts film that was based on a Japanese manga. The result was a mash of cultural ideas that came with relating points for either society--unlike the usual competitiveness and animosity towards each other--and then who could forget plenty of violence that came out of the collaboration. If someone in passing just says "Story of Ricky" was gory it would be doing it a disservice, because this is quite possibly THE goriest martial arts film at that point, that's even over "The Street Fighter," "Lone Wolf and Cub" and others in the '70s when rabid audiences wanted to see copious amounts of blood shed when fists and blades connected with soft human flesh. This is more in line to the '80s ultra violent Japanese animes that took the fascination of carnage further such as "Fist of the North Star" that weren't as limited by what movements and characteristics they displayed. As a live action feature, the budget is going to be less grand in scope, though this still manages to capture some of the over-the-top and colorful scenarios that are usually only done in inked pen. Essentially you can transparently see its limitations at times but it still doesn't stop it from being effective and intensely entertaining partly because of those setbacks.

In 2001, all forms of government have become privatized and turned into franchises, including prison systems. It's the future mainly in mindset as it hardly looks like it apart from a few different aspects switched around. The prison is headed by a rich warden, his power hungry assistant, nameless guards and then four gang leaders in charge of their own cell block to keep fearful inmates in line. A bus full of new prisoners show up and regulars attempt to treat them as fresh meat. One of them stands out, Ricky, a complete mystery with superhuman strength and a strong conviction to the point of feeling no pain except when it comes to reference of his girlfriend, not to mention he's an expert flute player to the point of playing in perfect key and harmony with nothing but a leaf! He doesn't need an entourage to back him up, as each one of his limbs counts as a mini army anyway. You could probably substitute his name with any one of the current Chuck Norris jokes. The movie is ridiculously cruel and violent by making some of the worst prisons in the world look like a daycare center. The weakest literally get beaten into the ground until they're nothing more than helpless shells of themselves. Ricky shows up as a modern superhero with a strong distaste for bullies, which is how he got there in the first place, with bullets in his chest as a souvenir to show for it. There are some flashbacks that show Ricky was once in an overly happy, positive state. He's more an antihero than the usual Marvel or DC superhero fare that US readers are used to, though he still comes with the bulging muscles and rules to govern his conscience despite not being afraid to get his hands dirty from time to time.

This is kept fairly simple in that it's more a series of events than a typical layered storyline. Essentially Ricky has to single handedly dismantle the corrupt prison system by acting as a self-sacrificing martyr for a widespread epidemic that's gotten out of hand against other human beings. Part of that doesn't always work towards justice or righteousness as they're all criminals first and foremost, though the film does emphasize a few that were wrongfully locked up. Ricky doesn't always just jump right into the carnage as even taking the life of an enemy is still a life taken. He's more a televangilist's best friend with a tendency to cripple and humble his opponents, since he realizes in order to make a form of peace blood must be taken. There are more veins exposed and guts spilled than your everyday janitor would care to clean up. Punches don't just bruise, but decapitate and rip through mid sections. Makeshift weapons are plunged into people in the most cringe worthy and tortuous fashions. If there is a message to it, they nailed it home and then some. The special effects are all over the place with quality. Some of the simple wounds get the job done of looking nasty, though others, such as model faces and bodies, you can blatantly see its limitations. Especially when someone grows Hulk-like strength, it's hard to tell if it was on purpose or they just ran out of money and didn't want to cut it out of the script. Then again, this style of movie isn't going to be appeasing to a large share of audiences and that usually means less backing for all that snazzy stuff.

For what the story lacks, the over-the-top characters carry their own. There's the assistant warden who is so fat and greedy that you can't help but not like him. There are the gang leaders who have flamboyant dress and unusual abilities up their sleeves to keep things amusing, either by accident or on purpose--probably both. The synthesizer music ranges from fumbling around with filler to actually producing a harmony on occasion. The opening piece reminds me of some of the horror scores by Goblin from the '70s/'80s--maybe it is, you never know with Chinese films. "Story of Ricky" often falls short, but tries so hard while at it that it's easier to overlook its many faults and setbacks. The performances and English dubbing are going to catch more laughs than some comedies due to being the epitome of boisterous and exaggerated to make a point--the film doesn't know what the word reserved or subtle means, but who says it needs to? On the other hand, this has an enormous amount of random surprises in the form of contraptions and scenarios, inventiveness, style and enough eccentric characters to get by. This is an off-kilter film that invents its own rules and does things that are downright impossible and unimaginable outside of itself, but it does them well enough towards suspending your disbelief that it often thumps logic where other films would fall flat from some of the same shortcomings.

Rating: 7.5/10

Director: Ngai Kai Lam
Stars: Siu-Wong Fan
Link: IMDB