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A family moves into a rundown mansion located in a dangerous urban neighborhood. Teenage son Scott (a solid and likable performance by Tom Bresnahan) and his spunky sister Robin (a winningly perky portrayal by the adorable Jill Whitlow of "Night of the Creeps" fame) are terrorized by a nasty gang of no-count street punks. Fortunately, the ghost of a famous Hollywood actor who hung himself in the house back in the 30's materializes so he can help Scott and Robin bump off said nasty punks. Director/co-writer Bert Dragin whips up a truly odd and campy curio that clumsily mixes elements of street gang juvenile delinquent exploitation movies and standard spooky haunted house fright fare with genuinely ludicrous, but still entertaining and often (unintentionally?) hilarious results: The street gang butchers the family cat and attempt to rape Robin, but our intrepid family decides to stick it out anyway, the parents leave the kids to fend for themselves when they go away to tend to family business, and Scott and Robin stage a fake gruesome bloodbath in an attempt to scare the hoodlums off (!). The whole thing concludes with an inevitable last reel massacre, with the gloriously absurd, yet grisly highlights being a fat jerk getting killed by his own motorcycle and a libidinous couple getting electrocuted while in the middle of doing just what you think. The cast struggle gamely with the patently inane material: Breznahan and Whitlow make for appealing leads, Sam Melville and Brooke Bundy do credible work as the parents, Christopher Burgard sneers it up with aplomb as mean gang leader Silk, Jonathan Chapin is suitably creepy as vicious gang member Crip, and Todd Bridges contributes an appealing turn as nice guy Pete. Busty brunette knockout Charlie Spradling pops her top and bares her beautifully bountiful breasts as horny moll Tina. Zoran Hockstatter's reasonably polished cinematography and David Bergaurd's generic ooga-booga shivery score both do the trick. A perfectly mindless diversion.
score 8/10
Woodyanders 21 October 2010
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2327303/ |
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24-2-2021 04:58:05