Jim Norman witnesses his older brother Wayne being murdered by a group of bullies as a young kid. Jim has never fully recovered from this tragedy and decides to take his family back to where it all began for a fresh start. Jim's students start dying and The Bullies come back from the dead for revenge. I loved this movie growing up. I watched it quite a few times. I'm sad to say that it doesn't have anywhere near the impact that it used to. I realize that it is a television movie, but it is only slightly above average. There isn't anything that stands out about it, really. It also has some major plot holes. It isn't fully explained, about how they have managed to suddenly appear after being dead for 27 years. We aren't given any inkling what so ever on how they have been able to return from the dead. Why did they wait 27 years to seek vengeance on Jimmy? Wouldn't they have done it far sooner? Also, why does Jim have visions in a telepathic sort of way with the hoods? It is script contrivances like that, which make me shake my head. Nothing is explained fully as I would have liked. There are plenty of flashback scenes involving the incident with Jimmy as a child, but they are delivered as mundanely as possible. The storyline could have been something riveting and chilling, but it ended up going the routine route in every way. Tim Matheson is very solid as the lead. He conveys the proper emotions when needed and I liked him a lot. Too bad he didn't have much to work with. Brooke Adams is OK as the wife, not great. Robert Rusler is a favorite character actor of mine. He's good for the most part and rather bad-ass. My only gripes is the maniacal laughter and the way he taps his unlit cigarette on his hand. They were pet peeves that irked me. The rest of the cast are decent. The finale is probably my favorite part of the movie. It is emotionally well done.
Final Thoughts: I didn't dislike this movie or anything, it just doesn't hold up nearly as well from my childhood. It is a forgettable film for the most part. It is worth a look, just don't expect much
5.4/10
Final Thoughts: I didn't dislike this movie or anything, it just doesn't hold up nearly as well from my childhood. It is a forgettable film for the most part. It is worth a look, just don't expect much
5.4/10