As someone else had previously pointed out, the 1993 action-horror film "Full Eclipse" plays out a lot like a mad combination of "Dirty Harry" (1971) and "The Howling" (1981), mixed in with the feeling of a gore-filled superhero/horror comic book. The plot to "Full Eclipse" is probably one of those stories that comes up out of a 10-second brainstorming session and the filmmakers just run with it; these end up being some of the best films ever released, so that's not a jab at Hollywood brainstorming. I wouldn't be surprised if more than half the films that came out of Hollywood in the '80s and early '90s probably started out in such a fashion.
"Full Eclipse" is a movie that begins like an ultra-violent cops & robbers action flick, and ends as a gore-filled, special effects-laden comic book-styled horror film - although it's an admittedly high concept for a low-budget, made-for-TV film directed by Anthony Hickox ("Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth").
In Los Angeles, violent crime is out of control and the streets aren't safe. Detective Max Dire (Mario Van Peebles) and his partner Jim Sheldon (Anthony John Denison) are out patrolling one night when they get a call about a hostage situation out at a downtown night club. To make long stories short, Max and Jim go in without a S. W. A. T. team back-up and Jim is critically wounded during the ensuing gun battle.
You would think that at this point the movie would be about Max going out to get revenge or being partnered up with a young inexperienced rookie - a la, "Lethal Weapon" - but the movie is only just beginning. Jim mysteriously makes a miraculous, full recovery and he and his old partner Max are back out on the streets fighting crime. Except that Max suspects that something is different about Jim and he's right, especially since bullets don't faze him and he's able to perform seemingly superhuman feats like being able to run like the wind through the streets and surviving a motorcycle crash head-on and without a scratch.
But unexpectedly, Jim takes his own life. Max, who is already going through a crumbling marriage, is then placed in a support group for troubled police officers. The group is run by a highly decorated veteran detective named Adam Garou (all-purpose villain Bruce Payne). It turns out that Garou secretly runs a rogue squad of vigilante police officers who go out at night and exact their own form of justice on the streets.
This is where the horror elements kick in. Garou has developed a serum that gives subjects superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes, and damn-near invincibility - in order to put them on an even playing field against violent, drug-addled criminals. In other words, Garou is actually a werewolf, and he has his right-hand woman Casey Spencer (Patsy Kensit, Mel Gibson's ill-fated love interest in "Lethal Weapon 2") seduce Max into joining their pack as its newest member.
"Full Eclipse" has an interesting story concept behind it, and for a low-budget made-for-TV (HBO) movie from the early '90s, it's carried out quite competently - given its financial limitations and lack of real star power, aside from Mario Van Peebles. Admittedly, the "Lethal Weapon"-/"Dirty Harry"-inspired opening moments really do fool you into thinking it's going to be another cheap action film, and then the horror elements unexpectedly kick in and the film takes on a new dimension while still retaining a running cops & robbers theme.
The performances aren't bad (Bruce Payne seems to be having the most fun here, even if he seems to be hamming it up a bit), and the special effects, make-up, and gore are quite impressive - the latter of which was reportedly toned down somewhat so the film could get an "R" rating (this review is based on the restored unrated version of the film). The werewolf transformation sequences are nowhere near the strength of "The Howling" or that other big werewolf movie from 1981, the landmark horror-comedy "An American Werewolf in London," but the make-up employed to realize them seems like something straight out of an "X-Men" comic book. (In fact, the whole story feels like it could be a gore-filled horror comic book series.)
"Full Eclipse" is an impressively realized horror film, even if it falters in several aspects of its story and performances, but its high-concept - albeit comic book - premise, and special effects give it an edge for being a low-budget made-for-TV film.
I wish more low-budget movies like this came out in the early 1990s.
6/10.
"Full Eclipse" is a movie that begins like an ultra-violent cops & robbers action flick, and ends as a gore-filled, special effects-laden comic book-styled horror film - although it's an admittedly high concept for a low-budget, made-for-TV film directed by Anthony Hickox ("Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth").
In Los Angeles, violent crime is out of control and the streets aren't safe. Detective Max Dire (Mario Van Peebles) and his partner Jim Sheldon (Anthony John Denison) are out patrolling one night when they get a call about a hostage situation out at a downtown night club. To make long stories short, Max and Jim go in without a S. W. A. T. team back-up and Jim is critically wounded during the ensuing gun battle.
You would think that at this point the movie would be about Max going out to get revenge or being partnered up with a young inexperienced rookie - a la, "Lethal Weapon" - but the movie is only just beginning. Jim mysteriously makes a miraculous, full recovery and he and his old partner Max are back out on the streets fighting crime. Except that Max suspects that something is different about Jim and he's right, especially since bullets don't faze him and he's able to perform seemingly superhuman feats like being able to run like the wind through the streets and surviving a motorcycle crash head-on and without a scratch.
But unexpectedly, Jim takes his own life. Max, who is already going through a crumbling marriage, is then placed in a support group for troubled police officers. The group is run by a highly decorated veteran detective named Adam Garou (all-purpose villain Bruce Payne). It turns out that Garou secretly runs a rogue squad of vigilante police officers who go out at night and exact their own form of justice on the streets.
This is where the horror elements kick in. Garou has developed a serum that gives subjects superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes, and damn-near invincibility - in order to put them on an even playing field against violent, drug-addled criminals. In other words, Garou is actually a werewolf, and he has his right-hand woman Casey Spencer (Patsy Kensit, Mel Gibson's ill-fated love interest in "Lethal Weapon 2") seduce Max into joining their pack as its newest member.
"Full Eclipse" has an interesting story concept behind it, and for a low-budget made-for-TV (HBO) movie from the early '90s, it's carried out quite competently - given its financial limitations and lack of real star power, aside from Mario Van Peebles. Admittedly, the "Lethal Weapon"-/"Dirty Harry"-inspired opening moments really do fool you into thinking it's going to be another cheap action film, and then the horror elements unexpectedly kick in and the film takes on a new dimension while still retaining a running cops & robbers theme.
The performances aren't bad (Bruce Payne seems to be having the most fun here, even if he seems to be hamming it up a bit), and the special effects, make-up, and gore are quite impressive - the latter of which was reportedly toned down somewhat so the film could get an "R" rating (this review is based on the restored unrated version of the film). The werewolf transformation sequences are nowhere near the strength of "The Howling" or that other big werewolf movie from 1981, the landmark horror-comedy "An American Werewolf in London," but the make-up employed to realize them seems like something straight out of an "X-Men" comic book. (In fact, the whole story feels like it could be a gore-filled horror comic book series.)
"Full Eclipse" is an impressively realized horror film, even if it falters in several aspects of its story and performances, but its high-concept - albeit comic book - premise, and special effects give it an edge for being a low-budget made-for-TV film.
I wish more low-budget movies like this came out in the early 1990s.
6/10.