5/10
Just off-kilter enough to keep you watching.
8 June 2018
Beth (Nell Regan) and Michael Nicholas (Patrick Regan III) are two country kids blessed with "the power", which would seem to be an extremely advanced form of telekinesis. Their father Guy (Will Rand) home-schools them, with periodic check-ins from a Board of Education employee, Nora Dennis ("Texas Chain Saw Massacre" Final Girl Marilyn Burns), because he doesn't want them taken away and subjected to experiments. But one day, a degenerate biker gang come onto the family property and soon kill Daddy. Left largely unchecked, there's nothing to stop the kids from resurrecting Guy and turning him into Zombie-Daddy, and using Zombie-Daddy to get revenge on anybody who rubs them the wrong way. Former singing star Fabian Forte ("Get Crazy") is on hand as the new local Deputy faced with the resulting baffling deaths.

This is not a "good" film in the slightest; badly written, badly directed (by the kids' father, Patrick Regan), and obviously done on the cheap, it's awkward as all-get-out. Still, it's enough of a curiosity to keep it watchable. There's absolutely no gore, but there is nudity (from co-star Gay French as the female biker), and there are some amusing moments of utter silliness. The hilarious ooga-booga electronic music score by David Spear is priceless accompaniment.

Fabian is utterly bland as the hero, but Burns offers some charm as the gal turned on by him, prompting her to utter come-ons like "I've got some evidence for you to examine". The kids are flat and charisma-free, unfortunately, although Patrick III comes off somewhat better than Nell. The supporting cast includes familiar faces such as Jon Cedar ("Day of the Animals"), Marvin Miller (voice of Robby the Robot), Jed Mills ("New Year's Evil"), and Robert Dryer (the villain in "Savage Streets").

Had this been made with more of a budget, and more talent behind the camera, this might have been something to savour. As it is, it's basically an offbeat, obscure little piece of work that may intrigue some devoted cult movie aficionados. The strangest thing about it is realizing that some of the people involved (James Ursini, Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward) are better known as film noir experts!

Five out of 10.
4 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed