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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Ronald W. Moore
Edwin Neal (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) )
Marilyn Burns (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) )
Gabriel Folse (Miss Congeniality)
Wade Reese
Supplied By : Subversive Cinema
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Nov. 9, 2006
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| PLOT A group of previously carefree college students become targets of a vengeful mutated killer. |
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| THE REVIEW In this punk-Sci-Fi film starring Edwin Neal and Marilyn Burns, both of 1974's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. a group of frat boys are running for their lives from a group of street mutants - as well as one whom is clad with armor and weapons known as "Splatter". When nearly ousted by their fraternity, a group of college kids decide that kidnapping the leader of a mutant punk street gang, a man by the name of Eddie Pain, will mend things with the fraternity - but when they arrive they are confronted by Pain and his gang as well as Splatter - a mutant that was once deformed by radioactive poisoning and as a result wears a coat of armor and has sadistic tendencies that not even his own kind trust. In the midst of the confrontation, Splatter viciously kills one of the kids as well as Eddie Pain himself, when the mutants question Splatter about, just who did kill their leader - he is quick to put the blame on the frightened frats. From then on the group is in a battle for their lives against the punkers as well as the crazy Splatter. On their way, they meet up with Julie, whom is a mutant herself, but happens to be a friendly one, who promises the boys that she can lead them to safety. Julie tells them that the only way to escape Splatter alive is to meet up with fellow mutant Dorothy, who happens to be the only person in which Splatter seems to listen to. Thanks to the new DVD of the film by Subversive Cinema, I was finally given the chance to see FUTURE-KILL after wanting to for many years. My main reason being was that this film reunites two of the stars from one of my favorite films, the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. It seems the producer's of this film were thinking about the same as well, get two stars from a cult classic, reunite them years later - make the same money that a film like CHAINSAW made - while they really failed in the end of making their their idea work - they created something both odd and cheesy. The story itself is supposed to take place in the future - or so we are guessing with a title like FUTURE-KILL, but by looking at it, it appears to be set in everyday 80's and no different. As for plot, well look no further than the Walter Hill classic THE WARRIORS, because essentially, that's all it it is - added a few many stipulations like breasts, frats, and a mutant wearing body armor equipped with IVs enabling him to shoot up at will. Shot in Austin Texas, FUTURE-KILL begins on a college campus(the box explains it as being University of Texas), where we we watch rather boring pranks being played by our group of frat boys on a rival fraternity, one in which leaves the rivals' president tar and feathered. Most of these scenes play out like any teen comedy of the 80's, not very funny in the least mainly because of the stiff inexperienced actors trying too hard to be on the convincing side. Later is the night scenes, as Splatter and his gang are formally introduced to both the audience as well as our frat boy characters - things begin to look better. Accused of killing the leader of the gang, the boy's are caught up in many fight scenes that are so poorly lit, that you can hardly see what's going on - had they been lit, then the fighting scenes may have been a key point in this film - but then again maybe not.... The budget for FUTURE-KILL was small, perhaps, also there they were in a "CHAINSAW State-Of-Mind", thinking that they too could win in this area - but truthfully speaking, in a Sci-Fi picture the elements are more imaginative thus it takes funds to bring those ideas to fruition. But nonetheless, it looks like they spent most of that money on the gore effects, and while not the best in the world, were good enough and better than some of the no budget gore at the time. They also had to backing of Marilyn Burns and co-writer Edwin Neal, two stars of the film in which many Horror fans consider the holy grail of fright films, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, as well as the help from world famous futuristic artist H.R. Geiger(creator of the creatures in ALIEN and also their environment) whom created the kick ass poster thus earning the film a little cult following. The film has many flaws, yes it has bad acting, yes Edwin Neal's Splatter costume looks ridiculous but somewhat cool simultaneously... and yes the movie reeks of 80's cheese, but deep down the amount of heart you can sense that was put into this project and just the 80's nostalgia alone make this one worth watching... |
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| GORE
METER 4.5/10 There are just a few gory shots found in FUTURE-KILL, probably due to the film's tiny budget, but some are fun to watch; such as Splatter's claw impaling through one's skull to a pitch-fork to the stomach! |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5.5/10 I kind of dug the synthesizer score. it added a quasi-futuristic flavor to the film's quasi-futuristic setting. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM When looking at FUTURE-KILL, I know that not everyone will enjoy the film as much as I did, and that's understandable. I was a little disappointed, that although advertised as a star, Marilyn Burns is featured in the film only a mere 10 minutes or so - so if seeing it on account of Ms. Burns, you might be a little disappointed. Other than that FUTURE-KILL is good for what it is, a low budget mix of some intentional- and unintentional comedy, gore and Sci-Fi. |
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