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Below Utopia
Body Count

USA 1997
produced by
Lisa M. Hansen, Paul Hertzberg, Alyssa Milano (executive), Steven Roffer (executive) for Subutopian Films
directed by Kurt Voss
starring Alyssa Milano, Justin Theroux, Ice-T, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Nicholas Walker, Richard Danielson, Robert Pine, Jeanette O'Connor, Ron Harper, Marta Kristen, Eric Saiet
story by Richard Shepard, David Diamond, screenplay by David Diamond, music by Joseph Williams

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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When young couple Alyssa Milano & Justin Theroux go to see his family for Thanks Giving Dinner, it doesn't take Alyssa (or the audience) long to find out that something isn't quite right about that family: They are phenomenally rich, but are domineered by their conservative father, who neglects his one son (Nicholas Walker) - an alcoholic, longing for his father's acceptance -, while putting his hope into Theroux, who has distanced himself from the family long ago, but his love is really with his third (& eldest) son John, who unfortunately died years ago but who's still the pride of the family. To poison the atmosphere even more, a trio of robbers (Ice-T, Tiny Lister, Richard Danielson) breaks into the house, killing everyone but Theroux, Milano & (as we are yet to find out) Walker, who all hid from the criminals just in time. From their hiding-place, Milano & Theroux soon hear that Walker is behind all this, & Theroux decides to fight back & kill the gangsters, first strangling Danielson, then shooting Tiny Lister when he goes after an escaping Alyssa Milano, finally shooting Ice-T, but not until they had a friendly conversation, revealing (to the audience) that not Walker but actually Justin Theroux hired the killers in the first place - which Alyssa Milano soon has to find out tha hard way, when we see her covering the dead bodies & he accuses her that she destroyed his artwork, his masterpiece. He is then about to kill her, too, until Nicholas Walker, badly wounded, comes out of his hiding place & shoots him.

 

This movie could have been so much more than it is: it starts out as something resembling a satire on the crumbling of the burgeoisie with some potential, only to have this unveiled as just another random set of soap opera trappings as the criminals enter the plot. From then on it's rather routine cat-&-mouse thriller - even though Ice-T & Tiny Lister make a good pairing, even having some funny dialogues -, until in a surprise (or not so surprise) plot twist, the good guy (Theroux, not terribly convincing as either good or bad guy) turns into the psycho, for reason or reasons unknown. 

The real letdown though is the female lead: but fault lies not so much the actress - Alyssa Milano actually looks great & her facial expressions even match the proceedings most of the times (which is pretty good for a Hollywood actress - especially regarding that she learned her trade in the abysmal but long-running sitcom Who's the Boss) - but her role, which is perhaps the most passive, even anti-feminist treatmant of a female lead since ... I don't know ... the 50's. She doesn't really do much but shriek, run away & look frightened, and when she actually kicks someone (that happens twice during the movie), it's just too little too late. The passiveness of Milano's role comes as even more of a surprise considering that she actually was co-executive producer of this movie.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

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Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
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