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Evil Ambitions
Satanic Yuppies
USA 1996
produced by Mark Burchett, Michael D. Fox, Jeff Barklage (executive), Denise Roland (executive) for B+ Productions
directed by Mark Burchett, Michael D. Fox
starring Paul Morris, Amber Newman, David A.Levy, Lucy Frashure, Renae Raos, Debbie Rochon, S.William Hinzman, Kindra Laub, Rob Calvert, Cari Minster, Amy Ballard, Stacey Sparks, Randy Rupp, Dakota Summers, Katie Wilke, Lonzo Jones, Ashley Lottes
written by Mark Burchett, Michael D. Fox, music by Erich Cross, Barry Moermond, Michael O'Moore
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Actually, tabloid reporter McGavin (Paul Morris) wants to invesigate a
ritualistic murder together with his police contact and former girlfriend
Leslie (Renae Raos) - instead, his boss (S.William Hinzman) sends him on
an assignment to interview councilman Jessup (David A.Levy), an unlikeable
power-hungry upstart running for senate. The situation is however softened
by Jessup's public relations manager, the seductive Brittany (Amber
Newman), who is as courteous as Jessup is arrogant. The murder case and
the councilman however have more in common than McGavin could even dream
of: Actually, Brittany is a Satanic high priestess, and Jessup is not so
much her client as he is her henchman. and now they prepare to sacrifice a
virgin, Julie (Lucy Frashure) to Satan ... Eventually, McGavin and
Leslie stumble upon another ritualistically murdered corpse, a model
(Kindra Laub) McGavin has seen at Brittany's agency, and that and
something his psychic (Debbie Rochon) has told him spark his suspicion.
Brittany has however long grown wise to McGavin and Leslie's
investigations, so she has her killed ... but for McGavin she has
something other in mind, she wants him heading her press team - he refuses
of course. It all comes to a head when Julie is about to be sacrificed,
and McGavin is to watch it all - but then Jessup stabs Brittany to death
in hopes of usurping her place. When Satan (Randy Rupp) arrives though, he
doesn't approve very much of this "company reshuffle" and
"downsizes" Jessup (you can imagine what that means, right?),
then sucks all of Britanny's minions in some kind of infernal vortex.
Julie and McGavin he lets go though, Julie simply because she's no virgin
(seems nobody cared to check) and no use to him, McGavin because he thinks
he has the ultimate punishment for him: He has just lived through the
biggest story of his life, and now he can't write about it - severe
torture for any journalist ... but the blow is softened because the whole
experience has brought McGavin and Julie together as a couple. Ok,
the story of this film isn't big on originality, and an unimaginative, at
best functional direction doesn't really help, either. Plus, the very
modest budget shows a few times too often for the film's good. And the
film's humour fails to take off for the most time. And yet, the film has
two definite saving graces. On one hand, there is Amber Newman, who might
be a tad too young for the role, and her acting might be a tad on the
wooden side - but her mix of innocent charm and pure seductiveness totally
bring her character to life (though I might want to add that she has no
nude scenes in this one, a surprising fact considering her career in
softcore sex movies and the relatively high boobie count in this movie).
The other saving grace is the film's ending that finally manages to put a
satiric spin on everything that happened before - and Randy Rupp's
self-ironic performance as the devil of course doesn't hurt. Now these
two saving graces might not be enough to actually "save" the
movie by a longshot - but they don't exactly hurt, either.
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