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The Passing

USA 1985
produced by
John Huckert, Mary Maruca
directed by John Huckert
starring James Carroll Plaster, Welton Benjamin Johnson, John Huckert, Lynn Odell, Daniel Dunn, Albert B. Smith, Michael Dumonceau, Rodney Harding, J. Dennis Marsico, Mark McPherson, Flora Batien, Mark Steckbeck, Tony Wells, Charles Murphy, Toui Xinh Pham, Allan Grant, Neil Stuart Lurch, Nan Gatewood, Thomas Hausmann, Arthur Maas, Lawrence Howard Levy, Helen Saunders
screenplay by John Huckert, Mary Maruca

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Wade's (John Huckert) girlfriend Monica (Lynn Odell) is raped, upon which Wade tracks down the rapist (Albert B.Smith) and kills him rather violently in a combination of hanging him and tearing him apart, helped by a hydraulic lift. He's caught for his crime though and put on death row ...

Unfortunately that's only a subplot of the movie, the main plot is about Ernie (James Carroll Plaster) and his black friend Rose (Welton Benjamin Johnson), who have been friends since World War II and are now living together as the winter of their life is approaching. And Ernie feels the urge to look after Rose the best he can as Rose once saved his life in the war. Then Ernie learns about a program that would turn him into a young man again, and he figures, as a young man he could take care of Rose all the better - so one day he just leaves home to have himself rejuvenated, without telling Rose anything though, just leaving him a note ... that gets lost.

We are now back with the subplot about Wade on death row, where he signs up for being a donor person on the newly founded rejuvenation program, just to escape execution (even though it doesnt make much of a difference, now does it?). When Ernie arrives at the rejuvenation clinic and sees the by now lifeless body of Wade that's going to be his new body, he has second thoughts and tries to run - but old man that he is, he doesn't get far, and eventually, he wakes up in Wade's body, and as Wade, he returns to Rose - who has gotten worse since his friend has left him, having thought that Ernie has abandoned him for good. The two men have just enough time to reconcile, then Rose dies from a heart attack, and young Ernie feels his life has just become hollow ... until at a bar he meets Monica, Wade's girlfriend ...

 

Very uneven mix of science fiction, revenge thriller and sentimental and cheesy tearjerker about two old men - and unfortunately, the film puts its emphasis on the tearjerker-aspects of the story, which makes the mix all the more uneven - I mean, you don't expect a rape, a brutal murder and sci-fi elements in a story about two old men who have a proto-homosexual relationship (not that the film ever puts an emphasis on the homoerotic aspects of its story though), now do you?

But what's really annoying about the film is not its being uneven but its being dead boring, it's mostly the two old guys talking about one thing or another, things you couldn't care less about, especially since despite all their conversations and despite the World War II-flashback, you learn way too little about the two guys to actually care about them.

Simply put, a waste of time.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

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
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special appearances by
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directed by
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written by
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produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

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Robots and rats,
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love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

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Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
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a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
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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
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the new anthology by
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Out now from
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