ORBzine Video Reviews September 2000

TITLE & REVIEW	Get your own copy HERE!
Chill Factor This straight-to-video action/buddy-movie trash is blatantly ripped off from The Rock. The so-called villain is a disenchanted ex-US Army officer who spent 10 years in Leavenworth after being scapegoated for a mistake made by the scientist he was guarding. On his release, the officer joins up with a team of Mercenaries he somehow recruited, attacks the secret base he somehow located, and tries to steal the super-weapon that got him in so much trouble. Whether it's a new explosive compound or a lethal biological weapon or what is not really explained. It's just a McGuffin, a plot device used to keep the non-existent story moving. One guy even manages to out-run the blast wave in a jeep [!], before he is eaten alive by flesh-eating bacteria or something. However, our villain reckoned without the intervention of the irritating Skeet Ulrich [ The Craft, Scream ] and the token African-American, Cuba Gooding Jnr. They get hold of the McGuffin and keep it in their freezer truck - it has to be kept cool, or it explodes. Or something. The only reason this movie is worth watching is because one of the villain's hench-people is played by the babelicious Hudson Leick [Callisto in Xena: Warrior Princess]. Her Official Fan Club misleading bills her as starring alongside Skeet Ulrich. However, although she's in a supporting role rather than a starring one, she DOES get a scene with the irritating Ulrich! Search This Site
Skinner Ted Raimi [ Seaquest, Xena: Warrior Princess ] plays Dennis Skinner, a nice guy who is actually a serial killer. As befits his name, and the fact that this film wants to emulate genre greats like Silence of the Lambs and Texas Chainsaw Massacre , he does an Ed Gein and makes suits from his victims' skin. Skinner is being stalked by a disfigured blonde played by Traci Lords . This is not the can't-act-worth-sh*t Lords from Tommyknockers , nor is it the underage porno actress - no, in this film she actually shines and is relatively convincing as a complete psycho. That's how bad this film is. Ricki Lake pops up as the working-class housewife who rents her spare room out to Mr but the neighbours always said he was so nice. The appearance of this always-cast-as-poor-white-trash actress sums the film up pretty well. This film is utterly bleak, and has no redeeming features. The characters are a pretty unlikeable bunch, and though we know they are going to die we just don't care. There's little enough tension, but lots of gross-out gore. Don't say you weren't warned. Search This Site

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