Back with another article as I continue to highlight flicks that I have seen that I think you should have seen by now, as well. While I try to think of what the next title I should cover should be, I quickly get sidetracked and start watching a bunch of flicks that not only do you need to see, but I am not sure anyone else has seen. And while I was beginning to compile my list of flicks to write about next, I came upon a weird fact. I have about 4 movies I need to write articles about starring George Kennedy. And, no, I am not including all the ones you might assume. So nothing about Cool Hand Luke or even the Naked Guns. This is one I don’t think you have seen. Enjoy.
When was the first time I saw this film? For the life of me cannot recall if I first saw this on TV with Rhonda Shear when she hosted Up All Night or maybe Gilbert Gottfried but it would be early 90s for sure. And I am not going to go into too much detail about this flick, but I will give you a quick breakdown. A mad albino scientist (Blade Runner‘s Brion James) injects a substance into the water supply of Canyonland, an isolated town in nowhere Utah. The albino does this with the help of a shadowy, unknown agency. Anybody who drinks the water eventually turns into a rabid zombie. A few visitors from outside the town believe they saw this poisoning take place, and are going to report it to the sheriff and his deputy. Of course, the scientist with the help of this agency “APE” cut off this town from the rest of the world, and that leaves our 4 heroes to resolve. Tell me that doesn’t sound awesome. Now let’s namecheck the cast: the sheriff is played by the amazing and always insanely large-looking George Kennedy. Winner of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Cool Hand Luke and of course as Captain Ed Hocken from Naked Gun. His daughter (the deputy) is played by Kimberley Beck. She was on a ton of tv but I know her from Friday the 13th the Final Chapter. The two out of towners are Ken and Reilly. Ken is played by the great Wings Hauser. This guy was in just about every show you can imagine. I loved him as Arklon in Beastmaster 2. Wow, was that a bad flick. But who doesnt want more Beastmaster? Sorry, back to this. The other out of towner, Reilly, is played by Bo Hopkins. Yup, that guy. Go look at a picture of him if the name does not ring a bell because he is in everything. From the Killer Elite, White Lightning, The Getaway, he was a staple in films for 2 decades. A super cool cast. And then the villain. Did I mention it was a mad albino scientist? I did. Good. Did I mention that it is played by the late B-Movie acting god Brion James. Yeah Blade-Runner-Leon Brion James. I will always love him for his role in Tango and Cash. Small role but totally steals his scenes. This cast is awesome, not sure what more I can say.
The crew for this flick is pretty insane as well. This film is written, directed, produced and edited by Nico Mastorakis. Although he may not be commonly known and is far from a premiere director, but he had a run of some great b-movie flicks. Most known for Island of Death, which in the horror fan watch list is a must see. And my other classic The Zero Boys. A cult classic. This film was also co-written by Kirk Ellis. Another name not really known, but he wrote the John Adams tv series and won a bunch of Emmys for it. Far cry from this flick. And lastly Hans Zimmer did the music. Why? I believe it was a favor to Nico as he let Hans score his first flick. The year before this movie, he scores The Last Emperor and wins the academy award, so don’t think he needed the money. Just a favor for a friend, which is pretty awesome.
I normally like to list out a few quotes from these flicks and this one is no different. Here are my favorites from this one:
What the hell happened to this town?
I haven’t drunk water in years.
This town is going around using each other for target practice.
This town doesn’t need a sheriff anymore; it needs a goddamned undertaker.
Just a classic explosion-crazy action flick. Tons of fire, loud noises, shotgun shooting, helicopter chases, green blood, just crazy. I am upset with myself because I believe Rifftrax did a viewing of this and that makes this movie out to be a joke, but it is fun. Apple TV has this flick for three bucks and I think it is worth it. I have this digitized ironically twice, once as the Nightmare at Noon title and another copy called Death Street USA. No clue why or which one I got first. And a final cool fact, I don’t believe the mad albino scientist says a single word the whole flick.
