Wonderful Movie

Truly Dreadful Film

Redundant and unnecessary.

As Good As It Gets

Rescuing a woman from an abusive boyfriend, a lawyer enters into a relationship with her that puts him in contact with the coven of satanic worshippers intending on using her mystical powers to complete a deadly ritual and sets out to stop them before it's too late,This one here wasn't really all that enjoyable and had a few issues going for it. The film's main issue here is the way this one really manages to drag out their impending romance throughout the first half which really manages to make for some really uneven times. They fall into each other really quickly here and then really drag it out after the fact which really slows this one significantly when there's a disproportionate amount of time on a rather lame and schmaltzy series of scenes that don't go anywhere so immediately into the movie. It's all of about ten minutes before they're together and getting quite intense in the relationship, which is hardly a significant wait here to get that intense into matters here then to turn it around into a dreadfully dull series of interludes that are nowhere near appropriate for a horror film. All of these here manage the unfortunate task of keeping the film's horror trappings so late into the film that these here are just so unworthwhile when they appear that it's really hard to take what's going on seriously based on what's given in so many of these scenes. We don't get a true measure of the group's powers until so late into this one that there's little about it that works as a horror film during this segment due to the lame-ness of the chosen powers and sporadic nature of its appearances into the film. These here really hurt this one enough to the point of it really downgrading the film enough that a lot of the positives featured here aren't all that impressive when we do get to them. That basically comes from the few attempts here to showcase the cult's powers which are based around quite impressive displays here from the supernatural powers against the those who have wrong them, the different torments to stay away once they've stolen her back and then devolves into the nice action of their hold-outs against him, all of which really save a lot of face against the dull first half by making the second half a lot more fun and exciting with plenty to like about it. From their attack on his house where they use the witchcraft powers for safety against the approaching horde attempting to break into the house, while the aftermath of all that is quite an impressive display of their powers that they use against them. It all leads into the fun finale at the beach as his attempts to track her down following the second abduction brings them to their sacrificial ceremony that's quite chilling and works more at delivering the impressive and original twist that sells this one nicely. Though it does tend to go on a little longer than it really should've, this one is still fun enough to really get some great points out of it when it really mattered.Rated R: Language, Violence, Brief Nudity and mild sexual content.

Jeff Mills (Tim Daly) is a likable, good looking nice guy lawyer in L.A. who's tired of the dating scene. He chances to meet a gal named Miranda Reed (gorgeous Kelly Preston) in a parking lot one night, and brings her home to his pad, soon striking up a relationship with her. Unfortunately, his impulsiveness turns out to be a bad mistake, as Miranda's past then catches up with them. It turns out that she was part of a witches' coven, and that they "want her back" because they need a human sacrifice for the winter solstice, which is coming up. Blinded by his love for her, he goes out of his way to try to keep her safe, and to deal with her scummy associates, including Aldys (big haired Anthony Crivello) and the deceptively cheery Mrs. White (Audra "Mrs. Roper" Lindley).The solid supporting cast of nicely chosen actors also features Diana Bellamy as Jeffs' loyal (and intuitive) secretary Grace, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as somber faced police detective Lt. Lee (an expert in occult related crimes), Julian Christopher, Kyle T. Heffner, and the amiable Rick Rossovich as Jeffs' circle of friends, and the very amusing M.C. Gainey as lively survivalist Brock. Overall, the movie is nothing special in terms of presentation, with competent but undistinguished direction by Janet Greek, but it does have its moments (the best occurs when a bunch of mysterious people gather at a window), and isn't totally without atmosphere. The story, written by Tracy Torme (son of Mel), who went on to script one more feature ("Fire in the Sky") and work for television series ranging from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' to 'Sliders' to 'Carnivale', is pretty absorbing, and does have some effective twists near the end.It's a good movie in general, and is worth a look for 80s horror fans who want to check out everything that the decade has to offer.Seven out of 10.

** Possible Spoiler Alert **This movie will make you feel kinda uneasy, since it has to do with a satanic cult. Most horror movies like this are the best, because they contain a lot of creepy, scary goings on. You can show me a slasher flick and i won't be so disturbed, but the type of horror movie that gets me on edge is supernatural horror. Anything to do with ghosts, witches, goblins, demons, and Satan herself will be just what to watch at midnight with all the lights in the house off (and maybe a howling wind outside for added bonus). Check this movie out. It will leave you begging for more. It's even got Mrs. Roper from "Three's Company" in it, as a satanist. She was hiliarious in that show, and she's quite creepy and evil in this movie. The ending will really shock you, because it's a twist that you really didn't see coming. This movie is really underrated, but you'll enjoy it if you like your horror movies with inverted pentagrams, and hooded figures chanting around a campfire, ready to plunge a dagger into an innocent victim's chest and rip out their heart.

Around the late 1980s, the ailing MGM studios made or acquired a number of movies that they didn't give much of (if any) a theatrical release. This pickup is one of them, and it's pretty easy to see why for several reasons. It's a pretty flat-looking movie for one thing - while it has elements that got it an "R" rating, aside from those elements the movie feels like it was made for television. The script has a number of problems as well. It does have an ending that is somewhat expected (though is somewhat hard to swallow when you think back of every event that happened before it), but most of the movie is a bunch of boring chat. Worse of all, actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is wasted, given only three or so brief scenes. A movie so unremarkable for the most part, one has to wonder why it was thought to be worth making.