This review has some SPOILERS in it.
There is a local television station here that just loves to play AIP movies at two o'clock in the morning, particularly ones made by David A. Prior. I suspect that the reason for this is because it is cheaper for them to air an AIP movie that it is to show infomercials or Suddenly Susan reruns. I have the strange tendency to videotape and later watch these AIP movies. Don't ask me why, because I can only speculate it having something to do with sadomasochism. Whatever the reason, I survived such Prior train wrecks like `The Final Sanction,' `Hell on the Battleground,' and the infamous `Killer Workout.' In Prior's defense, AIP isn't known for giving its employees hefty budgets to work with and I suspect the company itself is more to blame for the travesties it has produced (though they seem to have a good asset in musician Steve McClintock who does most of their movies' music). However, Prior is a bad writer and an even worse director, even with good ideas (like `The Lost Platoon,' for example). So I sat down to watch `Death Chase' (or `Chase,' the TV title I saw it as) expecting another exercise in self-mutilation. Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying what is almost a good movie. Note the key word `almost' in that sentence.
The movie opens with a lone man with a gun being pursued by automobile by two other men with guns. The cars are wrecked and a shootout begins. In an act of bad timing, Steven Chase (William Zipp) and his sister Sheila are riding their bicycles and Sheila is killed in the crossfire. The lone man is also shot, and angry Steven goes to the dying man for some answers before the guy croaks. The man hands him his gun and dies instead, and Steven uses the gun to shot the two guys that shot his sister. Afraid that the police won't believe the obvious story of self-defense, Steven high-tails it out of there with the gun in hand. Before he can get very far, he finds himself tracked down by another pair of gunmen. As it turns out, a sinister corporation holds a game for their rich friends to play, where one person with a special gun must elude various teams of criminals. The other people have to kill the runner and take the rigged gun in order to be paid a large sum of money. It's all oversaw by a very strange, very large game master Steele (Paul Smith, the film's big star), who keeps track of the solo person and reports news back to the corporate bigwigs. When outsider Steven gets the gun, Steele and the bigwigs decide to let the game continue with Steven as the runner. Meanwhile, Steven teams with a passerby (Bainbridge Scott) and the two of them slowly piece together what is going on from the gunmen they constantly are dodging.
I think that this plot is simply wonderful. It's a great idea that has incredible potential for suspense and surprises. Great characters could have been made for all the gunmen that are looking for the gun. And there is more than enough room for gun and fist fights, which there are plenty of. But they aren't very good. In fact, Prior's delivery of each scene is what ultimately brings `Death Chase' down. Sure, a larger budget would have done wonders, but capable hands would have saved this one and made it a gem, so not even AIP can be totally blamed for this one. Prior doesn't push enough out of Zipp and Scott and he doesn't explore too many secondary characters. I must also point out that Zipp doesn't seem to show much remorse for the death of his sister after the initial rage. He barely brings her up (then again, Prior doesn't let us get to know her at all; letting the actress have a few scenes before her death would have helped the audience's feelings) The best actor is easily Paul Smith, but there is something odd about his ability to appear and disappear wherever Zipp goes. It's a funny quirk, but it doesn't make sense and doesn't belong in a movie like this. And though Prior handles his action scenes a lot better than he has before, he doesn't hold everything together tight enough. Still, the idea is a lot of fun and it was a good try by Prior. That channel is going to show more of his work soon, and I am sure I will be watching them, like moths to a flame. But sadly I won't be expecting anything better than `Chase.' Happy New Year! Zantara's score: 4 out of 10.
There is a local television station here that just loves to play AIP movies at two o'clock in the morning, particularly ones made by David A. Prior. I suspect that the reason for this is because it is cheaper for them to air an AIP movie that it is to show infomercials or Suddenly Susan reruns. I have the strange tendency to videotape and later watch these AIP movies. Don't ask me why, because I can only speculate it having something to do with sadomasochism. Whatever the reason, I survived such Prior train wrecks like `The Final Sanction,' `Hell on the Battleground,' and the infamous `Killer Workout.' In Prior's defense, AIP isn't known for giving its employees hefty budgets to work with and I suspect the company itself is more to blame for the travesties it has produced (though they seem to have a good asset in musician Steve McClintock who does most of their movies' music). However, Prior is a bad writer and an even worse director, even with good ideas (like `The Lost Platoon,' for example). So I sat down to watch `Death Chase' (or `Chase,' the TV title I saw it as) expecting another exercise in self-mutilation. Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying what is almost a good movie. Note the key word `almost' in that sentence.
The movie opens with a lone man with a gun being pursued by automobile by two other men with guns. The cars are wrecked and a shootout begins. In an act of bad timing, Steven Chase (William Zipp) and his sister Sheila are riding their bicycles and Sheila is killed in the crossfire. The lone man is also shot, and angry Steven goes to the dying man for some answers before the guy croaks. The man hands him his gun and dies instead, and Steven uses the gun to shot the two guys that shot his sister. Afraid that the police won't believe the obvious story of self-defense, Steven high-tails it out of there with the gun in hand. Before he can get very far, he finds himself tracked down by another pair of gunmen. As it turns out, a sinister corporation holds a game for their rich friends to play, where one person with a special gun must elude various teams of criminals. The other people have to kill the runner and take the rigged gun in order to be paid a large sum of money. It's all oversaw by a very strange, very large game master Steele (Paul Smith, the film's big star), who keeps track of the solo person and reports news back to the corporate bigwigs. When outsider Steven gets the gun, Steele and the bigwigs decide to let the game continue with Steven as the runner. Meanwhile, Steven teams with a passerby (Bainbridge Scott) and the two of them slowly piece together what is going on from the gunmen they constantly are dodging.
I think that this plot is simply wonderful. It's a great idea that has incredible potential for suspense and surprises. Great characters could have been made for all the gunmen that are looking for the gun. And there is more than enough room for gun and fist fights, which there are plenty of. But they aren't very good. In fact, Prior's delivery of each scene is what ultimately brings `Death Chase' down. Sure, a larger budget would have done wonders, but capable hands would have saved this one and made it a gem, so not even AIP can be totally blamed for this one. Prior doesn't push enough out of Zipp and Scott and he doesn't explore too many secondary characters. I must also point out that Zipp doesn't seem to show much remorse for the death of his sister after the initial rage. He barely brings her up (then again, Prior doesn't let us get to know her at all; letting the actress have a few scenes before her death would have helped the audience's feelings) The best actor is easily Paul Smith, but there is something odd about his ability to appear and disappear wherever Zipp goes. It's a funny quirk, but it doesn't make sense and doesn't belong in a movie like this. And though Prior handles his action scenes a lot better than he has before, he doesn't hold everything together tight enough. Still, the idea is a lot of fun and it was a good try by Prior. That channel is going to show more of his work soon, and I am sure I will be watching them, like moths to a flame. But sadly I won't be expecting anything better than `Chase.' Happy New Year! Zantara's score: 4 out of 10.
