Escape from New Jersey (2010) User Reviews

Notarile does Carpenter, the outcome is somewhat expected

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 6 September 2018]

I believe there's 2 "Escape from" movies by director John Carpenter and here we have a fan film that follows up on the story of Snake Plissken played by Kurt Russell. Of course, for this project they did not get the latter on board to reprise his role, but instead we have Hector De La Rosa giving us his take on the role and the result is pretty much a Latin version of Snake Plissken. This film was made back in 2010, so it is already almost a decade old and it's one of writer and director Chris R. Notarile's earlier effort I believe and also one that does not belong to the horror genre, the area where he had his biggest successes with horror short films featuring legendary characters. Anyway, this one here runs for 42.5 minutes and this means it is still a short movie, a fairly long one though and longer than most other stuff by Notarile. The protagonist is not a superhero or anything, but faces dangerous situations here and there and thanks to his skills and capability, he eventually gets out of these. Some violence, some gun shooting, some hot chicks and you have the formula. This is decent for a fan-made movie I would say, they probably made okay use of the budget, but as a movie overall, of course it comes a bit short and is not among the very best I have seen by Notarile, nowhere near actually. By the way, this is by far not the only movie where De La Rosa plays Plissken, he even starred in some where he directed himself and worked on other occasions with Notarile too. By the way, the latter here also appears in front of the camera. All in all, an okay story with tolerable acting, but shoddy execution, especially in terms of camera work and editing result in this one having more letdowns than positive aspects. You may wanna skip this one, also feels a bit too long for its own good sometimes.

Fun little flick for the Plissken Fans.

[angiris · 5/10 · 21 July 2015]

Like the title explains this is a fun 13 minute flick with people reviving good ol' snake.

Simple story. Lotta clichés and copy-pasted moments from the other films and you will basically keep telling yourself "hey...I've seen that before" etc etc.

That doesn't make it bad though considering the Snake Plissken franchise is frozen so...me being a fan just enjoys this for what it is.

Its fun and cool that these guys made this.

But I'd say it's strictly for the fanboys out there.

Fun flick. 5 out of 10. Cool to see Snake still being kept alive.

Snake pigskin

[donttouchmeprimate · 1/10 · 27 January 2019]

Good effort fat snake plisken. Shoot shoot bang bang. Everybody be a deadder

Terrific sequel/tribute to John Carpenter's sci-fi/action cult classic

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 27 February 2011]

1997. Sullen and defiant anti-hero supreme Snake Plissken (Hector De La Rosa doing a remarkably sturdy and credible job of filling in for Kurt Russell) runs afoul of Armando Barone (superbly essayed with spot-on slimy menace by Roberto Lombardi), who's the ruthless crime kingpin of the Garden State. Armando has taken possession of Snake's Presidential pardon; he gives Plissken twenty-four hours to resteal the money that got him sent to New York Prison in the first place. Director/co-writer Chris R. Notarile pays wonderfully affectionate homage to the excellent original (look for several familiar faces as photos on a wall in a bar in one scene), relates the cool and engrossing story at a constant snappy pace, stages the exciting action set pieces with real skill and flair, and tops everything off with a wickedly funny line in sharp sarcastic humor. The bang-up acting from a tip-top ensemble cast rates as another substantial plus: Kim Santiago registers strongly as plucky and sexy tough cookie Donna Kinski, Cassandra Bodzak likewise does well as Donna's equally yummy sister Dana, Thomas Daniel contributes a deliciously wormy turn as sniveling wimp computer hacker Smart Guy, William Kucmierowski and Emmanuel Brown are amusing as two bumbling low-life bounty hunters who are eager to collect the hefty price on Snake's head, Notarile is a complete riot as obnoxious loudmouth trucker Jack Burton (yep, that same Jack Burton from "Big Trouble in Little China"!), and there's even a stand-out creepy cameo by some freaky German-accented sicko who calls himself the Sayerville Surgeon. While all these folks do fine and praiseworthy work, De La Rosa nonetheless deserves special mad props for his amazing portrayal of Snake: He astutely nails Plissken's swagger, sneer, low growly voice, surly "leave me alone!" attitude, even the stubbly five day facial growth! The crisp cinematography gives the picture a nice polished look that neatly bellies the slim $5,000 dollar budget. Best of all, John Carpenter's iconic pulsating score is wisely retained. Highly recommended to all you Snake Plissken fans out there.