Evil Ambitions

I saw this under the name of "Satanic Yuppies". At the beginning of the film they joke that it's based on a true story, if you believe that then there really is no help for you. Anyways the flick is about a public relations firm called Inferno, that's a secret cabal of Satan worshipers (the girl who hires Julie, the newest recruit, proudly exclaims that Rush Limbaugh is a client, how edgy) and a newspaper reporter out to uncover the truth about them as well as a local congressman. The movie plays the material for comedy, but it fails pretty badly, in no small way because of porn-caliber acting. It also feels padded, and could've used a tighter editor. Produced by B+ productions, I only mention that as I find that kinda funny and too optimistic as B+ is far from the grade I'm going to give it.

Eye Candy: Amy Ballard, Lucy Frashure, Glori-Anne Gilbert, Kindra Laub, and Katie Wilke all get topless in the film; Dakota Summers and one other girl provide full frontal

My Grade: D

This movie started off saying it was based on true events that happened in Cincinnati in the summer of 1996. It bugged me the whole movie because the movie came out in the fall of 1996. Were they filming the true events as they happened? Is this then, in fact a documentary? Well, we know this is not possible, just a silly joke on someone's part. There were some real jokes in the movie, and I do appreciate the fact that they tried to do horror with some humor. Don't get me wrong, it is not a comedy.

I really liked Amber Newman as the PR lady. She seemed to really make an effort to play her part well. Maybe that is why she went on to a long career with films such as Mari-Cookie and the Killer Tarantula in 8 Legs to Love You . Seriously, she was good. Renae Raos also played well. I wonder what happened to her? But, this is about busty and beautiful (her own words) Debbie Rochon. She is consulted by Pete (Paul Morris), the cigar chomping reporter. She warns him, but it does not good. At least he ends up with Julie (Lucy Frashure, another one-time actress).

The roles are getting better, Debbie.

The beautiful blonde on the video box cover is Lucy Frashure playing "Julie Swanson." She registers a credible character: innocent, shocked, terrified. I wonder if she tried acting again under some other name, or gave it up. Ms. Newmann is serious about her role, too. She plays it on two levels, as the scheming evil Satan's agent, but with a hint of playfulness. And I sort-of believed Ms. Rochon's "Madame Natalie." The rest of the cast is just blandly going through the motions.

This picture suffered from a really bad sound track. The music is kind of interesting, but the dialog recording has so much background noise of every kind (fans, blowers, and people walking around on the set, and hum and hiss in the recording) that the dialog is barely intelligible. It began to remind me of a Dr. Who episode, or a daytime soap before they got big budgets. A little ADR would have done a lot for this show. Editing is really loose, too. There's a lot of wasted time between one character's line and the next, which would have been edited out in a more thorough production.

Ten points for Lucy, eight for Amber, five for the script, and none for production.

How many times have you watched an overblown, overproduced studio production like Coppola's "Dracula" and thought to yourself "I could make a better movie than that in my basement with my friends"?

Well, the makers of this film thought the same thing. They took a few grand and make a homemade video.

In all honesty, the film does have one strength. It has a good script. It's basically an r-rated version of a "Night Stalker" episode. (The main reporter character is even named McGavin). The plot is coherent, some of the characters are interesting, and there are some very funny lines.

Example:

High priestess: "Do you take Satan to be your lawful spouse, in richer and even richer ..... etc"

Bound and gagged victim: (makes fearful struggling noises).

High priestess: "I'll take that as a yes"

Satan himself is also funny, the ultimate achievement-oriented corporate guy, kind of similar to the Christian Bale role in American Psycho. And the Kolchak-like reporter has some pretty good wisecracks.

Real movie companies, with real budgets, have filmed worse scripts than this. Much worse.

But then there's the matter of the execution. The lighting is funky and too dark. The fight scenes involve people falling off-camera. The special effects consist of people leaning backward.

The acting is, well ....

Let's just say this is your movie if you go to porno films because you love the acting, but you actually hate porn. Most of the lines are delivered with the same flat monotone that you'd expect from local furniture store owners reading their own TV commercials off cue cards.

Oh, well. The script is still OK for a few laughs, and could be pretty good if professionals delivered the lines.