Fred Olen Ray Monster Movie: Take 1.
Steve V. Kooten | Manchester, Iowa | 04/06/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"B-movie king Fred Olen Ray has made a lot of movies and some of them (especially from the 80s)are pretty damn fun too. BIOHAZARD comes around at the cusp of this period where you can tell he was still blindly attempting to figure out how to actually make a movie, but was starting to succeed at a few things at least.
This time, a midget monster from beyond this dimension runs around California and murders various people. This continues until our hero somehow succeeds in defeating the evil thing without actually doing much of anything and the movie just ends.
Ray's later monster movies like DEEP SPACE and HYBRID are more fun in a traditional sense, but BIOHAZARD has them trumped on home grown inanity. It's like a home brewed moonshine; it has its charms despite making you kind of headache-y afterwards. I was especially enthused to see Donald Jackson make a cameo and Angelique Pettyjohn in here to add some cheesecake value.
There's a lot of chuckles to be had and some wild ideas, but be aware that if you go into this looking for a movie with an engaging storyline, well drawn characters and conflict, or good special effects you will be disappointed.
Retromedia's DVD is pretty decent. The movie looks as good as it probably ever will, there are some pithy extras that are worth a look, and Ray contributes a commentary with Steve Latshaw. The commentary runs the feature length and is very entertaining. Ray can talk a streak and divulges a lot of interesting facts about the production and its contributors.
This is a recommended release with the usual caveats that come with both Retromedia and shoe-string budget B-movies."