Search - The Occultist on DVD

Direct to Video - 80s Style

cultfilmwatcher | 01/12/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is the fourth and last of the direct to video efforts that Tim Kincaid wrote and directed for Charles Band between 1985 and 1987. As with "Mutant Hunt," "Breeders" and "Robot Holocaust", this movie, originally called "Maximum Thrust", was shot in 10 days for around $100,000 and like those films it has production values and locations only a notch above the late 1960s, early 1970s work of NYC exploitation filmmakers like Doris Wishman and is far less enjoyable.

The story is kooky and somewhat ambitious given the budget. The lead character is a Six Million Dollar Man-like cyborg with replacement parts above and below the waistline, hence the original title. He is protecting a visiting Caribbean president and his wife from various assasination attempts. The wife is played completely over the top and seems intended to resemble Imelda Marcos. Kincaid tries to inject a bit of social content by having the president's very serious daughter lament her parent's exploitation of the her poor countrymen. Meanwhile a group of former islanders with a surprising connection to the first family dance in a Brooklyn warehouse and skin various folks (cue some impressive Ed French make up effects).

Unfortunately, the direction is completely wooden. The camera remains locked down throughout and everything plays out in a master shot or a two shot, even the fight scenes. It feels like some of Andy Milligan's work in California from around the same time and probably could have benefited from shooting in 16 mm rather than 35 mm. Charles Band's post-production people probably spent less than a day editing the thing together and slapping on some canned music.

Two low-wattage highlights: the garroting of pre-"Rent" Tony nominee Daphine Rubin-Vega in the opening few minutes and a subsequent scene in which a woman is blown up by a bomb implanted in her back and is clearly replaced by a cardboard cut-out just before the explosion.
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