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2.1 KiB
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Charle (Rob Lowe's affably boyish younger brother Chad) and Rachel (delectable blonde hottie Kristy Swanson, who originated the part of everyone's favorite bloodsucker-stomping high school cheerleader in the flop movie "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") are a sweetly pure and innocent young couple who make the usual mistake of driving down a remote desert dirt road. When Rachel gets abducted by the pernicious superhuman fiend Hellcop (hulking C.J. Graham; Jason in "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives"), Charlie literally has to go to hell to rescue Rachel within twenty-four hours or otherwise the Devil (a smoothly sneaky and ingratiating Patrick Bergin) will have her soul for all eternity.<br /><br />Director Arte De Jong, working from Brian Helgeland's quirkily creative script, presents a gloriously offbeat vision of Hades in this wildly eccentric and imaginative horror-comedy-drama-action-adventure handy dandy multi-genre combo oddity. Among the arrestingly off-kilter sights to be seen in this wacked-out beaut are a greasy spoon diner populated by cops who are never served with a short order cook (a pre-stardom Ben Stiller) who fries eggs on the sidewalk, a gang of hostile bikers, a psycho ice cream man, road workers who all look like Andy Warhol, a butt-ugly libidinous lady demon, a three-headed mutant dog, and a highway with nothing but speeding Volkswagons rippin' down the road. Moreover, Lowe makes for a refreshingly wimpy and reluctant hero while Swanson registers strongly as a very fair and appealing maiden in distress. Popping up in snazzy bits are the ever-amiable Richard Farnsworth as a folksy, friendly ol' fuddy dud gas station proprietor, Pamela Gidley as a helpful motorcycle mama, 80's hard rock icon Lita Ford as a crazed hitch-hiker, stand-up comic Gilbert Gottfried as a raving neurotic Hitler, and Kevin Peter Hall as the eyeless captain of a boat which travels across the river Styx. Robin Vidgeon's bright, dazzling cinematography and a way cool bluesy'n'funky score by Hidden Faces further enhance the marvelously idiosyncratic merriment to be found in this one-of-a-kind flaky favorite. |