Sep 22 2008
Life is but a Game
Deathrow Gameshow (1987) ** - Director Mark Pirro became a hero to low budget filmmakers in the 80’s when his first feature film, A Polish Vampire In Burbank not only got a substantial VHS release but was sold to cable TV and became a favorite on the USA network show USA UP! All Night. His follow up film, also shot on super 8, Curse of the Queerwolf didn’t fair as well but was polished enough to get the attention of Crown International films who hired him to do this comedy on 35mm which actually got an extremely limited theatrical release. In a lot of ways this movie was ahead of its time, predating the wave of reality TV and the vicious attitudes that are pretty much commonplace nowadays. The plot is about a TV show called Live Or Die in which convicts from Death Row are given a chance to win freedom or be executed live on the air through silly little games. The host is universally hated for his participation in the show, yet all of America tunes in daily to watch the people die. Though pretty morbid in concept, this is played for broad comedy and is only marginally successful. Director Piro would have been better off to have either went full on Airplane! style slapstick, or completely black comedy style. Instead he falls somewhere in between and only generates a few laughs here and there. It doesn’t help matters that he doesn’t really have much of a visual style, so the look of the film is not terribly interesting. There’s a decent gag involving hooking a crime lord’s dick up to electrodes and forcing him to watch a woman dance, so if he gets aroused he will be electrocuted, that has unexpected results. That’s probably the most memorable moment next to a patently absurd dream sequence that uses the format of a theatrical trailer. I will say that the actress that is the female lead named Robyn Blyth has a set of fantastic breasts, though only let loose all too briefly. This is the second feature on DVD with The Kidnapping of the President starring William Shatner (which is about the weirdest double feature pairing I can possibly think of) from BCI but NOT present as part of their Exploitation Cinema Series.
2008-09-22
23:55:11
