DESTROYER (1988)

DESTROYER (1988)

Tagline: 3000 volts couldn't kill him...it just gave him a buzz.

(Horror, Thriller, Defensive Lineman) [R]

So what you're telling me is that Moser is still alive?

-- I'm telling you Ivan Moser is half alive

In this one, Ivan Moser is being electrocuted when a prison riot breaks out and cuts off the electricity. No one knows what happened after that, but the prison was closed down as a result. A year and a half later director Robert Edwards decides the old prison is the perfect place to film a women’s prison exploitation film. Much to the dismay and objection of the old warden, filming begins and it doesn’t take long before the production is hindered by something sinister. 

First off, after the first 7 or 8 minutes, we get about 45 minutes of not much going on. It doesn’t kick back into gear until there is about 37 minutes left in the movie. The storyline just isn’t all that interesting and David’s obsession with how the riot at the prison happened is pretty annoying. 

When it comes to the acting, Clayton Rohner (APRIL FOOL’S DAY) is fine as an actor, but he could have been given a better character to play here. David Harris is just annoying. Clayton wasn’t the only APRIL FOOL’S DAY alum to show up in this movie, we also got Deborah Foreman as Susan Malone. Deborah was a bit of a scream queen back in the day, she also shows up in WAXWORK, LOBSTER MAN FROM MARS, and GRIZZLY II: REVENGE. Lyle Alzado (WHO’S HARRY CRUMB?) plays Ivan Moser in this and wasn’t the best choice for a killer. Some people might have been okay with it, but for me, it was distracting. I prefer horror with killers that are either masked or someone random. Maybe that’s being too picky. Roddy McDowall was supposed to be in this movie, but we ended up with Anthony Perkins as director Robert Edwards. There is a way more obvious role they could have put him in that wasn’t the main antagonist, but he is pretty solid in this. 

The score is a mixed back of good and ridiculous depending on the scene. The soundtrack they really just didn’t bother with. I am kind of wondering if Wes Craven was watching this and thought to himself, “I am going to make a better movie than DESTROYER and call it SHOCKER with a pretty similar idea only make it have a soundtrack with Megadeth and Dangerous Toys”. Because that is exactly what happened a year after this thing came out. 

The ending is good, but there are large sections of this movie that aren’t engaging at all even in a cheesy way. They are actually boring. At least we got a bit of a “reveal” at the end of the film that made no sense at all. I mean, why even have an 80’s horror flick if it’s going to make a bunch of sense. 

Overall this is some 80’s cheese horror that got a cover that was far creepier than the actual movie. I kind of think if you were going to have a skeleton-looking killer on the cover, why not just throw Lyle in a skeleton ski mask or something like that about mid-way through the movie? It could have even been something one of the cast members from the movie had lying around. Watching a well-known football player go on a rampage just isn’t all that haunting. 

This thing gets a 3 out of 7. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF BACK EAST MONEY AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.