REVIEW FILM
DEMON KNIGHT
A feature-length horror movie derived from the HBO cable television series. itselfbased on the l95()s EC. comic books of William Gaines — if this sounds less than promising. prepare to lower your expectations still further. Ernest Dickerson. who shot several of Spike Lee's films before making his directorial debut with Juice. displays a reasonable flair for the genre. but despite his story-telling skills. this remains moribund.
Things get off to an explosive start as a high-speed car chase involving the fugitive Brayker (William Sadler) and Stetson-batted smoothie (Billy Zane) ends with both cars totalled and enveloped in a ball of flame. However. when Brayker takes refuge in a nearby llophouse. it is immediately heseiged by Zane's demonic Collector and a horde of flesh-eating. green-eyed demons.
Things get seriously bogged down when Brayker uses an ancient talisman filled with holy blood to seal the building’s portals and protect the
JACK & SARAH
ll
Jack G Sarah: 'bright and enjoyable'
While It was probably not intended to be some sort of metaphor for the contradictory state of the British film industry, this earnest comedy-drama proves more successful in being just that than It is in addressing the themes that the story throws up. (In the one hand, ‘l’iin Sullivan’s debut feature as writer-director bears the hallmarks of all that is so good about the film Industry within these shores - solid writing, a wonderful cast and powerfully wrought conflicts. But It also descends with alarming speed Into the abyss of self-pitying melodrama, as the bright and
Demon Knight: ‘fright quotient far too low’ disposable. stereotyped characters within. Not to be thwarted. the Collector uses telepathy to exploit the vulnerabilities of those inside. offering love-starved tart Cordelia (Brenda Bakke) true love. troubled black delinquent Jeryline (Jada Pinkett) supermodel stardom and drunk old- tirner Uncle Willy (Dick Miller) a
, topless bar awash with hooch.
The predictable action is set-bound. the gory sfx merely adequate. and the fright quotient far too low. Neither is any depth lent to the proceedings by repeated and confusing flashbacks to an MTV video of Christ's crucifixion. As the full title — 'Iales l-‘mm The Crypt Presents: Demon Knig/tt — implies. this competent entry is the first in a proposed series. one that will be cut
' short if subsequent efforts don't
improve on this standard. (Nigel Floyd) 'lales l’mm The Crypt Presents: Demon K night (18) (limes! Dickerson. US. [995) Billy Vane. William Sadler. Jada I’inkett. ()3 mins. l-‘mm Fri 2.‘ General release.
enjoyable story takes a sharp turn and continues down a totally different road from that on which it started.
Richard E. Grant - for once not the eccentric of the piece - is engaging enough as Jack, a devoted husband and father-to-be, whose wife (Imogen Stubbs) dies shortly after giving birth to their baby daughter. At first he
- rejects the child but, after some
coercion by his parents and mother-in- Iaw, takes on' the responsibilities of fatherhood with some gusto. It's one thing to be a single dad, but also to hold down a top job with a bustling City law flnn proves too much for him, and through coincidence and happenstance, he hires Amy (Samantha Mathis), a gloriously unqualified American waitress, as a live-in nanny to baby Sarah.
From here on, as the story switches from being about Jack and Sarah to being about Jack and Amy, the film stumbles from one familiar and cliched scenario to another. Moments are lightened by the kind of breezy supporting performances you would expect from a cast that includes Judi Bench, Eileen Atkins, David Swift and Ian McKellen, but that‘s about it. ‘I’he rest remains a stodgy romance operating where a decent drama once was. (Anwar Brett)
Jack & Sarah (15) (Tim Sullivan, UK, 1995) Richard E. Grant, Samantha Mathis, Judi Bench. From Fri 9: General release.
INDEPENDENT FILM WORKSHOP Presents two great seminars
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, WRITING A COMMERCIAL SCRIPT ¢ making it as a writer
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THESE INTENSIVE SEMINARS ARE PRESENTED BY ELLIOT GROVE, founder of the RAINDANCE FILM
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Rob Roy (is) Muriel’s Wedding (15) Circle of Friends (15)
Bye Bye Love (PG) Bullets Over Broadway (15)
NEW RELEASES JUNE
9th Man of the House (m)
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NEW RELEASES JULY
7“! First Knight (15)
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The List 215 Jun 1995 21