In a base hidden away in the desert, a group of government scientists reanimate the corpse of a recent suicide victim with radiation. They bring Thor (Dan Blom) back to life but it turns out that Thor just wants to kill all of them.
Mind-numbingly dull, MindRipper is the same as a hundred other horror films with the same plot. Lance Henriksen plays the lead scientist and it’s always a pleasure to see him in even the worst movies but Mind Ripper underutilizes him in favor of Giovanni Ribisi, of all people.
Mind Ripper was executive produced by Wes Craven and sold in some markets as Wes Craven Presents Mind Ripper. Wes’s son, Jonathan Craven, did write the script and the movie was originally planned as being the third Hills Have Eyes movie. Wes Craven’s name undoubtedly helped this film get into production but the thing to remember is that Craven may have been the executive producer and his son may have written but Wes Craven did not direct the movie and that makes all the difference. Maybe Wes Craven could have done something with the limp story and the uninteresting characters. My guess is that Wes Craven was smart enough not to even try.
Don’t let this movie rip your mind. It’s not worth it.
Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, Simon Rhee, and Chris Penn all return for more martial arts action in 1993’s Best Of The Best II!
In the years since the American team’s quasi-victory over the Korean team in the first Best Of The Best, Travis (Chris Penn) has fallen on hard times. While his former teammates, Alex (Eric Roberts) and Tommy (Phillip Rhee) attend to the day-to-day operations of running a martial arts studio in Las Vegas, Travis spends his time fighting in underground “colosseum” matches. These matches, hosted by Weldon Mardano (Wayne Newton), are modern-day gladiatorial contests where the fighters often battle to the death while a bunch of rich people watch and cheer. (We can tell they’re rich because they all wear tuxedos). “There are no rules!” the crowd shouts as Travis defeats opponent after opponent.
Travis is convinced that he can defeat the colosseum’s German champion, fearsome Gustave Brakus (Ralf Moeller). It turns out that Travis is wrong. Travis loses to Brakus and is promptly killed after the crowd starts to chant, “Die! Die! Die!” (In Brakus’s defense, he may have thought they were just chanting, “The! The! The!”) (Actually, don’t ask me how that works in Brakus’s defense. I really didn’t think that joke through.) Travis’s death is witnessed by Alex’s young son, Walter (Edan Gross). Travis, Walter, and Tommy go on the run, ending up at Tommy’s boyhood home. Tommy, it turns out, is half-Native American and his bitter uncle, James (Sonny Landham), trains Tommy and Alex for their inevitable fight against Brakus. Dae-han Park (Simon Rhee) also shows up, saying that he owes Tommy a debt for not killing him at the end of the previous film.
BestoftheBestII is an improvement on the first film, if just because it doesn’t take itself seriously at all and it cheerfully embraces and celebrates the absurdity at the heart of the storyline. Just the fact that one of the film’s villains is played by Wayne Newton should tell you everything you need to know about this film’s style. This is a pure Vegas film, full of glitz and neon and plenty of tuxedos. Eric Roberts even wears a tux at the end of the movie. Just as in the first film, Roberts does most of the acting while Phillip Rhee supplies the action. Roberts is a bit less emotional in this film. If he spent the first film continually on the verge of tears, he spends the second one trying not to smile at the silliness of it all. Towards the end of the film, you can actually see him starting to laugh at Wayne Newton’s over-the-top performance and it’s actually kind of a nice moment. Don’t take this too seriously, the film seems to be saying, We’re not! Just enjoy the fights!
BestoftheBestII is definitely an improvement over the first one, even if it is unfortunate that neither James Earl Jones nor Sally Kirkland returned. (Then again, if you were the Tony-winning, widely-celebrated, universally-beloved, and very much in-demand James Earl Jones, would you have returned?) BestoftheBestII doesn’t take itself too seriously and, as a result, it’s far more entertaining than you might otherwise expect.
Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:
In a base hidden away in the desert, a group of government scientists reanimate the corpse of a recent suicide victim with radiation. They bring Thor (Dan Blom) back to life but it turns out that Thor just wants to kill all of them.
Through the Shattered Lens 