Tag Archives: Peter Maris

The TSL Horror Grindhouse: Delirium (dir by Peter Maris)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

1979’s Delirium takes place on the mean streets of St. Louis and the surrounding countryside.  Crime is out of control and something has to be done about it!  Thanks to Earl Warren and the Carter administration, the police are powerless to stop the criminals.  (“Miranda rights my ass!” you can almost hear the film’s screenwriter shouting.)  So, the wealthier citizens of St. Louis get together and hire a bald Vietnam vet named Eric Stern (Barron Winchester) to lead a paramilitary group of vigilantes.  One of Stern’s men is another vet, Charlie (Nick Panouzis).  Charlie suffers from PTSD and it turn out that being a part of a militia is not the best way to deal with war trauma.  Who would have guessed?

Charlie snaps.  He starts killing people, in both St. Louis and the surrounding farms.  One victim is a hitchhiker who is dumb enough to hitch a ride from him and then to taunt him when he refuses to go skinny dipping with her.  It turns out that Charlie’s been impotent ever since he came home from the war.  He doesn’t respond well to jokes about it.

As Charlie claims more and more victims, both the police and vigilantes search for him.  The police want to stop his rampage,  The vigilantes don’t want Charlie to accidentally reveal their existence.  The whole thing ends in violence, gun fights, and flashbacks in which Vietnam looks a lot like rural Missouri.

Delirium is a film that I first noticed on my list of Tubi recommendations a few months ago.  I finally watched it last night and I have to admit that my first reaction was, “What the Hell was that?”  Delirium is bizarre mix of slasher horror and vigilante thrills, the type of mishmash that one can only really find in a grindhouse film.  That the budget was low is obvious in every shot.  The wealthy conspiracy meets in what appears to be a hut. As I previously mentioned, the Vietnam scenes were clearly filmed in Missouri.  The acting is largely amateurish, with the exceptions of the intense Nick Panouzis and the absolutely insane performance of Barron Winchester.  The film was gory enough to have earned a spot on the infamous Videos Nastys list but, as is so often case, what was shocking in 1979 seems rather tame in 2024.  I did like the conspiracy aspects of the film.  The idea of a group of wealthy people putting together a vigilante squad without actually bothering to do any background checks on the people they recruited actually has a good deal of potential.  The film is a mess but it’s a mess in the oddly fascinating way that many low-budget 70s films were.  The mix of ambition and a low budget often led to watchable oddities like Delirium.

The main thing that really stuck with me about Delirium is just how annoyed and angry almost every single character in the film seemed to be.  Even the cop trying to stop Charlie seems like he was pissed off about having to actually do his job.  I guess St. Louis does that to people.

Land of Doom (1986, directed by Peter Maris)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Land of Doom takes place after the “final war.”  If you’ve ever seen an 80s Road Warrior rip-off, you know all about the final war.  It was the war that destroyed society and everyone always says that there’s nothing left to say about it.  Regardless of which film you’re watching, the final war always leads to people getting mohawks, wearing leather, and riding motorcycles.  Phantom of the Opera-style half masks also become popular after the final war.  The world becomes a rough place after it ends.

Land of Doom follows all of the typical post-apocalyptic rules, except that the main warrior is a disillusioned woman instead of a cynical man.  Call it Mad Maxine.  Harmony (Deborah Rennard) is a warrior who is making her way through the desert, searching for a possibly nonexistent paradise.  When Harmony first meets Anderson (Garrick Dowhen), she doesn’t want anything to do with him but then Anderson saves her from a rattlesnake so she is now obligated to let him tag along with her.  It turns out that Anderson has been exiled from another community and the new head of that community, Slater (Daniel Radell), is determined to kill him.  Anderson believes in a world of equality while Slater doesn’t.  It never makes sense for Slater to waste time and resources trying to kill Anderson since Anderson is already voluntarily leaving but I guess the final war destroyed logic along with everything else.

It’s a typical post-apocalyptic romp.  Harmony and Slater run through the desert while being pursued by a bunch of bikers who look like they should be in a Damned cover band.  There’s a lot of stunts and a lot of violence but there’s not a lot of plot or consistency.  It you’re into low-budget Road Warrior rip-offs, it’s a good enough way to pass the time.  Deborah Rennard is a credible heroine as Harmony and everyone else in the cast overacts to such an extent that it’s more fun to watch than it should be.  You may be tempted to compare the film, with its female warrior to Mad Max: Thunder Road but don’t do it.  Land of Doom never puts as much thought into its storyline or its themes as any of the Mad Max films did.  Land of Doom is brainless fun.

It may not be the greatest film ever made about the end of society but it’s sometimes entertaining and it’s probably the best we can hope for after the final war.

Ministry of Vengeance (1989, directed by Peter Maris)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

David Miller (John Schneider) is a former soldier who served in the Vietnam War.  Though David managed to survive the war, the majority of his platoon did not and he is still haunted by the day when he was forced to blow up a kid who was working for the VC.  After getting out of the army, David renounces violence and war and he becomes an Episcopal priest.  (His denomination is never really made clear but he wears a collar and he’s got a family so I assume he’s Episcopal.)  He marries Gail (Meg Register) and they have a daughter named Kim (Joey Peters).  Eventually, the Millers find themselves in Rome, where David works with a kindly minister named Hughes (George Kennedy) and preaches the word of the God and the gospel of nonviolence.

Unfortunately, the Millers just happen to be in an airport when it’s attacked by a group of terrorists led by Ali Aboud (Robert Miano).  As David watches, Aboud personally executes his wife and daughter.  Though David survives the attack because Aboud says, “Leave the priest alive!,” his faith is shaken and he goes from renouncing violence to renouncing peace.  After the local CIA agent (Yaphet Kott) refuses to tell David the name or the location of the terrorist who killed his family, David just happens to open up a magazine and finds himself staring at a picture of Ali Aboud.  Ministry of Vengeance may claim to be about faith but it’s mostly about coincidence.

After David discovers that Aboud is in Lebanon, he decides it’s time for him to fly over and dispense some “eye for an eye” justice.  First, David has to get trained by his old drill instructor (James Tolkan).  Once he’s back in fighting shape, David heads off to Lebanon, little aware that Aboud is actually a CIA informant and that the agency is prepared to kill to protect its assets.

Ministry of Vengeance is one of those direct-to-video films where the majority of the budget was spent on getting a handful of “name” actors to make a brief appearance and give the entire production the feel of being a legitimate movie.  So, along with George Kennedy and Yaphet Kotto, Ned Beatty shows up as a quirky minister in Lebanon while Prince’s former protegee, Apollonia Kotero, plays Beatty’s daughter.  None of them get to do as much as you might like.  It’s always good to see Kotto, even if he’s appearing in a bad film, but his role here is mostly just a glorified cameo.  Most of the film is about John Schneider, trying to balance his faith with his desire for vengeance.  That’s a potentially interesting angle to bring to the story but the movie’s handling of the issue is shallow.  David has doubts about his mission but only when it’s convenient for the film’s narrative.

There are a few good action scenes.  James Tolkan is a blast in the R. Lee Ermey roll of the hardass drill sergeant.  Otherwise, Ministry of Vengeance is as forgettable as a guest sermon.