Adrian Paul Week: Deadly Descent

A fine hello there and greetings for Day 5 of Adrian Paul Week. Well we have seen some thrills, chills, spills and more of Paul's tone body than I am comfortable with. I am delving into a realm though I am not thrilled with and no it is not some gay porn with an Adrian Paul lookalike. Fool me thrice and all that. This time I speak of a channel that once entertained me to no end and then like its programming, its name changed and yes I speak of the Siffy Channel...I mean the SyFy Channel.  And what would be the icing on the cake for that Sy Fy Saturday movie but a creature feature with Adrian Paul???? Sayeth whaaaaat??? Finally the cherry on top , a yeti movie. This is Deadly Descent.

You kids settle down in the back or I am pulling over and we can just wait.

Filmed in Bulgaria, our film has 6 alternative English titles so already I am getting sweet, sweet vibes there my friends. Two guys go hiking in the remote mountain range and engage in idle chatter. One tires and the other heads up. Suddenly the rope goes taunt, slack then falls to the ground "Pete, you okay?" is now classified as extremely dumb question. Pete's buddy Brian (Chuck Campbell of In the Mouth of Madness, Jason X, Stargate: Atlantis and Sanctuary) makes a hybrid of terrified beyond rational fear and "O" face to what I can only describe as a creature of CGI that looks like a mixture of the Nightmare Creatures PC/Console game in 1997 and a dino dropping. That is one big pile of sh*t.

Cut to tense typing on a laptop and pseudo-industrial music, GPS mapping and equipment montage as Brian is... alive? Huh?? Looking like a man on a mission maybe he has something to prove to our poop yetis. Flying Brian over in this very remote mountain range is our pilot former Special Forces Mark Foster (Adrian Paul of... oh for crying out loud I think we have some idea what he has done.) Brian strapped with a Glock 20 wants to find out once and for all what really happened to his father after all... this three minutes lapse. Mark not thrilled about dropping Brian off, does his level best to not interfere with a man and his destiny to be yeti poops.

Must...not...look at cleavage.

Some time lapse skiing and a wee bit of decent composure by reality TV music producer Christopher Holden (Dinner, The Amazing Race, Toddlers and Tiaras and Weed Country) Brian follows the lightest tracks I have ever seen laid in the snow. I swear a gaggle of rabbits made that impact.

Waking bright and early Brian's sister Nina (Lauren O' Neil of The Bill, The Symmetry of Love, The Domino Effect, The Humpersnatch Case and Perseveration) realizing she cannot get in touch with Brian senses danger and gets Park and Rescue right on the case. Will that be enough? Nina reaches out to her brother's old unit and his buddy Rick (Nicholas Boulton of Firma, Doctor Who, Heroes and Villains, Doctors and Dragon Age: Origins) present a lot of exposition about Brian and the war days. Mark wanders in the bar and drops enough elucidation on his own chopper experience and how tight he and Brian are. He was the best damn pilot until... the accident. So to sum up, we have one guy missing, an impeding storm and more subplots floating around than a school of piranha salivating over the cow with the broken leg. Rick volunteers his old crew to go search for Brian but with the storm on the rise and the creatures roaming about, who can say if they will find Brian in time?

A few critiques now. I am supposed to buy that have of these fresh faced, manicured boys are soldiers? Watching them do weapons and equipment check brought tears of laughter to my eyes. They look so pampered and delicate, I feared for the giggles to reach up again. The constant flinching while firing guns.  It looks like little kids playing Army.  Beyond a firearms instructor, no one sprung for a drill instructor for cover, carry and concealment.  No flanking or proper defensive and offensive posturing and a bloody civvie is tell you this!!!!!

While our Search and Rescue guys are clearly locals of Bulgaria and have been horribly dubbed over they have some decent moves on the slopes no doubt. Dielsport and Columbia winter wear must have just made mad bank off of this POS.

Yeah this was the death of painful stick beatings.

Man, those honey badgers look pissed!

Adrian Paul Week: Highlander Season 2

Ladies and gentlemen, boy and girls. I bare you greetings and glad tidings for Day 4 of Adrian Paul Week. Now then I did point out how I wanted to step away from Highlander to establish Adrian Paul's capabilities and talent... but I haven't done any Highlander write-ups since Season 1 and it seemed a good enough time as any. Also I just wanted an excuse to watch a few of the episodes. This is Highlander Season 2.

Yeesh, didn't see that squirrel in the road.

When we last left MacLeod (Adrian Paul of Tarzan, The Cover Girl Murders, Susan's Plan, The Void, Storm Watch, Tracker, Throttle and Seance) he was mourning the loss of Darius, a conqueror turned priest who became Duncan's friend and mentor was dispatched by persons yet unknown. Leaving Paris to return to the states (*coughs* Vancouver) Duncan tracks down this mysterious glyph or rune and is able to find that it belongs to a sect. A rare bookdealer name of Joe Dawson (Jim Byrnes of Conan and the Young Warriors, Double Dragon, Dream Man, Mega Man, Robocop: Alpha Commando and The Net) tries to dissuade MacLeod from this line of questioning when he really gets the measure of the man.

Dawson comes clean and in spite of his oath tells MacLeod that there has always been a gathering of mortals recording the immortals for as long as "The Game" has been on. The Watchers observe, record and tally but do not interfere with the immortals' affairs. Occasionally I think they do body disposal of the loser but that would make sense.

Trouble looks dishy.

Tessa (Alexandra Vandernoot of Lucky Punch, Le jaguar, The Dinner Game, Highlander, The Closet, Hop, The Five Obstructions and Carla Rubens) MacLeod's lady love was killed in a robbery as was Richie (Stan Kirsch of Riders in the Sky, Highlander, The Sky's on Fire, The Flunky, Deep Rescue and Invincible) only for Richie to find out that he is also a foundling immortal and now what does life hold for him? Aside from beings centuries old with vast fighting and slaying experience can do him in at anytime of their leisure. With a bounce back and forth from "Seacouver" Washington to Paris this season seems to be showing more of MacLeod's standings in history and well as the romantic side of his soul.

A few finer points on the season now.

We do have re-occuring characters making their way back such as the lovely cat burgalar Amanda (Elizabeth Gracen of The Death of the Incredible Hulk, Marked for Death, Extreme, Highlander, Highlander: The Raven and Coherence) the suave yet murderous bastard Xavier St. Cloud (Lead singer of Fine Young Cannibals Roland Gift) and the enigmatic Horton (Peter Hudson of Prelude to a Kiss, Smokin/No Smoking, Sharpe's Mission, Red Eye, The Statement, Grand Star and Black Out) so this season while decreased in budget the ratings went through the roof to follow the exploits of the highlander.

With a co-production between France/Canada, Davis-Panzer Productions were balancing the continuation of the Lambert movies as well as how will the show compare with the films and the European partners had not even aired the first season so the states had a huge following advantage from the get go.

This season allows for more story development, historical events, swordplay and less of Duncan be the Kung Fu master but slowly rounding out his character more and giving him tone and depth.   

Clandestine meetings...in an alley??

Adrian Paul Week: Nemesis Game

Greetings folks and welcome back for Day 3 of Adrian Paul Week. Initially I was going to just do a review on The Breed but then I thought, "I have already seen this film and enjoyable as it was, I shall not view anything new." With that in mind, I found what IMDB considers an obscure mystery thriller revolving around a introspective student obsessed with puzzles and no her name is not Edlyn Nigma, you Bat-Man fanatics. With the story following a young college girl, you may ask yourself, "Well where does Adrian Paul fit in this equation?" This is Nemesis Game.

Yeah I went blonde.

Our film opens with a girl, name of Emily (Rena Owen of Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, The Straits, The Last Survivor and The Dead Lands) being interrogated by Detective Jeff Novak (Ian McShane of A.D., Lovejoy, Dallas, Nine Lives, Deadwood, Death Race and Kings) who clearly is befuddled by this woman who had everything and anything at her fingertips for life had to offer and then snaps like a twig in 1996 trying to drown a small boy in a lake and the crazy just keeps on a comin'. Apparently she knows the meaning of life and the absurdity of the cosmos. So did Jean Paul Satre, baby and all he had was a pipe, beret and turtleneck sweater.

Comic book shop/memorabilia owner and amateur philosopher Vern (Adrian Paul of Susan's Plan, The Void, Code Hunter, Tracker, Alien Tracker, Moscow Heat, Tides of War and Throttle) attempts to find meaning in life, its context, is it really straightforward and planned or does it simply revel in chaos? Vern begins to wax ideology and metaphysics with his customer Dennis (Brendan Fehr of The Foresaken, Roswell, Sugar, The Other Side of the Tracks, CSI: Miami, Samurai Girl and Bones) when a young girl walks in the shop idly browsing as one would believe. Heaven fore-fend girls liking graphic novels. Wracked with guilt and confusion of her mother's death in a car crash, Sara (Carly Pope of Dirt, YPF, Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, 24 and Outlaw) finds scholastics to be dull and takes her away from her true love which is puzzles and riddles of the macabre or bizarre.

Transient, hobo or homicidal lunatic??

Vern and Sara seem to have a dynamic relationship of self-destruction, lawbreaking and more than a few misdemeanors between the two of them. Gifted minds that are not challenged enough and reprobates in their own mind against the rules, this pair of misfits test themselves and the boundaries of the system we all drift in. Games at first of course. Sara and Jeff's family ties are rocky at best, so much the good girl he wants to see in her but not realizing she needs her own life. Sara recieves an invitation to solving riddles of a different facet. Vern tells her that a local mystery occurs in vehicular accidents, random fires with no meaning or possibly even an unexplained murder. Are they truly without meaning? A elite petition is made to solve these puzzles but from where and by whom? Sara finds a student missing, dead and strung up and only because she interacted with him daily. How deep does this rabbit hole go?

Director/writer Jesse Warn goes for almost Michael Mann lighting style, close pan zooms on the actors to get as much expression, lots of hand held Mostly a techno/industrial soundtrack that gives the film a good steady pace but will not also lose the 30 second attention span crowd. The crane technique shots of the city, steady cam and some old school dolly track gives a nice eerie feeling to encompass the vibe of the film. I wasn't really pondering the riddles or reflective on the nothingness of being but found the film to at least be entertaining and the cast brought their "A" game to this whimsical view of life and all its "order".

Come hither stare?

Adrian Paul Week: The Owl

Welcome to the gathering!!.. of Adrian Paul fans for Day 2 of Adrian Paul Week. Yeah, I know I need to cut down on the Highlander quotes, comments and general silliness than is I but it is so damn fun. No offense to MacLeod, but I loved Peter Wingfield's Methos. That man could have lopped the head off a cat snoozing, in the sack, in a outhouse, you name it.

Today I wish to bring about a TV movie title that provided some entertainment. Based on the books by novelist/TV writer Robert Forward (Secret of the Sword, She-Ra: Princess of Power, C.O.P.S., The Real Ghostbusters, The Legend of Zelda and Captain Planet and the Planeteers) comes the story of a soldier turned mercenary who lost his wife and daughter to criminals of unknown. He spends his nights prowling the streets for scum to unleash his rage on. This is The Owl.

Oh no cameraman, he spotted you! RUN!

Alex L' Hiboux (Adrian Paul of Love Potion No. 9, Dead Men Can't Dance, Merlin: The Return, The Breed, Tracker, Charmed, Alien Tracker, Throttle, Little Chicago, Highlander: The Source, Lost Colony: The Legend of Roanoke) was a soldier once. After his tour was up he found his family to been dispatched by criminals and yes, yes I get it is too close to the Punisher and you need to move on. A hopeless insomniac, living off of sugar, caffeine and anxiety Alex "The Owl" operates as a mercenary for whatever or whoever meets his price or cause.

With his on again and off again cop lady friend Danny Santerre (Patricia Charbonneau of Shakedown, Call Me, Brain Dead, Robocop 2, The Arrangement, She's All That and 100 Feet) she throws him a bone via work or just checks in on him. A doctor and his daughter Lisa (Erika Flores of Star Trek: The Next Generation, She Woke Up, Bloodlines: Murder in the Family, Visions of Murder and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) are about to blow town when Doctor Clements (David Selburg of The Man with One Red Shoe, On Deadly Ground, Species and The Bourne Identity) is snatched from the train station leaving his daughter on her own. Lisa seeks out the Owl in the hopes he can find her father before anything horrible happens to him. Reluctant to get involved he takes on the case and is bending ears and arms in no time at all.

I am almost Wesley Snipes, m'man.  I feel it.

Our gangster/rapper Cool Ice (Jacques Bolton of 21 Jump Street, Kindergarten Cop, The O.J. Simpson Story, City of Angels and Bloodlines) holds Clements in chains until he gives up the formula for this new drug coined Instant Iron so he can be the new drug kingpin. FYI, his henchman carrying his ghetto blaster THAT IS NOT EVEN PLAYING!!!!!!

Can the Owl stop the drug trade, end the bad rap tyriad and in general snap bones and one-liners??

A few comments on the flick. Director Tom Holland brought me Fright Night, Fatal Beauty and Child's Play so I figure I am in good hands and while the cinematography is fine, the soundtrack is rocking, the source material was treated with less dignity than a Glen A Larson project. Seriously, Manimal got more love.

One of the biggest effects the film has on you is the soundtrack. My brain is screaming Stallone's Cobra and low and behold it is Sylvester Levay (Composer of Otherworld, Airwolf, Cobra, The Tracker and Navy Seals) some decent bass and guitar with some whammy bar with a bit of synthesizer playing with that brushing of chimes effect that was popular in the 80's and the 90's.

Upside is Paul looked supremely bad-ass, spinning kicks, wrist locks and just blasting the crap out of these pukes.   

You must think I'm not a very nice guy...

Adrian Paul Week: Masque of the Red Death

A fine hello to all that is reading the blog and welcome to Day 1 of Adrian Paul Week. Initially, as most of you know I do like to get to the humble beginnings of all actors/directors/writers but I do not think my heart could have handled a spin-off of Dynasty known as The Colbys. 19 episodes about entitled wealthy white people holds no interest to me at all. With that in mind, we move on to a film adaptation of an Edgar Allen Poe short story filled with intrigue, thrills and perhaps a murder or two. Now before you all get excited I must warn you up front this a Roger Corman production. The second attempt after the 1964 film starring Vincent Price. This is Masque of the Red Death.

Can't get that Queen song out of my head.

While a virulent plague is laying waste to his kingdom, Prince Prospero (Adrian Paul of Last Rites, War of the Worlds, Dark Shadows, The Owl, Highlander, The Breed and The Void) awakes from a horrific nightmare. Comfort found in the arms of his wife/sister Lucrecia (Tracy Reiner of Die Hard, When Harry Met Sally..., A League of Their Own and Apollo 13) Prospero decides to hold a gathering (NO! NOT A HIGHLANDER REFERENCE!!!), a soiree of his friends for drunken debauchery and ravaging of the women. You know, good times. They will stave off the impeding plague in luxury and hedonism whereas the peasants are left to fend for themselves. His friend Claudio (Jeff Osterhage of The Texas Rangers, Knight Rider, Moonlighting, South of Reno and Dark Before Dawn) grabs up a myriad of birds for the impeding feast as well as all the good looking women in the village, so clearly if you are well-to-do bachelor let Claudio do your shopping.

Mr. Brand? This basement is stinky.

One of the ladies in question is the lovely Juiletta (Clare Hoak of Freddy's Nightmares, Masque of the Red Death, The Terror Within II, Deadly Deception and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) which the prince has his eyes on. Salivating over young Juiletta, Lucrecia seems almost taken back that her brother/husband is looking for new conquests to be had. The ball is in set to begin when a guest arrives dressed head to toe in red. Does this guest have a sinister motive for attending this shindig? Is there to be a murder on the rise? Will the nobles lose their heads figuratively or literally?

A few comments now on the film. On a technical aspect of the movie, lighting and sound are spot on but the sets look drab and dull. The costumes do not have the same bright and lavish colors they could and frankly the film itself looks like it was shot for a TV movie. The opening credits show some great slow pans around various medieval torture devices as the equipment hangs. I about choked on my Coke Zero as I had to see the late great Sir Patrick McGee in his costume. Camp will do nicely. A few torture scenes occur but are extremely tame and the nudity seems to only serve to show off B-movie actresses Maria Ford, Clare Hoak and Adrian Paul's build.  FYI, you know you have seen too much schlock movies when you can spot and identify a B-movie actress of some ill-repute.

The blood and gore factor is nothing to what I was expecting in a horror thriller but hey that alone is refreshing for me. The gags were remarkably calm but still well shot. I am confused why they felt the need to add the incestual aspect of Prospero and Lucrecia's life when it had no real barring aside from me going ick. Not exactly the taboo if you have no follow through. I do not blame Mr. Paul for this production as so much realize that a young actor had to take the parts readily available for him. If you need a production of this film I recommend the 1964 version with Vincent Price or Hell, even the 1990 version with Frank Stallone. Yeah I just gave kudos to a Frank Stallone movie.

Best Pantene commercial ever!

Adrian Paul Week

Salutations low beings!! It is I!! Sorry, I just never really get to use that level of melodramatics.

Welcome back to the blog that keeps you guessing what horrific crap or fabulous gem we will discover as we approach the beginning of the week. Two weeks prior in the land of Omaha adjacent to Council Bluffs, several folk were enjoying Britishfest (which had an impressive turn out of people by the by) in which the mid-westerners got embrace tea time, biccies, memorabilia of all things across the pond. We were saddened when guest appearance of Jason Connery (Sir Sean Connery's Son) was not available to join us but were rewarded with a fellow of notoriety, Adrian Paul of Highlander fame. Enjoying a brief conversation with the gent in question and getting my primitive VHS signed by him I was impressed to see a humble man rather than a guy that could have had an ego the size of the planet.

Adrian Paul is Poncho Villa!!!

It had also clicked that I don't believe aside from a vampire film and maybe a V/R film I have really reviewed his works and thought, "Well dammit, time to fix that." So this week shall revolve around a man who modeled to see the world, became a dancer and choreographer, giving him the ability to speak French and Italian fluently. With at least 5 different forms of martial arts under his belt including: Kung Fu, La Fut, Hung Gar, Tae-Kwon-Do and Wing Chun, he has became a cinematic swordsmaster primarily in Katana and Broadsword. A tad depressing at his vastly superior build than I but hey he just figured out what a barbell set was before I did.

With that in mind, let us delve into the week and maybe we will discover why this chap seems so appealing. (Ladies and gay men need NOT tell me more pornographic reasons, please.)

Cut!  Chris lost his contact again!