'Uncle Sam' review by MartialHorror

Source: http://freewebs.com/mhuncle

UNCLE SAM(1997)
(Directed by William Lustig)

"HE WANTS YOU.....bored out of your mind."- Signed by MartialHorror.

Plot: A desert storm veteran who died in combat is somehow resurrected and begins killing anyone who does or says anything disrespectful to the Government or the American way of life.

Review:

Ugh, there are two reasons I decided to add this movie to my netflix list. The first is that when I was around 11 years old, I remember two films sticking out at the video store(which just recently closed, much to my dismay). These two films had these cool holograms as their covers, and I spent hours….and by hours, I mean minutes…..and my minutes, I mean seconds, watching the pictures distort into something ghoulish. I thought they were awesome. I had rented one of them, which was “Jack Frost”, and no, not the Michael Keaton one. I’m talking of the one where the serial killer becomes a snowman- and by snowman I mean styrofoam man- and rapes the hot chick from “American Pie”..... with his carrot... that he uses as his penis. Obviously it was bad, but I remember thinking it was kind of fun for it. Plus, where else will you see the hot chick from "American Pie" get raped with a carrot by a killer snowman? But while I rented that one, I never checked out the other, which was “Uncle Sam”……..until now.

The 2nd reason is that I heard that it was pretty awful, even being worse than “Jack Frost”……correction, BOTH “Jack Frost” movies…..It’s pretty sad when a Michael Keaton family film ends up being far more horrific than the movie where the hot chick from “American Pie” gets raped by a killer snowman….and I don’t mean horrific in a good way. Now that I think about it, I think there was a "Jack Frost 2", were the killer snowman goes to the tropics......yeah, this was even worse than that.....killer snowmen in the freaking tropics.....what genius writes this stuff? Now you might be asking yourself why would I see a movie just because I hear it’s bad…….That is a very good question, one that I ask myself every day. There really is no reason for me to watch this. It’s directed by the guy who did those “Maniac Cop” movies, which I don’t remember. It does have an established cast, from Isaac Hayes to Robert Forster, two actors who I enjoy watching, but not enough for me to seek out their work just because of them…..and the movie has pretty much been forgotten. It hasn’t achieved the cult status that “Jack Frost” did….probably because there was no raping of- Well, you know. No one remembers it, so it’s not like I’m going to get any new fans for my site……..But someone called it bad, so I felt the need to watch it……It makes me very sad.

Now brace yourself, this story confused me a little bit, so I’ll try not to confuse you as well. Sam Harper(David ’Shark’ Fralick) is killed when his helicopter is shot down in the Gulf War…..Apparently they don’t find his body for three years, but his charred remains look pretty fresh. It actually has a decent start when some Captain and a grunt find the crash. The Captain’s acting is terrible, but the scene is fairly atmospheric. Sam is apparently alive and kills the two…but then dies……again. Three years later, we see that his family has moved on. His nephew, Jody(Christopher Ogden), idolized his uncle..even though it’s strongly implied they barely spoke, and wants to be just like him. His mother, Sally(Leslie Neale), didn’t seem to care for him that much. This is where I got confused. Sally’s sister, Louise(Anne Tremko) was Sam’s wife, but she’s now dating the local cop……albeit reluctantly. She apparently hated Sam as well. This through me off because the sisters look too much alike to the point where for a moment, I thought they were the same person, and I wasn’t sure if Jody was Sam’s son or uncle….but whatever. Sam’s coffin is shipped to their hometown, and we learn that he appears to be alive…..or undead, it’s never really explained.

Here’s the real kicker, the first 40 minutes of this movie is about……nothing. Sam is stuck in the coffin, Jody becomes more creepy and obsessive about his uncle, even wanting to OPEN the coffin……Isaac Hayes plays Jed, a war veteran who explains that war sucks and is for psychopaths. Characters argue about the government and no one acts remotely human. I love how some crooked Lawyer who’s dating Sally is boasting about cheating the Government around Jody, and Sally seems proud of his actions. That’s fine, but would you really condone that around your young son who is very pro-Government? Obviously the movie is taking itself too seriously, wanting to focus on how much war effects the families of the deceased, but as I said, no one acts remotely human.....So this angle completely sucks, as if we want to watch all of this in a damn slasher movie...Isn't that what the lifetime channel is for?


Finally, past the half way mark, Sam gets his ass out of the coffin and puts on an Uncle Sam costume. Now let’s all sit back and laugh at the wonderful irony. A guy named Sam, who is the main character's uncle, is dressing up as Uncle Sam! Ha! Wait, no, that’s not wonderful irony…..it’s lame as hell irony. The story slightly picks up, but it still feels like they’ve replaced the 2nd act with the 1st act and the 1st act with…..a really boring 1st act. Sam eventually starts offing people faster during the 3rd act……but it was hardly worth It. Then the final shocker comes in, there is some crippled, blind kid who is suddenly introduced and has some sort of psychic connection with Sam. He is literally introduced about an hour into the movie, and they actually make him a plot device…even though he’s pretty useless. Wow, movie, that was really freaking stupid of you. I think you just hit a new low. Although granted, the final shot is lifted from Lucio Fulci’s “City of the Living Dead”. I love that movie, but I didn’t care for the ending. I mean, out of all the things to borrow from a film, why would you borrow one of the things that tend to annoy people?

Lustig actually doesn’t do a bad job as the director, other than letting the script be this bad. But even then, I’m not sure if I must praise Lustig or James A. Lebovitz(The cinematographer) for the accomplishments though. Both men(especially Lustig) had done enough movies prior to this, so had the experience. I guess both probably are responsible. There is no suspense, but there are some chilling moments of atmosphere. The camera work is fluid, showing that some effort went into it. I kind of liked Sam’s deteriorating look, and some of the gore was decent. Visually, the film was fine….It was just the script that screwed up everything.

The acting is pretty decent as well. Christopher Odgen(Jody) is flat as the kid. Sometimes he works alright, but other times he becomes flat out irritating. The problem is that he fails to achieve a balance between nice kid and bad kid. He’s either one or the other and this makes his performance uneven. Leslie Neale(Sally) and Anne Tremko(Louise) do pretty good, and I bought them as sisters….maybe even a bit too well, as I often couldn’t tell who was who. Isaac Hayes(Jed) is the coolest in the movie, although his acting isn’t always good. I’d say that 1997 must’ve been a bad year for Robert Forster(Congressman Cummings) to appear in this movie, but it was also the year that he did Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown”, which I presume he did after this. Props to David Fralick(Sam), who is pretty freaky as the villain. The cast was too good for this movie. Oh wait, how can I forget that blind kid? Oh wait, I did….I don’t even remember his name. Anyway, he stole the show as the worst actor in the movie……Harsh, but true.

Let’s finish this review by comparing it to Fulci’s “City of the Living Dead”, since the ending was obviously inspired from it and the end credits even dedicate the film to him. Fulci’s film had a nonsensical script, but the script had so many unique and interesting ideas that I was never bored. Then you have Fulci and his crew creating some of the most nightmarish images to ever hit the screen. That’s what It was, a nonsensical compilation of nightmares. This movie is the same thing….except it’s only a compilation of moviegoers nightmares on what makes a dull movie. The difference between Fulci’s film and Lustig’s film is that while both are nonsensical, Lustigs film is dull. Even the fairly good directing and acting can’t save it……It just makes the film less unwatchable, because in the end, while I strongly disliked it, I really did not hate it. Maybe it needed some scenes of that hot chick from “American Pie” getting raped by a killer snowman….lol, I’m such a terrible person.

On a final note, why is Lucio Fulci getting all of these *beep* movies dedicated to him? "Uncle Sam" isn't even the worst of them. "Gates of Hell 2: Dead Awakening" gets that title......At least I could see what was going on here. Oh yeah, I remember now. It was only a fear years before that he died.....way to piss on his grave, guys.

Violence: It has some gore…..Nothing great. Considering this is a 90’s slasher, however, the fact that it has gore is an impressive accomplishment.

Nudity: There is one scene where you get to see a womans breasts/butt.

Overall: If you want to watch a real political slasher, watch “The Tripper”, which is similar except good. “Uncle Sam” is just boring….It’s like listening to your Uncle drone on about politics while a bad slasher plays on the T.V in the background.

1.5/4 Stars

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