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The Presence
The Presence (1992) Movie Poster
  •  USA  •    •  90m  •    •  Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace.  •  Starring: Lisa Banes, Richard Beymer, María Celedonio, Gary Graham, Kathy Ireland, Joe Lara, Christopher Pettiet, Beth Toussaint, Eddie Velez, Nikki Cox, June Lockhart, Steve Goldsberry, Ray Bumatai.  •  Music by: Peter Manning Robinson.
      Mixed assortment of people survive the crash of an airliner at sea; cast upon a shore of mysterious island they discover dangerous creatures, exploding bananas, mutations and a biological weapons research facility.

Review:

Image from: The Presence (1992)
Image from: The Presence (1992)
Image from: The Presence (1992)
Image from: The Presence (1992)
Image from: The Presence (1992)
Image from: The Presence (1992)
Image from: The Presence (1992)
Image from: The Presence (1992)
Image from: The Presence (1992)
Even for television standards this movie is bad, a lifeless exercise in non-entertainment that rehashes all of the old Dr Moreau clichés into one wholly unsatisfying new variant. In fact the film is so poorly made that it lacks all the basics of movie-making; for instance, there is no beginning to the story, so you are left waiting forever for something to happen, and on top of that there is no ending either. What we do have are a lot of minor scenes, mostly containing dialogue, with some incidents occurring here and there. The film doesn't even have a back story to it, instead murky events of the past are merely hinted at and the whole picture is never developed.

What we do learn is that twenty years previously some scientists have been doing some gene-altering experiments which have resulted in affected folk turning into hideous mutant creatures. That's it. Most of the suspense is copied from other films; for instance at the beginning there are loads of underwater shots with sinister music playing, copied from JAWS, but this time some cheap-looking tentacles are to blame (what do they belong to? who knows - and frankly you won't care by the time this film drags to a close).

Later, a mutant is hiding in the ventilation system of the building, with ALIEN the obvious inspiration. The mutant action is just an excuse to show off some makeup, turning a guy who looks like Mick Jagger into somebody only that little bit weirder, and another guy into a silly STAR TREK alien lookalike. The only special effects the film contains are some offscreen gun battles and a couple of morphing effects, which seemed to be popular at the time as far as I can remember, but now look dated to the extreme.

The script is strictly at soap level, with the cast populated by only a few faces familiar from television. Although a diverse group of characters is assembled - a computer nerd kid, a shifty businessman, a Hispanic soldier - nothing is ever done with them; they just sit around and talk for ages and then the film ends. Because DANGER ISLAND has a total lack of characteristics which make a film enjoyable - no action, excitement, plot, character development, suspense or originality - I am forced to rate it as being the lowest of the low.

Review by Leofwine_draca from the Internet Movie Database.

 
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