Shadowchaser 4 |
  • USA • 1996 • 99m •    • Directed by: Mark Roper. • Starring: Frank Zagarino, Todd Jensen, Jennifer MacDonald, Greg Melvill-Smith, Brian O'Shaughnessy, Dave Ridley, Cordell McQueen, Greg Poustie, Chris Olley, Lesley Fong, Zane Meas, Kim Windo, Roly Jansen. • Music by: Robert O. Ragland.      Archeologists Michael and Corrine Cavanaugh are on a dig in Africa when they discover artifacts that suggest an alien civilization had visited primitive tribes centuries ago. However, this discovery signals Sirius, a ruthless warrior android, who rises to defend the treasures of his world against earthlings who might try to take them -- which comes as especially bad news to the pharmaceutical tycoon who was bankrolling the Cavanaughs, who isn't about to give up their discoveries without a fight.
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Review:
The first time I attempted to watch this film I was sent off to sleepy-land on a bed of endless chase sequences and tame, tame action. However, I tried again and found a really bad chase film full of mistakes, chronic acting, a terrible script, and loads of laugh out loud pieces.
In Africa, 2963 years ago to be precise, a tribe of folks are giving it some moves around a campfire when a spaceship lands and what looks like bunch of Billy Idol clones jump out, watched by some grey aliens. The lead Idol clone (Zagarino) gives half a key to the tribe's chief, who joins it up with another key. Zagarino then takes the key into some underground complex and activates a machine. Job done, they all jump in the spaceship, which stupidly gets struck by lightening and explodes.
Jump forwards to the future, where a couple of archaeologists are digging the area (it's pretty groovy). The husband is adamant that they will find some great secret about an ancient tribe, but his missus is giving him grief because they've got no cash and there's the middling matter of their son being catatonic in a hospital following a car crash and they can't pay the locals. Give the guy a break, missus!
Of course, they find half a key, so Zagarino wakes up (somehow caused by an email getting sent!) and burst out of his cave to go get the key. The couple's boss, Morton, also wants the key and sends his henchman, Silver to get it. Silver is mental though, and just tries to kill the couple even though the wife was willing to give the key to the guy in order to get cash to get her son out of the hospital into somewhere better. Also, Zagarino just runs around the place smashing things to bits rather than explain why he wants the key. Got all that?
So, the couple are on the run from Silver, the kid's kidnapped by Morton, Zagarino's charging through the scenery like Arnie's PCP addicted brother, and they all end up at the underground lair, where things get a bit Raiders of the Lost Ark.
This film is superficially a bit tame and boring (it's by Nu-Image after all), but there's so much wrong with the film that I couldn't help but like it. It's full of mistakes and gaffs (look for the extra at the beginning who burns himself on a torch!), lameness (Silver especially can't act) and quirkiness (why did we have to see the lead actress stop for a pee break?) that I couldn't help but enjoy it. Zagarino is so bland he's like the Pot Noodle of action stars, but this film should give bad movie fans a good laugh.
Review by Bezenby from the Internet Movie Database.
Movie Database