Runtime: 102 minutes
Directed by: John
Frankenheimer!
Starring: Robert Foxworth,
Talia Shire, Armand Assante, Richard Dysart, Victoria Racimo
From: Paramount
A rabid raccoon really ruins a romantic mood.
An
announcement from Shout Factory earlier this month that they were
putting this out late in 2019 was enough inspiration to watch this for
free on Amazon via Prime (the print there at least looks nice), a horror
movie from an unlikely director and a moment that made this a cult
favorite for a segment of film fans.
This is for certain a product of its time. Not only was it an eco-horror film, but it also revolved around Native American rights. Robert Foxworth is a doctor who was asked by the Environmental Protection Agency to get involved in a case of Native Americans in Maine protesting a paper mill in the area due to environmental damage. Well, of course the paper mill was harming the area, resulting in not only giant animals-uncomfortably bringing back memories of Bert I. Gordon's infamous The Food of the Goods film adaptation-but also a crazed raccoon & a giant mutated bear best described as “gooey”; suddenly, Robert's decision to bring girlfriend Talia Shire along on this vacation did not seem so wise.
John Frankenheimer somehow directed this and to me it did not seem like one of his movies at all; I understand he had a bad alcohol problem at the time so maybe that was why none of his style was present... yet I can't say the direction was bad. There are still some pretty tense scenes (especially one involving a long stretch of silence) and the reason why this has not been forgotten by genre fans is an incredible moment involving a sleeping bag... Jason Voorhees wasn't the first one to do it in Part VII: The New Blood. People certainly wish to remember that more than the giant mutated bear, which did look kind of doofy and it'd have been better if they followed a “less is more” approach there.
It was actually nicely acted and there was some nice drama over Shire's character being pregnant, but Foxworth not knowing and not wanting a kid. Overall it is not the wild over the top B movie it could have been yet was still entertaining schlock with nice scenery from rural British Columbia as Maine, Richard Dysart using a regional accent and a nice Native American angle... even if the two lead characters there are played by a Filipino (Victoria Racimo) and an Italian/Irish (Armand Assante!)
This is for certain a product of its time. Not only was it an eco-horror film, but it also revolved around Native American rights. Robert Foxworth is a doctor who was asked by the Environmental Protection Agency to get involved in a case of Native Americans in Maine protesting a paper mill in the area due to environmental damage. Well, of course the paper mill was harming the area, resulting in not only giant animals-uncomfortably bringing back memories of Bert I. Gordon's infamous The Food of the Goods film adaptation-but also a crazed raccoon & a giant mutated bear best described as “gooey”; suddenly, Robert's decision to bring girlfriend Talia Shire along on this vacation did not seem so wise.
John Frankenheimer somehow directed this and to me it did not seem like one of his movies at all; I understand he had a bad alcohol problem at the time so maybe that was why none of his style was present... yet I can't say the direction was bad. There are still some pretty tense scenes (especially one involving a long stretch of silence) and the reason why this has not been forgotten by genre fans is an incredible moment involving a sleeping bag... Jason Voorhees wasn't the first one to do it in Part VII: The New Blood. People certainly wish to remember that more than the giant mutated bear, which did look kind of doofy and it'd have been better if they followed a “less is more” approach there.
It was actually nicely acted and there was some nice drama over Shire's character being pregnant, but Foxworth not knowing and not wanting a kid. Overall it is not the wild over the top B movie it could have been yet was still entertaining schlock with nice scenery from rural British Columbia as Maine, Richard Dysart using a regional accent and a nice Native American angle... even if the two lead characters there are played by a Filipino (Victoria Racimo) and an Italian/Irish (Armand Assante!)
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