Runtime: 105 minutes
Directed by: Nico Mastorakis
Starring: Mark Hennessy, Scott King, Hope Marie Carlton, John Vernon, Ted Lange
From: Omega Entertainment
What wacky yet entertaining 80’s trash this was. Terminal Exposure wasn’t my first choice for viewing last night but circumstances reared their ugly head so Plan B was visiting Arrow’s streaming site as it’s used too infrequently by me. Recently, Arrow released on Blu a set of wacky American films from the 80’s/90’s directed by Greek madman Nico Mastorakis. I only knew him from the incredibly offensive horror film Island of Death, making this comedy-crime drama-action-thriller thing even more peculiar.
The setting is Venice Beach, California-then and I understand now a haven for unconventional misfits wandering around selling items on tables, dancing, performing, or what have you. Two young dorky men named Lenny and Bruce (nice gag) suddenly decide to photograph women’s asses candid-style without their knowledge… for the record, no one should do this! Due to circumstances, hazy evidence suggests they photographed a murder so instead of going to the police, Bruce convinces his buddy they should do an amateur investigation instead as they both need excitement in their lives.
The movie truly is something featuring John Vernon, Hope Marie Carlton, Ted Lange, Danny Trejo as a background character during the conclusion, and Joe Estevez as a hitman w/ the immortal name AMADEUS ESKENEZY. Plenty of nitpicks could be made about some minor points or about more serious issues such as the film moving from plot point to plot point sometimes jarringly. Be that as it may, the picture had solid laughs, and more than expected. It was a shaggy-dog tale which becomes increasingly absurd the longer Lenny & Bruce get involved in a convoluted tale involving various nefarious characters.
It's trash that I enjoyed more than most but Terminal Exposure was a pleasant surprise. I don’t even know what you’d pair this with as the B-movie you see after an A-movie… The Big Lebowski? What I’ve heard about Inherent Vice? No one in Terminal smokes any weed. Under the Silver Lake? I haven’t viewed that either so I can’t say for certain. Judging by hearsay, it has to be better than Chris Pine’s Poolman. I presume none of those films have joke end credits, which Terminal had for some reason. Then again, a minor character is named MARIO ARGENTO so the film never takes itself too seriously.
Thankfully my Plan B was a success. It has a hilarious 80’s soundtrack full of generic period songs. The same goes for the generic 80’s synth score… done by a name everyone knows. Once he went out on his own, he rather soon started scoring big movies and by modern time, he became legendary. Those that were adults in the late 80’s who rented this randomly on VHS never could have predicted that HANS ZIMMER would become someone that scored so many big films and worked w/ BMW to create tones for their electric vehicles. Believe me, the noodling he did on the keyboard doesn’t sound like anything he has done since.
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