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| Freelance Star -
June 1, 2003 |
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| A Deliciously Bad Flick That’s Fun to Watch |
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With so many bad movies made for television,
it’s hard for one to rise above others as a truly Deliciously
Bad Flick. But every now and then, one turns up that makes such
full use of clichés, predictable twists and expected evils that
it’s kind of fun to sit back and watch it happen. Such a movie
is TBS’s new “Evil Never Dies”, débuting tonight at 8 p.m.
Thomas Gibson (“Dharma & Greg”) and Katherine Heigl (“Roswell”)
are the leads in this bizarre concoction that melds the
Frankenstein legend to a modern police story, by way of “The
X-Files.”
The story has a jump-start as Gibson’s detective character, Mark
Ryan, is entertaining with his wife. It’s the robbery and
homicide cop’s birthday, and in a short party, picture-taking
video montage, we come to understand that she is the love of the
policeman’s life.
But the start of this film has already shown us that all is not
well in Ryan-ville. With dissonant music playing, we’ve seen
clippings indicating seven homicides, cases the good detective
has been pursuing.
As all the fun and good spirits are continuing on the Ryan’s
back porch, we’ve seen an evil creature sinking through the
home, stopping to inspect all the clippings. I won’t give away
all the story’s twists, but suffice it to say that the role of
Mrs. Ryan is a very small one.
Soon enough, we realize just how intensely evil the killer, one
William Charles – ever notice how the really horrible killers
are called by three names? – Lee.
Fast forward several years into the future, where Ryan is having
trouble leaving his wife’s death behind. Sure, the killer has
been caught and given the ultimate punishment. But the evil that
William Charles Lee said would never leave won’t let Ryan relax.
He can’t relax, start a new relationship or even look at the
kitchen where his wife was brutalized without remembering the
anguish and helpless feeling all over again. Matters come to a
head when Ryan, whose anger manifests itself in overly
aggressive incidents on the job, is reassigned to a local
college as a way to cool down.
Wouldn’t you know there is a professor there who’s been working
in reanimating dead bodies? And wouldn’t you just believe who
ends up getting brought back from the dead!
At this point enters Heigl, a fetching talented actress who has
fun with the role of – who else? – Eve. She is the good
professor’s assistant, who in a wink falls for Ryan and helps
him over his fixation on his late wife. But before long, bodies
start piling up again, and Ryan is the one police suspect of
causing it all.
There is a nice twist or two at the very end, but anyone who
can’t see most of the plot pieces coming isn’t really paying
attention.
To their credit, Gibson and Heigl make all the pulpy action
worth watching. The story does a nice job of putting Ryan in
that framed-cop-looks-dirty cliché that makes the viewer squirm
and hope for vindication.
And Heigl, one of the best things about the departed “Roswell”,
makes the whole body-resurrection process believable in a
B-movie way.
When you get to the payoff at the end of this two-hour romp,
there are precious few moments when the story hasn’t driven
forward with full classic-pulp gusto.
On a rainy night, with a bag of popcorn and a comforter, this is
just the ticket. And besides, with series already into their
third reruns and a new wave of reality shows on the way, this
may be the most respectable thing on.
Article by Rob Hedelt |
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