Written by Mark Jones and Joe Ruby
Directed by Mark Jones
Starring Kim Johnston Ulrich, Tommy Blaze, Allyce Beasley and Max Grodénchik
USA, 1995
RUMPELSTILTSKIN tells a somewhat bastardized version of the famous fairy tale, as a hunchbacked imp (Max Grodénchik) with magical powers and a penchant for stealing babies is frozen in a statue by angry villagers in the 1400s only to be sold at an antique store and unfrozen in “present day” (1995) Los Angeles!
He sets his sights on the baby of a grieving widow (Kim Johnston Ulrich) who is recovering from the recent loss of her cop husband in a botched carjacking. Much time is spent on this set up but it has little bearing on the rest of the movie. It’s that kind of movie.
Anyway, Rumpelstiltskin feels entitled to her baby even though he didn’t really make any deals with her or spin any straw into gold, or anything like that, and so the movie becomes one long chase scene after another. Along the way, the widow hooks up with gross-out/shock-jock TV personality (Tommy Blaze) who reluctantly helps her out. This guy’s so un-funny he becomes funny, which I guess is also a good way to describe the rest of this movie.
The best thing in it, aside from the big explosions, is the central villain performance by Max Grodénchik, aided along by his makeup and costume. This has been a theme of Horrorfest this year: every FRONT ROOM has a Kathryn Hunter, every WISHMASTER has an Andrew Divoff and every BLOOD FOR DRACULA has an Udo Kier.
Speaking of Horrorfest, that’s it for this year! 31 horror movies in the 31 days of October. Happy Halloween!
No comments:
Post a Comment