Movie Review: MIAMI CONNECTION (1987)

Directed by Y.K. Kim and Woo-sang Park

Dragon Sound is a college fraternity and New Wave rock band committed to clean living, Tae Kwon Do, loyalty and friendship. In spite of their straight edge lifestyle, the group of young men has managed to infuriate a lot of the riff raff infiltrating the Central Florida area. Ninjas, drug gangs and a rival rock band all have a score to settle with them. Complicating matters is the fact that Dragon Sound member John (Vincent Hirsch) has begun dating Jane (Kathy Collier), sister of local drug kingpin Jeff (William Eagle). Led by their charismatic Tae Kwon Do master Mark (played by director Y. K. Kim), Dragon Sound takes on all the bad guys who dare cross their path. Will Dragon Sound member Jim (Maurice Smith) finally be reunited with his estranged, Missing In Action military dad – or will the remaining gang members silence Dragon Sound once and for all?

Marketed as a “so bad it’s good” film by Alamo Drafthouse, Miami Connection in fact has a solid leg up on all those other action-adventure movies that cluttered video store shelves back in the 1980s. There is lots of action and fight scenes, very good production values with countless locations and crowd scenes, a sprightly original music score and surprisingly capable direction, photography and editing from newcomers outside of the film industry. Miami Connection’s chief source of snarky laughter arises from the terrible acting of the leads, reportedly all students from director Kim’s Tae Kwon Do studio. One memorable bit of subpar performing is shown on the new trailer accompanying the film at recent midnight screenings: Jim gets word of his still-living father by mail. In front of a cockeyed mailbox, Jim says “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” in an unmanly falsetto voice. In addition, Kim’s Korean accent in particular is almost undecipherable, leading to some politically incorrect chuckles. (English subtitles have been thoughtfully included on the disc.) The bad acting for the most part, however, is bad bad acting. Head drug lord Jeff has all the worldly menace of a busboy, his heavy beard failing to disguise an inexpressive face. Astute viewers of the film’s many crowd scenes will notice many of the gang members, for the most part stand stock still with their arms at their sides, looking rather bored.

Miami Connection shares similarities with John S. Rad’s Dangerous Men (2005, see Screem issue #12) or Tommy Wiseau’s The Room (2003, see this issue) as being the work of enthusiastic, idealistic artistes whose English As a Second Language got in the way of their ambitions. Miami Connection does have an infectious, heartfelt vibe that many viewers will enjoy in a media landscape oversaturated with postmodern irony. Kim and his Tae Kwon Do students want to put on a show and entertain you, and they won’t get mad if you laugh at some of their flubbed lines.

According to the booklet accompanying the Blu-Ray and DVD, Kim was approached by director Woo-sang Park to make a film using his students. A self-made man who came to America without any money, Kim threw himself into producing the film using the talent he had at hand. As is the case with many independently financed and produced feature films, distributors all passed on the less-than stellar results. Kim then changed the film’s downbeat ending (included here on the disc) and did some additional edits. The film premiered again to a bewildered, cynical audience who razzed it off the screen in its few showings in Florida. When a 35 mm copy of the film became available on an Internet auction site for $50, the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Austin, Texas bid on it and screened it sight unseen as part of their “Weird Wednesday” program. Audience reaction was positive, and so Miami Connection would have a second life on the repertory theater circuit, playing to sold-out midnight showings.

As for extras on the DVD and Blu-Ray, there is a commentary track with Y.K. Kim and Joe Diamand moderated by Zack Carlson. KAgainst the Ninja, the name of one of the many inane songs performed by Dragon Sound in the film. There is the 20-minute feature “Friends For Eternity: The Making Of The Miami Connection” with interviews with the surviving cast members such as Kim, Joe Diamand, Maurice Smith, Angelo Jannotti and Vincent Hirsch. The feature shows off the cast’s inexperience as Smith tells how it took him two whole hours to get a dramatic scene in the can – most motion pictures take considerably longer than that! There is also the 10-minute “Dragon Sound Reunion Concert From The Fantastic Fest 2012,” where the original band members of Dragon Sound get on stage to belt out their very forgettable synth-rock hits. There’s even another surprise in store for consumers when they open the disc, with a free digital download of the film available!

im notes that the original title of the film was

Bottom line: mainstream film fans may be disappointed with Miami Connection as they’ve seen much better and cult film fans may be disappointed with Miami Connection as they’ve seen far, far worse. Anybody recall Charles Nizet’s Rescue Force (1990) …? Miami Connection is best enjoyed as amiably dorky fun for those willing to dock their I.Q. by 20 or 30 points while viewing. 

Cinema Head Cheese: Movie Review: Escapee (2012, Blu-ray)

Cinema Head Cheese: Movie Review: Escapee (2012, Blu-ray): Directed by Campion Murphy Movie Review by Greg Goodsell There is a very real possibility that there may be regular visitors to this We...

Talking 'bout bad, bad BAD GIRLS

Nestled into a budget DVD entitled “4 Movie Marathon: Teen Comedy Collection” available at Wal-Marts everywhere, lies Bad Girls from Valley High, the very best 1985 teen-horror-comedy shot in the year 2000. Completed in 2000, but not released until 2005, Bad Girls is not good but very, very off kilter enough to warrant a look.

Based upon the Young Adult novel “A Fate Totally Worse Than Death” by Paul Fleischman, Bad Girls takes it plotline directly from both Heathers and Jawbreaker. Three, rich snooty girls Danielle (Julie Benz), Tiffany (Nicole Bilderback) and Brooke (Monica Keena) reign over their high school in spite of the fact that no one appears to want to join their clique. All three girls share a terrible secret: they sorta, kinda murdered a fellow classmate Charity Chase (Tanja Reichert) when she made moves on the school’s top heartthrob Drew (Jonathan Brandis). Danielle is hot to reignite her love affair with Drew until beautiful Romanian exchange student Katarina (Suzanne Urszuly) snags Drew for herself.

Barrel of laughs: stroke victims.

The girls begin their campaign to demoralize Katarina, but all is not right. Creepy professor Mr. Chauncey (Christopher Lloyd) seems to know more than he’s telling and there are increasing signs that Katarina may be the ghost of Charity reaching from beyond the grave for vengeance. Even more disturbing are the physical changes the girls are undergoing – incontinence, wrinkles, tooth loss, blurred vision … There is a clever twist at the end – not that clever, as it harkens back to an earlier scene that otherwise had no importance to the story, and a prologue set in the afterlife.    

Back to the Future? 
How about Back to My Career?

Anyone in search of laughs should keep on looking. Bad Girls’ idea of humor is subjecting Lloyd’s character to cruel, painful slapstick, features a cadaverous Janet Leigh as an elderly stroke victim (a laugh goldmine, that!) and on top of everything else – perhaps the reason the film stayed on the shelf so long is the fact that male lead Brandis hung himself in 2003! Brandis was reportedly despondent on the state of his acting career, and with this on his resume, it comes as little surprise!  Bad Girls does have an unidentifiable quality to it that comes from a variety of elements. Very bright, garish color photography that calls to mind a Walt Disney feature shat in the 1970s; a Spartan budget with not enough money to populate its high school setting; the surreal ending with a shocking bit of gore in addition to a story element that links it to the notorious grindhouse horror film Don’t Go Near the Park (1979) put this picture a notch above typical teen film fare.

A rare theatrical outing from TV director stalwart John T. Kretchmer, Bad Girls of Valley High is highly entertaining in spite of itself. If you find yourself in a situation where you have 90 minutes to kill, you could do a lot worse --

BEYOND REDEMPTION: Remembering the forgotten horror film THE REDEEMER (1978)

From out of the darkness the hand of the Redeemer shall appear to punish those who have lived in sin....


THE REDEEMER (1978, aka THE REDEEMER, SON OF SATAN and known on video as CLASS REUNION MASSACRE) is an obscure, low-budget horror film destined for obscurity save for the mysterious aura that envelopes the viewer as they watch it. There’s no point denying the film is terribly acted by a cast of unknowns with a budget that barely allows for film in the camera. THE REDEEMER does have an undeniable atmosphere abetted by beautiful photography and unconventional flourishes from director Constantine S. Gochis. Those who have seen it remember it in terms of its striking images and many unresolved plot points.

On the surface, THE REDEEMER is a body-count film that features a killer with a quirky fashion sense. The unfortunately named T. G. Finkbinder who plays the titular character dons a different costume and persona for each killing with a Dr. Phibes-like flamboyance. (The killings are rather prosaic, with one victim drowned in a bathroom sink and others merely being shot with a gun or rifle.) Since many killers in films of this genre remained faceless killers, this conscious decision reflects a bit of ingenuity and imagination on the filmmakers’ part.

 What accounts for THE REDEEMER’s "cult" attention involves a mysterious bit involving a little boy (Christopher Flint) who comes out of a lake at the onset of the film and grows a third thumb. The boy returns at the film’s conclusion and has nothing whatsoever to do with the narrative. Stir in a haunting, inexpensive synthesizer-based music score and you have a film that lingers in the memory.

One person especially mystified by THE REDEEMER is William Vernick, who wrote the screenplay. To this day, he’s unsure of what kind of film the producers wanted to make. "I’m not sure, as we never talked about it. I got the feeling they preferred to keep the writer out of theoretical discussions of that nature." We’ll be getting back to Mr. Vernick later....

Accept Your Punishment

THE REDEEMER begins with a beautifully composed shot of a mountain lake as the film’s credits roll. We begin to think the shot is an oil painting until clouds roll over the sun. Suddenly, the fist of an 11-year-old boy bursts from the placid surface of the water. The lad trundles out in his blue shirt and red pants. We see a figure sleeping on a cot as the boy’s shadow appears. The sleeping figure grows a third thumb. In a bit of crosscutting to baffle the viewer even more, we see the boy getting on a bus. Intercut is a man being let into a closed school, unseen except for his spectator shoes. The crippled handyman lets him, as "The Redeemer," in the first of his many disguises shoots and kills him at the building’s indoor swimming pool. The killer then casts a latex death mask of the undertaker.

 The film cuts back to the little boy getting dressed for church choir. A bully pulls a knife on him when he fails to laugh at his dirty joke. "You didn’t laugh!" A bell alerts the boys that services are about to begin. The Redeemer, this time in the guise of a Catholic priest (although the end credits note that this scene is filmed inside a Baptist Church) launches into a hellfire and brimstone sermon about the sinful nature of man as we begin an itinerary of the movie’s victims.

 All of these vignettes feature the victims-to-be in the act of being dismissive to someone else. John Sinclair (Damien Knight), a high-powered lawyer has his desk-polishing secretary shoo away potential clients as he concentrates on an over-the-phone chess game. "He perverted his talents by making a mockery of justice!" The priest proclaims. Cindy (Jeanetta Arnette), a ditzy, promiscuous blonde is seen in a singles bar hell known as "Marty’s Elbow Room." She swats away a boozed Romeo as she proclaims, "I’m going to my high school reunion!"

 Snobby Jane (Nikki Barthen), who married into wealth, is seen shooting live pigeons on the grounds of her palatial estate. Her exceedingly fey husband (the first of the film’s many gay characters) rides up in a golf cart. She brushes him aside as she puts deadly aim on a hapless pigeon.

 Roger (Michael Hollingsworth), an exceptionally gay actor ("I look positively liverish today!" he trills) on the set of his latest film abandons the project (obviously THE REDEEMER’s real film crew doing double-duty.) Pushy slob Terry (Nick Carter) tries to run off his carhop girlfriend’s kid with a dollar bill only to have a car door slammed on his hand.

 Kirsten (Gyr Patterson) hugs her lesbian lover Petra and explains why she won’t be able to take her to the reunion. This scene has some especially arch dialogue involving their pet cat. "What about the cat? Little Peter? Just for awhile he’ll be Petra’s Peter. He’s just a pussycat’s pussycat!"

Our six very unsympathetic characters arrive at the school and don’t seem too perplexed that they’re the only ones in attendance. Sitting down to an elaborately prepared feast, director Gochis treats us to one of his many indulgences by framing it in the manner of Leonardo DaVinci’s "The Last Supper." Making diner conversation, the six drop hints about the Redeemer’s identity by talking about a former classmate who still lives at home with his mother.

The first murder gets off to a roaring start when Terry goes snooping around and finds a full-size marionette equipped with a flame-thrower. Terry is quickly reduced to lower-based particulate matter.

The life-size marionette is one of THE REDEEMER’s many bizarre touches. Rob Zombie saw fit to pay this image homage by including a replica of it outside of Captain Spaulding’s in his 1970s horror movie pastiche HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES (2003).

THE REDEEMER gathers momentum as the victims are picked off one-by-one in a series of "theme murders." Jane the huntress is shot to death by the Redeemer dressed as a backwoods hunter. Actor Roger is killed by a spear to the head as the killer seemingly channels Burgess Meredith dressed as a vaudevillian thespian. Cindy is killed rather ignominiously by being drowned in a bathroom sink with the Redeemer in John Wayne Gacy clown-garb. Lawyer John is confronted by the killer dressed as a fellow lawyer (save for his third thumb).

The film winds up with the priest concluding his sermon. There is a scene between the priest and the little boy that seems to play on recent fears of molestation within the Catholic Church, more business revolving around the extra thumb, and the boy returns to the lake seen at the beginning of the film. The end.

Making sense out of confusion

It would appear that THE REDEEMER shares a thematic thread with SE7EN (1995) in its series of retributions. Piggish Terry, endlessly stuffing his face appears to symbolize "Gluttony," grasping lawyer John represents "Greed," bar-hopping Cindy represents "Lust," the married-to-wealth Jane symbolizes "Sloth," the preening, narcissistic Roger stands in for "Vanity," the hot-headed Redeemer is the representation of "Wrath" and the lesbian Kirsten stands in for penis "Envy."

A common criticism of THE REDEEMER is that it is homophobic. The film does have many gay characters with negative traits, but none of them arise from their sexuality. Roger is a gay man who makes his living by playing heterosexual romantic leads and Kirsten leaves her female lover at home out of embarrassment. It stands to reason that the film’s two main gay characters are punished for denying their true selves.

Constantine Gochis' direction has been decried as being too overly dramatic, with excessive long shots and extreme close-ups. Gochis makes the most of his school building set with artfully composed shots. Many of the lugubrious scenes of the actors dwarfed by their surroundings call to mind the same techniques used in Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING (1980).

Screenwriter William Vernick is indifferent to the negative critical reaction the film initially received. "The thing is a slasher film, so it’s not like you can get all that upset!"

Vernick was a film editor for TV ("Meaning I took out the sex and bad language.") when he was approached to write a screenplay for a low-budget horror film. "On one job, I got friendly with producer over the phone and asked if they were doing another film as I had an idea for a script. He said send it along.

"I had no idea, but figured it had to be made for no money, which to me, meant one location. There was an abandoned private school nearby and the idea of people being locked inside seemed spooky to me. I sat down and wrote a treatment and mailed it to the producer. I added a note that said, ‘shoot this in a school during summer and you can house the crew all in one location.’ Vernick says.

Since the prototypical slasher film was a few years down the pike when John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978) and FRIDAY the 13TH (1980) would give them a new impetus, Vernick came up with THE REDEEMER’s bare-bones storyline. "Mostly, I kept it very simple. Six people show up at a high school for a reunion, the night gates come down over the doors, there are bars on the windows, they’re trapped and killed one by one."

Vernick says the thoroughly unlikable characters were the result of the producer’s input. "They wanted a lot of motivation as to why each character was killed. I felt that would take away the mystery, and the characters should figure it out, and the audience along with them.

 "One thing they suggested was using an ex-FBI agent who could set himself on fire and go through a plate glass window. I thought that was an interesting idea." That suggestion was saved for Terry's demise.

 An aura of mystery surrounds the film’s titular character. Was the Redeemer a bullied classmate who exacted vengeance on his alma mater? "As I recall, the character was something like that. If I dig up the original draft, I’ll let you know, but that’s pretty close."

Now ... a very important question. What was the bit with the little boy, the extra thumb, and so on? "I didn’t know who came up with it, but I think the thumb stuff grew out of somebody saying we should go more in the direction of THE OMEN (1976), which was hot at the time. I’m not sure how or even if it tied in with anything at all."

Vernick saw firsthand the stupefied reaction THE REDEEMER would have on future audiences when he caught the film theatrically on the bottom half of a double bill with DAMIEN: OMEN II (1978). "As I recall, everyone was confused and silent until the characters get trapped in the school. Then the audience actually got into it and even screamed. Once the school stuff was over, the audience slipped back into confusion."

"During that time, somebody once told me the film won a grand prize at a French science-fiction film festival. I remember wanting to ask the judges what they thought the thumb was all about."

 Vernick continues to work on screenplays, mostly as a script doctor. "Over the years, I’ve found myself doing a fair amount of rewrite work on horror films, but never for credit, which is good. I also do rewrite work on legitimate films. I would tell you which films, but then I’d have to kill you."

Vernick experienced a bit of life-imitating-art when he went to his own high school reunion, and former classmates asked him about his participation with the film. Vernick provided a fitting punch line to their inquiries.

"All I did was smile enigmatically, which I like to think caused a bit of unease.”

O Winterbeast, thou hast an unspeakable beauty none can deny

WINTERBEAST (1991)

Directed by Christopher Thies

A harried forest ranger (Tim R. Morgan) must contend with monstrous forces that are leaving a trail of dead bodies in his isolated mountain district. The irascible innkeeper (Charles Majka) of a nearby lodge refuses to shut his doors in order to rake in money from the tourist trade. Are the dispossessed, demonic forces of the former Indian tribes at work, threatening to unlock a netherworld portal to unleash a flood of stop-motion monsters into the commonplace? It will cost you $7.99 from the film’s Web site in order to find out.

Winterbeast, O Winterbeast, where to enumerate your countless charms and pleasures? At first glance, Winterbeast has all the earmarks of any other bad, direct-to-video horror film that cluttered remainder bins in the Eighties and Nineties. A cast and crew gathered far, far away from either New York or Hollywood, in this case Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Continuity issues, such as hairstyle and costume changes in mid-scene, the lead character’s moustache varying in length and color. A paucity of camera set-ups, many scenes consisting of a single master shot. Flubbed lines left in to save on film stock. And still – O Winterbeast, thou hast an unspeakable beauty none can deny.

Like so many of its ilk, Winterbeast weathered a stop-start production schedule and was plagued with many of the same problems faced by low-budget productions. Quite unlike other bad horror movies of its era, Winterbeast can boast of being shot on film, and features such “old school” charms such as constructed sets and stop-motion monsters. One has to place it in a historical context when other fly-by-night features were shot on video, and on existing locations. Audiences respond favorably to any film that tries to outreach its budgetary limitations, akin to Edward D. Wood Jr. insisting on building a graveyard set out of paper and glue in lieu of just grabbing shots at a nearby bone yard for his Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). The sets in Winterbeast assault the eyeballs. Wobbly, and crammed to the nines with bits of thrift store kitsch as set dressing, the eye wanders about during the film’s many scenes of uninterrupted dialogue.

The filmmakers at some point must have realized that they weren’t making high art and declared “aw, fuck it” during production, since elaborate special effects shots with stop-motion monsters are repeatedly and deliberately spoilt with the inclusion of human figures sculpted on the spot from Play Doh! The people behind Winterbeast chuckle at their own chutzpah on the DVD’s commentary track. To see if a happy set translated into a happy audience will be up to the viewer to decide.

Notably, the one scene that Winterbeast is best remembered for is one not involving monsters or special effects. The innkeeper, chortling over his own complicity in the various murders, celebrates by donning a cheap paper clown mask while playing a scratchy 78 of “So Long at the Fair,” and dancing about a room strewn with corpses. While the filmmakers congratulate themselves over the originality of this one clever bit, it seems to this reviewer that they’re just replicating the scene where Dean Stockwell lip-synchs Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986). Rob Zombie appears to have been fond of this as well. Note the scene where Sherie Moon-Zombie vamps along to “I Want to Be Loved by You” in House of 1000 Corpses (2003).

Like every horror film ever made, Winterbeast has since garnered a cult following and its makers have responded in kind with an extras-packed DVD for the digital age. You have the film itself, chapter stops, the aforementioned commentary track and special features that are for once necessary to appreciate the project at hand. Toggle over to the special features and you will get deleted scenes that features footage of the fates of several characters who were introduced in the main feature and then dropped out of the narrative altogether (natch, they all got killed by monsters!). This section also features footage shot on video entitled “Soap Opera,” scrapped because the producers didn’t like the visual quality; there is a photo section, a “making of” feature and an informal chat by the film’s musical composer presented as an Easter egg. You really can’t imagine a better time with a bad film.

In the future -- houses will deflate

CRIES OF ECSTASY …. BLOWS OF DEATH (1972)

Directed by Antony Webber

No, no! Shoot at the asshole in the caftan!

Futuristic and dystopian setting frequently crop up in both soft and hardcore sex films, being a convenient way to stage a succession of hot scenes. Cinderella 2000 (1976), Café Flesh (1982) and Space Thing (1968) all spring to mind. The main challenge is that the producers of sex films usually have extremely limited budgets, and must come up with suitably surreal environments for 50 cents or less. This writer recalls an old hardcore sex video that dealt with the end of the world due to global warming. The actors and actresses went at it in the usual way, only to be interrupted by this naked man holding a giant African mask over the lower part of his body, who wandered in to warn the revelers, “There is not much time left  ... the icecaps are melting!” 

My name is Bambi. What's yours?

What makes Cries of Ecstasy … Blows of Death so remarkable is the amount of time spent on sets, props, costumes and makeup in order to depict the apocalyptic future world of 2062. Produced on a shoestring budget, great effort was made to make sure that every cent spent appeared on the screen. While the seams show through on numerous occasions, Cries of Ecstasy’s production design is on par with many comparable sci-fi TV shows of the same period, such as “The Starlost,” etc.

The same amount of effort, alas didn’t go into the film’s storyline. The world of the future here is comprised of two inflatable, polyurethane domes, using the same technology as “Bouncy Houses” found at children’s parties – and an oil pipeline set across a stark, desert landscape. Time is running out, so the few humans left fornicate as much as possible. Armed military men on tricked-out funny cars roam the wasteland. Betraying the long-term effects of TV comedian Paul Lynde on the coming generations, everyone wears flowing orange caftans. In between bouts of very boring simulated sex, survivors do battle with biker gangs using crossbows. In the most telling signs of impending catastrophe, the domes begin to deflate, comically suggesting that the kiddy party is up for all humanity.

Some beefcake for the ladies --

Cries of Ecstasy has ambition to spare, with numerous action scenes and commendable photography. The one obstacle the film can’t overcome is all the inert scenes of lovemaking. Audiences who sought this film out, came to see nudity and sex, along with fresh views of flesh film goddess Uschi Digart – she’s in here, somewhere – and got stuck with an overly somber meditation on the end of mankind. Almost comically, Cries of Ecstasy has numerous similarities to Lars Von Triers’ big budget doomsday epic Melancholia (2011) – both feature suicidal female leads, a bitterly sober tone and classical musical scores!

Clocking in at a little more than an hour, the fine folks at Something Weird have filled out the DVD-R with a big chunk of The Harem Bunch (1968). Like Ecstasy, The Harem Bunch is an overly ambitious nudie cutie with an Arabian Nights theme. More importantly, the film features the first screen appearance of Monica Gayle, the star of Jack Hill’s Switchblade Sisters (1975) and Larry Buchanan’s Strawberries Need Rain (1970). Lighthearted in tone, The Harem Bunch is the perfect thing to scrub the palette after the lugubrious excesses of Cries of Ecstasy. Thanks, gang!

Twilight Zone meets SAW

AQUARIUM (2004)
Directed by Frederic Grousset

Three men and three women, all white-collar schlubs awake in a concrete-lined bunker. There is a camera, a closed-circuit TV, a door that leads to a brick wall and a speaker that alternately plays awful muzak and barks out orders. The six captives are instructed that they will be required to do certain tasks "as a community" and they will be slowly killed, one-by-one, the sole survivor winning release. Just to make sure that they mean business, the six are knocked out with gas, and a smarmy lawyer-type awakes to find his severed finger in a Ziploc bag. A series of brutal games begin, the weakest electing to surrender to despair and suicide. The survival instinct kicks in to those who remain, and the victor is awarded with -- what?

Aquarium is a shot-on-video exercise has an overly familiar plot. A variation on the premise has recently explored in the Saw franchise. In a perhaps unintentional nod to stories of this type, the voice that commands the prisoners speaks in the dulcet tones of Rod Serling. But strength of a story often lies in its telling, and director Frederic Grousset ratchets up the suspense with superb performances from an unfamiliar cast. The feeling of desperation is believable, and Aquarium grips the viewer with a feeling of dread as to what will happen next.

 There are some serious flaws along the way. This reviewer couldn’t help but notice that the futuristic prison has no toilet. Will the captors offer potty privileges at one point? Will it degenerate into an "est" session where they will be denied bathroom breaks and the voice begins to denounce them as assholes? The ending or lack of one is a complete bust. The filmmakers have capably taken an extremely cliché situation and made a very watchable feature out of it, only to fade out with a facile, Big-Business-as-Big-Brother conclusion.

Aquarium still makes for a mildly entertaining 67 minutes. Redemption USA sweetens the DVD deal with a plethora of extras, including a stills gallery, a “making of” featurette, and two short films by the same director and coming attractions.