ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605070027
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: it came from the video store
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
Five new video mysteries range from excellent to mildly diverting. The best is lots of fun for fans, and even the worst has its moments.
A fine little thriller, "Dead Cold" gets the most out of a modest budget.
It's one of those tricky films that works through uncertainty. For the first hour or so, each character's actions are open to several interpretations. The basic situation - minus a few key pieces of information - is this:
Screenwriter Eric Thornsen (Chris Mulkey) and his wife Alicia (Lysette Anthony who also co-produced) are taking a second honeymoon at a remote mountain cabin. Kale Beacham (Peter Dobson) is a semi-menacing, uninvited guest. Somebody wants somebody else dead. Maybe.
With cinematic sleight-of-hand, the set up is invariably more complex and interesting than the pay-off, but this one's above average. The characters are well-drawn, the level of violence is appropriate to the story and so's the humor. "Dead Cold" is due in video stores this Wednesday.
"Tracks of a Killer" works less effectively with roughly the same setting and situation.
Hard-nosed businessman Hawk (James Brolin) invites his protege Patrick (Wolf Larson) to his mountaintop retreat for a winter vacation. Little does Hawk know that his ultra-competitive management philosophy has turned Patrick into a raving psychotic! Tough luck for their wives Clair (Kelly LeBrock) and Bella (Courtney Taylor). Obvious, repetitive dialogue and unconventional plotting lead to some screwy torture scenes that might be offensive if they were at all believable.
As it is, director Harvey Frost has created a film that looks terrific even at its silliest.
"The Courtyard" is a light mystery with wry comic elements.
New York architect Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy) moves into the Shangri-La apartments in L.A. to finish his first important commission - a mini-mall. But all is not serene in La-La Land. The air-conditioner doesn't always work; the super (Vincent Shiavelli) is a prickly bird; the lovely Lauren (Madchen Amick) seems to be attracted to Jonathan, but she's keeping secrets; an absentee neighbor has a loud TV; a guy in the next building has just been stabbed to death, and detective Steiner (Cheech Marin) thinks Jonathan may have done it.
Director Fred Walton is an old hand at this kind of film, and he does a fine job with a solid cast, classy production values and a witty script by Wendy Biller and Christopher Hawthorne. Take a look.
"The Man in the Attic" is a fact-based historical thriller that doesn't live up to its considerable potential.
It begins in California, 1930, where murderer Edward Broder (Neil Patrick Harris) arranges a jailhouse interview with a reporter to explain his side of things. Flash back to Milwaukee, 1910, where Edward works in Mr. Heldmann's (Len Cariou) factory, and promptly falls for the boss's wife, Krista (Anne Archer). She reciprocates and, as the title indicates, finds a place for him in her life.
Though the production values are more than adequate, the film lacks two key elements: humor and sex. It does come close, however. When the two lovers start living out her fantasies - that he's the slave boy who'll do anything his queen desires - she has him moving furniture in the very next scene. More seriously, neither Archer nor her body double project the sexual magnetism of a believable femme fatale. Director Graeme Campbell handled similar stuff more effectively in "Blood Relations" and "Into the Fire."
Given Aussie director Craig Lahiff's track record, "Ebbtide" is something of a disappointment. As a screwy thriller, it has some moments of prime weirdness, but those are outweighed by an absolutely ridiculous legal angle. It's a major plotline that begins with some realism but disintegrates midway through and doesn't even attempt to recover.
Harry Hamlin plays an amoral lawyer who rediscovers his conscience during a lawsuit involving a boy's death due to environmental poisoning. Judi McIntosh is the shady lady who's part of a complex conspiracy. Imagine an unsteady combination of "Body Heat" and "The China Syndrome." This one isn't nearly as good as Lahiff's brilliant sleeper, "Fever."
Next week: Celebrating the offbeat!
Got a question about home video or film? Contact your favorite video columnist at P.O. Box 2491; Roanoke, Va. 24010, or by e-mail at 75331.2603compuserve.com.
New releases this week:
Three Wishes **
Starring Patrick Swayze and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Directed by Martha Coolidge. Warner Home Video (HBO). 110 min. Rated PG for language, mild violence.
Attempting to recapture the box office appeal that made "Ghost" such a hit, Swayze plays a semi-magical Kerouac-ian drifter who comes to the aid of a fatherless family in 1950s suburbia.
It Takes Two **
Starring Steve Guttenberg, Kirstie Alley, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Warner Home Video. 100 min. Rated PG for a little comic strong language.
For most adults, this silly little comedy is unwatchable. For most kids, it's completely entertaining. Revoltingly cute TV favorites Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen play lookalikes who bring the adults together.
THE ESSENTIALS
(Each of these is rated R for subject matter, strong language, violence, sexual content, brief nudity.)
Dead Cold *** LIVE. 91 min.
Tracks of a Killer ** 1/2 LIVE. 100 min.
The Courtyard *** Republic. 103 min.
The Man in the Attic ** Paramount. 97 min.
Ebbtide ** Paramount. 85 min.
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Wolf Larson and Kelly LeBrock star in the mysteryby CNB``Tracks of a Killer.''