Zipperface (1992)-* * *
Directed by: Mansour Pourmond
Starring: Dona Adams, David Clover, Trisha Melynkov, Tim Lechner, and Jonathan Mandell
Palm City, California is being terrorized by a mysterious guy in a gimp mask. The young and inexperienced cop Lisa Ryder (Dona Adams in sadly her only credited movie role) has teamed up with the older veteran law enforcement officer Harry Shine (Clover) to try and crack the case. Mayor Harris (Melynkov) views the killings as a PR disaster, so she hires the vivacious Devon McClain (Lechner) to try and spin the situation in her favor. Meanwhile, Lisa gets involved with a strange photographer named Michael (Mandell) which may sink her chances of showing the police force what she can really do. Who is Zipperface? Will he finally be unmasked? Will the killings come to an end? Will more prostitutes zip their last face? Find out today!
Zipperface is a low budget mystery/police procedural with some horror elements. It certainly has a lot of the pitfalls of this type of movie, such as horrendously flat acting and shots where the boom mic is visible, but thankfully there is a lot of unintentional humor that ultimately makes this movie worth seeing.
The police chief who loves nothing more than a tall, frosty glass of milk. The super-intense game of rock-paper-scissors. The fact that Zipperface’s mask has metal studs for hair, including little metal eyebrows built in to the mask. And so many more things - we don’t want to spoil them for you. But little details that can only become visible during a fairly amateurish production like this come to the fore, and thank goodness.
Acting honors go to Dona Ryder as Lisa, who seems to have come from another planet where they’ve never heard of movies, much less acting, and the powerhouse performance of one Richard Vidan as Willie Scalia, a fellow cop with a bad attitude. Runner up: Timothy Lechner as the pink-turtlenecked Devon. Come to think of it, this movie is populated with a lot of weird people. We didn’t even mention acting student Alvin or the long-haired Reverend. And the apartment decor...some of the most eyesore-inducing interior design is on display as well. It’s really all such a blur.
The movie as a whole could have used more Zipperface, as there are some pretty long stretches when “The Zip” (as his friends call him) is not seen. We know this movie was a mainstay on the pay-cable circuit of the day, having played on such channels as Cinemax and The Movie Channel. Judging by the look of the movie, it seems to have been made in the 80’s, but really is from 1992. Looking at it from today’s perspective, it seems inevitable that AIP would put it out on VHS. It seems right up their alley.
For a ridiculous good time, don’t be afraid to zip up your face and sit down and watch this tonight.
Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett
2 comments:
Seen this one around 97'. Can say i remember much. Also i cant remember the Greek title but i think it had something to do with leather in the title. Visually Zipperface is like a Metal God/Rob Halford (spikes, leather) with a mask. Or at least he looks like he escaped from an obscure 80's heavy metal album.
Haha true! He's hellbent for leather! The Zip stole the movie and he needed more screentime.
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