Conspiracy Of Fear (1996)

Conspiracy Of Fear (1996)- 1\2*

Directed by: John Eyres

Starring: Andrew Lowery, Tony Rosato, Kenneth Welsh, Geraint Wynn Davies, Leslie Hope and Christopher Plummer










Chris King (Lowery) has his life turned upside down when his father dies in a freak accident and leaves behind a mysterious package. Now baddies far and wide are after him: mobsters like Zelmo (Rosato), a hitman, Straker (Davies), and the big boss man himself, Wakeman (Plummer). King then teams up with the streetwise Jimmy (Hope) and goes on the run for his life. At every turn, he must try and figure out what is going on and how to extricate himself from the nightmare. What in the world is a...CONSPIRACY OF FEAR?

Sadly, and we get absolutely no joy from reporting this, we have to announce that Conspiracy of Fear just plain sucks. It’s filled from confusing beginning to overlong end with:

- unlikable characters
- cutesy, irritating, dumb dialogue
- pretentious “stylistic” touches such as unnecessary slo-mo and “different” camera angles
- Tarantino-style gabby scenes filled with time-filling pop culture references
- cliches by the bucketload, and not the good kind of cliches
- unrealistic situations that go on way too long
- inappropriate music cues
- unfunny, annoying humor that just grates on your nerves

...among other items that dare, nay, defy audiences to slog through this crud. Somehow, we made it, but we’re used to suffering through turkeys like this. Before watching it, we thought, “oh, a PM movie with Christopher Plummer, that should be interesting.” Well, PM picked this up and released it on VHS, they did not produce it. And Plummer is just completely slumming it. Why, PM, why? We feel tricked. 

As is common for low-budget movies, especially ones shot in Canada pretending to be America like this one, much of the cast resemble bigger-name stars. Funnily enough, it seems like Conspiracy of Fear was cast from one of those places that provide celebrity look-alikes. The main kid looks like Chris Lemmon, the main baddie looks like Kurt Russell/Patrick Swayze, the doorman is Rodney Dangerfield, and other characters are carbon copies of Terence Stamp, David Heavener and Dennis Miller. Speaking of bits taken from elsewhere, there’s even a sassy waitress named Flo - also recycled in Search and Destroy (1988).

Have you ever noticed that as a substitute for interesting dialogue, characters just yell a lot in poorly-written movies? Well, here is a prime example. This when lamely trying to be funny in an indoor voice isn’t cutting it anymore. Plus the movie is WAY too long at almost two full hours. 

Much of that is just audience-insulting overlong dialogue scenes that don’t advance the plot forward or extremely repetitive chase sequences. Truly awful movies don’t seem to care if they’ve overstayed their welcome with the audience. Take the unbelievably bad and way-too-long Iron Thunder (1998) as a perfect example. And, perhaps the ultimate insult - there’s Michael Bolton music on the soundtrack. It’s almost like the filmmakers were trying to create a compendium of things that make movie audiences sick.

Whatever you do, do NOT watch Conspiracy of Fear under any circumstances.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Death Wish V: The Face Of Death (1994)

Death Wish V: The Face Of Death (1994)-* * *

Directed by: Allan A. Goldstein

Starring: Charles Bronson, Lesley-Anne Down, Robert Joy, Kevin Lund, Kenneth Welsh, Erica Fairfield, Chuck Shamata, Miguel Sandoval, Saul Rubinek, and Michael Parks











It seems things are finally going right for Paul Kersey (Bronson). Far from his past troubles, he’s now in the witness protection program, assuming the pseudonym Paul Stuart and the role of architecture professor. He’s engaged to the lovely and successful fashion designer Olivia Regent (Down), and enjoys a great relationship with her young daughter Chelsea (Fairfield). But, once again, problems arise as super-evil gangster Tommy O’Shea (Parks) and his gang of thugs want control of the fashion house, and, oddly, Tommy is Chelsea’s father and wants to take her away. After several events push him to the breaking point, Kersey dispenses his own brand of justice on the bad guys.

Judging by his relationship with Lesley-Anne Down, Paul Kersey’s still “got it”, even at his advanced age. Because the movie is a series of murders surrounding a fashion house, it is reminiscent of the Mario Bava classic Blood and Black Lace (1964). Interestingly, neither in the opening credits or the movie’s trailer is the number five or “V” shown. It simply says “Death Wish: The Face of Death”. The filmmakers were clearly trying to distance themselves from the fact this series, like the aforementioned Bronson, is also reaching an advanced age. Possibly because of this, the filmmakers were forced to make the deaths more creative, so it’s not just shooting all the time. Paul Kersey actually wields that most sinister of all instruments of death: a remote-control exploding soccer ball. Because of this, Kersey’s antics are more reminiscent of Kevin’s injury (or perhaps death)-inducing “pranks” in the Home Alone series.

Luckily, however, the movie has a really good pace and is entertaining, so it goes by in a flash. Helping that is Michael Parks as O’Shea, who resembles Adam West, and his goons, such as Chicki (Lund) and all the other baddies who all let out silly yells during the action scenes.  Adding to the silly factor, besides some of the deaths and yelling, is the fact that it is Canada masquerading as New York.

It was trying for low key, but some of the more ridiculous deaths go against that. We noticed some abrupt cutting during some of the death scenes - we’re not sure, but there is a chance the U.S. DVD is cut.

So, despite some of its sillier elements, Death Wish V: The Face of Death is actually a briskly-paced movie with some pleasantly-familiar faces, and of course it has a strong pro-revenge philosophy behind it. It’s good stuff, especially if you’re in a mood that is leaning towards the more cartoonish side of things.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out our buddy, Direct To Video Connoisseur's review!