The Killing Zone (1991)

The Killing Zone (1991)-* * *1\2

Directed by: Addison Randall

Starring: Deron McBee, Raymond Martino, Armando Silvestre, James Dalesandro, Charles Sullivan, and Melissa Moore




"There are No Rules. There are No Laws."







Carmen Vasquez (Dalesandro) is one of the meanest and most notorious Mexican drug gangsters around. Sam Bodine (Silvestre), in a bizarre incident, was crippled by him while trying to stop him. His nephew Garret (McBee) was sentenced to hard labor for assault on Vasquez. One day while Garrett is shirtlessly breaking rocks in the hot sun, DEA agent Jack Slade (Sullivan) approaches him and tells him he can go free if he tracks down Vasquez in an off the books kind of situation. Garret agrees, probably mainly to see old girlfriend Tracy (Moore). But Vasquez is using all his connections to go around L.A. killing everyone who he believes wronged him or his brother Pablo, who was murdered in prison, thus turning the place into some sort of Killing Zone.  It’s going to take one serious dude to stop him...and clearly no one else but Garret will fit the bill!

Oh Malibu, we hardly knew ye. Deron McBee can, without a doubt, enter the running for the meatheadiest meathead of all time. It’s truly a shame he wasn’t in more movies. One can only submit in awe at his square jaw, long blonde hair, torn muscle shirts, tight acid washed jeans, dangling earring and super-cool sunglasses. He’s one seriously bad dude with an attitude, in true 90’s fashion. He more than carries this movie, and, despite all odds, is a joy to watch.

As if this god among men was not enough, there are plenty of other worthwhile characters in this movie as well: Jack Slade (of course his name is Jack Slade) is the no-nonsense, by-the-book agent who strongly resembles Charles Grodin. It’s about time Grodin got tough and starred in a movie like this. The beautiful Melissa Moore seemingly has no qualms about appearing in some of the most ridiculous movies ever, as just a few years earlier she was in the immortal classic Samurai Cop (1989).

Because this was an early PM, they were still working out all the bugs and kinks of their now-famous formula, and, from today’s perspective, that’s very interesting to watch. There’s even an early attempt at their famous “car flipping over in the street and exploding” stunt. For a low-budget crime drama like this, it’s surprisingly coherent (if completely silly) and the fact that it made it to video stores across the land should be applauded.

So while Malibu mangles the murderous menaces in this movie (when not at Miller’s Gym), once we reach the climax it slows to a crawl. It’s almost like they realized they were running short on time and had to put in some last minute filler. But it’s okay, like we said, it’s a low-budget early PM, so all sins are forgiven. Plus, who could stay mad at Malibu?

The Killing Zone represents a golden time in DTV - see this movie if you get the chance.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Killing Time (1998)

Killing Time (1998)-*

Directed by: Bharat Nalluri

Starring: Kendra Torgan, Nigel Leach and Craig Fairbrass













Reilly (Leach) is an effeminate and super-evil gangster who continually manages to evade the law, so cop Bryant (Fairbrass) hires a hitwoman to kill him in an “off the books” kind of way. The hitwoman in question is Maria (Torgan), and she comes from Italy to England to complete her job. Apparently a lot of British thugs are after Maria as well, and she must use her wiles to dispatch them - but is Bryant behind any double crosses?

There are many types of slogs in Direct-to-Video cinema. There’s the submarine slog, the airplane slog, the jungle slog, and the spaceship slog, just to name a few. But in the later 90’s, a new type of slog emerged: the Tarantino slog. These are Tarantino knockoffs that would not exist if not for that director. They’re characterized by a lot of violence, mainly shooting, and plenty of unnecessarily talky dialogue. Well, Killing Time fits the description to a T. Why ANY filmmaker could think they could replace the all-important character development with a lot of blah-blah-blah jawing from the characters is unknown. This way, when any action does occur, you don’t really care. In this movie, you don’t care about the plight of any of the characters.

Another reason for that is that Killing Time is also a classic case of “style over substance”. There’s almost no substance here, but there is some stylish camera moves, lighting and VHS box art. It just goes to show the old saying about not judging a book by its cover remains true. This movie is just trying so hard to be cool. But because it was the 90’s, it’s trying to be cool in that super-90’s way, and it hasn’t aged well. It uses that Portishead song multiple times and has characters either talking about nothing or doing nothing. Thus the pacing is seriously off. This movie has held up about as well as a commercial for “Buzz Cuts”, “Buzz Jams”, “The Edge” or one of those CD compilations of “edgy” 90’s music that you just can’t buy in stores, so call now.

And the sad part is, we normally love British movies, especially thrillers like this one. But this movie is  the aforementioned Tarantino slog, mixed with a knockoff of La Femme Nikita (1990), so, besides the exteriors and a character wearing a Newcastle shirt, this really doesn’t feel all that British. Craig Fairbrass does what he can here, but it’s tough. He deserves better. In this movie he looks like a cross between Patrick Swayze, Richard Norton and Mel Gibson.

Presumably this movie was for Tarantino fanatics, or younger teens "slammin'" their cans of Mountain Dew and saying “radical, totally awesome 90’s, man”. So sadly we cannot recommend Killing Time.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty