First off, I just want to apologize for the lack of posts. I had some things going on the last couple of months, but I hope to get back to regular VHS loving posts - especially since I re-upped my supply at the last Shock Stock - and get these old digs back in regular working order. Anyhoops, the next tape on the pile was Gary Winick's 1989 film Curfew.
Two psychotic brothers (Wendell Wellman & John Putch) escape from death row and track down those who put them there.
Ever start a movie you think you've never heard of and within the first frame, you're like 'I've seen this before.' Well, that was me with Curfew. I mean, accidentally rewatching movies is not unusual, hell I've even unknowingly double reviewed them before. However, Curfew was different because it was so fresh in my mind, like I knew the outcome of every scene as they happened. I scowered my VHS to see if perhaps I had another release under a different name (it did release in some parts of Canada under the title Carnage) but nope. It wasn't on Tubi (where I often random watch horrors) and just appeared on Prime, so negatory on those fronts. The next day I was driving to work and it finally dawned on me. It was the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray that I bought during their last Black Friday sale and subsequently gave away as a prize at trivia. Mystery solved.
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| Kyle Richards as Stephanie in Curfew. |
But onto the movie. It's okay. It's kind of like Blood Rage, but one-tenth of the fun. It's missing the gore, even though Curfew did attempt to up the body count by throwing in some fodder during the third act in the jock (Peter Nelson), the tramp (Nori Morgan - whose other, far more prestigious, credit was vampire food in The Lost Boys) and tagalong wish Willie Aames (Niels Miller). It was fun to see Kyle Richards in a lead role, during that stage of her life between child actor and meme. And I can say that I have never seen a house cat used as a defensive weapon before.
As a whole though, Curfew is pretty thin. Wellman & Putch play off each other serviceably, skirting chaos, but never go full scenery chew, which is a shame because it could've made this effort much more memorable in the way Louise Lasser's performance in Blood Rage is the stuff of legend. At the end of the day, too much of this movie is pedestrian, lying somewhere between TV movie and low budget schlock. I can safely say that there will be no third viewing of this movie.
