Bullet Points: Wes Craven’s Mind Ripper (1995)
There is no question that I have a thing for movies like this. When I read a plot summary or synopsis and it mentions anything remotely in the realm of something like Aliens I immediately mark it down as one to watch. Mind Ripper is one that I’ve heard of for some time but never had the chance to watch. I recently saw that it was streaming on TUBI, which is the best streaming app in the entire world.
Synopsis: Government scientists attempt to reanimate a corpse they found in the desert, but end up inadvertently creating a monster.
- How convenient: The film opens with a trio of scientists finding a dude in the desert near death. They scoop him up (without using gloves, I might add) and rush him back to their lab to re-animate him/keep him alive. We’ll find out later that it was a secret experiment using some sort of virus that was meant to bring dead tissue back to life. What are the chances that they would find such a perfect candidate out there in the middle of nowhere??
- I have my doubts: What started under the watchful eye of Stockton (Henriksen) as a “good intentions disaster”, had become a full-blown disaster when Stockton walked out on the project due to the work they had been doing. John Diehl’s Alex had taken over and been pumping “THOR”(the former corpse) full of all sorts of shit to get him to super-soldier levels quicker. It appears that Alex had been doing the super eeevil thing and been planning on selling the virus and their research to the highest bidder.
- Lance the family man: Poor old Stockton had given up on the project and went back to his family. Children Scott (Giovanni Ribisi) and Wendy (Natasha Gregson Wagner) both have their issues. Scott and his dad just aren’t on the same page since the divorce and he never takes those damned head phones off! Wendy has a horndog boyfriend named Mark who is constantly tried to slip it in on her and will definitely not survive this movie.
- Things are getting bad: While we meet Stockton’s family and hear about their failed attempt at going camping, things at the secret desert lab are getting much worse. THOR has broken free from his restraints and is now in full-on surfer/vampire attack mode! He kills the oldest and most stupid first but it isn’t long before we learn that he’s sucking their brains from their broken, stupid heads.
- Weiner tongue: You can’t suck someone’s brain unless you have some sort of aluminum straw that is really sharp on the end or you’ve evolved to have a long weiner tongue like THOR. Like Mark, he’s always trying to stick it places and we witness him drive it through the eye and nose of multiple victims.
- Stay away from our brains: The remaining scientists are trapped in the installation since only Alex (who is super dead by now) and Stockton have access to the outside door. What a dumb idea, right? Either way, sexy Joanne (Claire Stansfield) wrangles up the rest and attempts a few times to stop THOR from having a midnight snack.
- Going through some changes: THOR is becoming more and more like a creature dude and now that Stockton and his brood have shown up he has even more brains to suck. Despite his attempts to kill everyone and everything, he’s clearly in a lot of pain and wishes that he was dead. Sadly, he learns that his continued mutation and life might go on FOR-E-VER.
- Marked for death: They do their best to kill him but nothing seems to put him down. Luckily they still had a couple of people to throw at him (sorry Mark) to give them time to make their getaway. Speaking of getaway, in true horror fashion, THOR just doesn’t seem to ever die and the escape scene from the underground lab seems to stretch out way too long. Also speaking of getaway, that would be my suggestion for when you scroll over to this movie on your streaming service….
The Verdict: Mind Ripper isn’t exactly original or amazing in any way but it has a few people of recognizable faces to keep it afloat as you wait for interesting things to happen. Movies like this should have at least one thing they do well and I just couldn’t come up with one for Mind Ripper. Lance Henriksen does his best in his scenes but they aren’t many and no other character is really able to carry the weight of the lack of story. I didn’t care about the creature dude, and I certainly didn’t care about the folks trying to get out. It all amounts to a movie that is just “meh” without ever getting good. Some decent practical effects and a little Lance Henriksen is better than nothing at all but it’s mostly a forgettable movie that I will probably never watch again.
