Bullet Points: Dead Man Walking (1988)
If you were a Wings Hauser and Brion James fan back in September of 1988 you had to be shitting yourself because the two B movie veterans starred in not one, but two movies together! Nightmare at Noon hit video store shelves on September 28, 1988 while the subject of this edition of Bullet Points, Dead Man Walking, was released just two weeks earlier!
- In the Year 1997: We get some text and narration to start things off letting us know that the year is 1997 and we are only 10 years removed from a plague that wiped out half of the Earth’s population. The chaos caused by the plague allowed corporations to take control of the planet and they have designated plague zones for those who were infected but just haven’t died yet and to prevent them from infecting others. We also find out that there is a third group of survivors… the Zero Men. The Zero Men (they didn’t indicate if there were also Zero Women) have a unique strain of the plague that comes with some good news and some bad news. The good news is, they aren’t contagious so they don’t have to be relegated to the plague zones, but the bad news is they are going to die sooner than later. The short life expectancy causes these Zero Men to act a bit crazy, case in point…
- Club Zero: We meet our first Zero Man, John Luger (Wings Hauser, No Safe Haven), as he is playing the chainsaw version of Russian roulette where the loser quite literally loses their head. Spoiler Alert… Luger wins! …After that bloody scene, it’s time to meet our second Zero Man, Decker (Brion James, Showdown), as he is being transported with some other prisoners in a van. However Decker and the other prisoners don’t make it to their destination as Decker manages to overpower one of the guards who is distracted and soon Decker and two other prisoners Snake (Sy Richardson, Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects) and Gordon have eliminated all the guards and Decker is driving them right into the plague zone!
- Collision Course: Decker and his prison buddies aren’t the only ones driving through the plague zone this day… wealthy developer, Mr. Shahn, his plague curious daughter Leila (Pamela Ludwig) and Mr. Shahn’s driver, Chaz (Jeffrey Combs, Re-Animator) are there to check out the new location for a housing development Mr. Shahn is working on for the plague zoners to live in OR die in depending of if you are a glass half full or glass half empty person. It’s not long before Decker sets up an ambush… Kills Mr. Shahn, kidnaps Leila, steals Shahn’s car and locks Chaz in the back of the prison transport van before they continue on their way.
- From Zero to Hero: The police show up and find Chaz. Chaz tells them what happened and how Leila has been kidnapped but the cops have no interest in going deeper into the plague zone. If Chaz wants to save Leila, he’s going to need some special help, the type of help you can find at Club Zero… Chaz finds Luger there and Luger agrees to help him, not for money but just because he’d never visited the plague zone before!?!? Again, Zero Men act a little crazy… which had me anticipating what was going to happen when we got the inevitable Zero Man vs. Zero Man confrontation… but I’m sad to say that Dead Man Walking managed to slowly but surely kill that anticipation for me and it ended up being a clock watcher movie for me by the one hour mark.
My gut told me that Dead Man Walking was going to be a letdown. There were several times over the past month or so where I almost watched it, but something told me to make sure there was nothing else to watch first. That worked, until it didn’t. Kind of Dead Man Walking, because that didn’t work either.
Bonus Bullet Points always work. In fact they the bullet point version of taking care of business and working overtime. …
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Wings Hauser and Jeffrey Combs buried up to their chins, then Dead Man Walking is the movie for you.
- Café Death: I may have witnessed a stage performance WORSE than the one featured in River of Death, after Luger and Chaz find themselves at a place called Café Death, where all violent fantasies come true.
- Familiar Face: Real life newsman, Mario Machado played himself as Machado along with Mary Ingersoll cut in throughout the movie with newsbreaks, not unlike what Mario did as Casey Wong in RoboCop. These segments were the best part of the movie, especially the news story about the protestors who were throwing rocks, bottles and prosthetic body parts.
- Out of Context Quote: “You gonna do me or what?!” said by both Luger and Decker at different times.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Wings Hauser be electro-tortured via car battery, then Dead Man Walking is the movie for you.
