Steroids + One Maniac =: Destroyer (1988)

Destroyer (1988) (AKA "Shadow of Death", "The Edison Effect")
Rating:**1/2
Starring: Deborah Foreman, Clayton Rohner and Lyle Alzado

An interesting little cheese-fest, Destroyer (1988) is a simple B-movie that, despite its shortcomings, somehow made itself a fun title to spend one weekend popcorn night.

Hardened serial killer of 23 victims, Ivan Moser is sentenced to death via electric chair, a fact he cares little of as he would rather fixate himself to a TV game show than worry about his own execution. At very moment he is strapped to the chair, a short from the electrical system breaks into a fire, leading to an all-out prison riot and the whole place getting burned down. Moser's presumed dead from the fiasco.

Or is he?

Fast forward eighteen months, stunt woman Malone, along with her boyfriend David who's a researcher working on Moser's case file, are part of a filming crew working on a low-budget Women-in-Prison flick "Death House Dollies". The film is being shot in the same prison house Moser was electrocuted at and is directed by some guy played by Psycho (1960)'s Anthony Perkins.

The filming was going just fine until some people starts disappearing (and dying) behind the camera when, as it turns out, Ivan Moser survived the thousand voltage death chair and was living within the walls of the prison since the fire. When half the crew goes out for lunch, Malone's one of the few to come back later and finds creepy messages written for her spelled out in blood and the rest of the crew slaughtered. With an unstoppable powerhouse of a maniac now after her, its only a matter of time before she might end up in Ivan's crummy, bone-breaking hands.

I will admit the movie is flawed. Released in the later 80s, Destroyer (1988) is as tired of a slasher plot as a fat kid in a ten yard run, with its cast (including Anthony Perkins) running stale characters lacking any real personality and decent lines. Just forgettable personas already lined up for the fire and by the time they die, it's hard to care. Aside from this, the rest of the movie is also really predictable as every aspect of a B-Movie slasher is followed so religiously here, there's barely any surprises to speak of.

The murders could have used some more over-the-top slicing and dicing to them, at least show off the killer's "macho-character" with heavy-duty tools like flamethrowers and jackhammers. Sadly, the two slayings involving these weapons are the only two original kills here as the rest are either done offscreen or have been done a million times already.

The film also tried to cook up something unique for their killer but the resulting ingenuity lacked any solid explanation or execution. The box called him a genetic freak, a ploy used to explain Moser's under-discussed survival under the electric chair but there's barely any scenes making any reference to this. He is simply shows up to kill again, slightly burnt and enjoying TV whenever he is not in a murdering mood. We are simply left with that, but it could've been dumber. Way dumber.

The last third of the run involves a lot of chase between Ivan and Malone, and it's fine. Just fine. It's a climactic act that's just as good as any other suspenseful slasher cat-and-mouse scenes with some really good stunts and set pieces. It all ends on an eye-rolling note, though, as we got the whole "shock-dream" ending ala Carrie (1976) that stopped being shocking by this time of the decade (Geez, don't we all have enough of those already?), but the overall hunt-and-hunted act is probably one of this movie's little saving graces.

All in all, Destroyer (1988) isn't a bad film, but it is far from good. It's familiar enough not disappoint but, at the same time, too common to be remembered for anything special. I strongly suggest just renting this: if you find it a good watch, then you'll have the memory of it stuck on your head forever! If it sucks, then at least you don't have the burden of trying to rid a thing no one would buy.

Bodycount:
1 male had his neck crushed (dream/flashback)
1 male burned alive with a welding torch
1 male gets a jackhammer to the gut
1 female strangled with a sash
A number of crew and actresses presumably killed, blood seen all over the set.
1 male seen hanged
1 male head found in a copy machine
1 male electrocuted to death in an electric chair
3 males and 1 female found dead
1 male bashed on the head with a rock
1 male immolated
Total: 13+

Dun dun duuuun!!!