B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - GULAG (TV 1985)

This month B-Movie Gazette dives into the prison genre and who doesn't like a good prison flick? Gulag is an extremely well-produced TV movie originally made for HBO before wandering out to obscurity-land. David Keith is in top form as a sportscaster and while covering an event in Moscow is framed by the KGB. Unable to prove his innocence a prison escape is now inevitable, just how will he do it? Malcolm McDowell co-stars, this is a good one folks! 2.75 stars/2.75

Thursday, September 15, 2022

ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL IS AN IOWA FARMBOY WHO FINDS HIMSELF ON THE RUN IN THE LOS ANGELES UNDERGROUND NEW WAVE MUSIC SCENE, HE'S WAY "OUT OF BOUNDS" (1986)

 
 

No longer the geeky and frail looking Breakfast Club boy, Anthony Michael Hall must have found himself in a sort of no-man's land for actors in 1986. No longer able to be cast as a leading teen but not yet having found his footing for adult roles. Enter the action thriller vehicle "Out Of Bounds," a misfire of sorts but in the same way 1988's Bright Lights, Big City was for Michael J Fox, there's good and bad here. Fox, however, has always been capable of carrying a whole picture by himself - Hall, I'm not so sure.

The bad - a overly familiar eighties story about a misplaced bag at LAX, the good guys spend the rest of the film running from the bad guys who want their drugs, jewelry, whatever, back. Hall just doesn't have that appeal factor in this and there's a palatable disconnect between him and the other actors as well as crew. So the story goes he was such a dick on set that the crew nicknamed him "the brat."

The good - some awesome LA locations, lots of em from downtown to Silverlake to Hollywood and more. A good deal of the chase takes place in the underground new wave scene at the time and a cameo by the now legendary Siouxsie & The Banshees band totally makes the backdrop of this film one of the big pluses. Not a bad one, worth at least one watch, Out Of Bounds just entered the streaming world and is on Tubi currently.  2.75 stars/2.75

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