Three down on their luck criminals kidnap little Candy, whom they believe is a diamond heiress, hoping to blackmail her father for a fortune in stones. Their "perfect" plan goes awry when they learn that the diamond dealer is her stepfather, whom doesn't care if Candy dies, as he'll get half of her hefty trust fund. While her kidnappers figure out what to do about this unexpected turn of events, poor Candy is left buried alive in the hills, with nothing but a shallow tube for air. The only witness to all of this is a mute little boy whom lives nearby with his abusive white trash parents. (Given that he audio quality on the subversive cinema DVD is pretty poor and it doesn't have subtitles enabled, having 1 character I didn't have to strain to hear was a bonus.)
It's a smarter than average exploitation premise, and the first half of the film is full of the trashy goodness you'd expect from this type of cinema. Candy spends her screen time tied bondage style, writhing about in a Catholic school girl uniform, and the three kidnappers add campy charm to rather stock characters. Sexy Tiffany Bolling particularly stands out as Jessie, the bitchy ringleader, though the male leads are also pretty competent.
Ben Piazza is also a bright spot, as Candy's utterly unfeeling stepfather.
The revelation of the stepfathers true motivations is where "Snatchers" quickly becomes a mess, as the screen writer seems just as confused as his characters as to what to do next, and the second half of the film is a dull muck of poor attempts at exposing each member of the group's motivations, petty bickering, and a subplot giving us more information about Sean (the mute child, whom bears an uncanny resemblance to "Bob" in Fulci's "House By The Cemetery", and is just as incredibly annoying).
After a few desperate attempts at trying to force the failed crime to work, two of the protagonists die in a ridiculous shoot out with Mr. Phillips (whom was awfully agile despite having an oddly bloodless bullet in his vital organs) and the resolving plot twist is left to annoying little Sean, who somehow finds a gun(where it came from, where he learned to be such a crack shot, or how he snuck it past his maniacal mother is never really explained) and exacts revenge for Candy, unwittingly trapping her to a slow death in the process. His sudden proficiency with a six shooter is further exercised when he kills his abusive mother and that ends what was easily the longest 94 minutes of my natural life.
For all of the hype surrounding the "twist", I expected something as clever as the first half of the film, rather than something that is only surprising due to the sheer idiocy.
3 stars, one for an initially promising premise, one for Piazza and Bolling, one for the "Money is the Root Of All Happiness" theme song (even though I want the 19.99 worth of happiness I spent on this DVD back)
It's a smarter than average exploitation premise, and the first half of the film is full of the trashy goodness you'd expect from this type of cinema. Candy spends her screen time tied bondage style, writhing about in a Catholic school girl uniform, and the three kidnappers add campy charm to rather stock characters. Sexy Tiffany Bolling particularly stands out as Jessie, the bitchy ringleader, though the male leads are also pretty competent.
Ben Piazza is also a bright spot, as Candy's utterly unfeeling stepfather.
The revelation of the stepfathers true motivations is where "Snatchers" quickly becomes a mess, as the screen writer seems just as confused as his characters as to what to do next, and the second half of the film is a dull muck of poor attempts at exposing each member of the group's motivations, petty bickering, and a subplot giving us more information about Sean (the mute child, whom bears an uncanny resemblance to "Bob" in Fulci's "House By The Cemetery", and is just as incredibly annoying).
After a few desperate attempts at trying to force the failed crime to work, two of the protagonists die in a ridiculous shoot out with Mr. Phillips (whom was awfully agile despite having an oddly bloodless bullet in his vital organs) and the resolving plot twist is left to annoying little Sean, who somehow finds a gun(where it came from, where he learned to be such a crack shot, or how he snuck it past his maniacal mother is never really explained) and exacts revenge for Candy, unwittingly trapping her to a slow death in the process. His sudden proficiency with a six shooter is further exercised when he kills his abusive mother and that ends what was easily the longest 94 minutes of my natural life.
For all of the hype surrounding the "twist", I expected something as clever as the first half of the film, rather than something that is only surprising due to the sheer idiocy.
3 stars, one for an initially promising premise, one for Piazza and Bolling, one for the "Money is the Root Of All Happiness" theme song (even though I want the 19.99 worth of happiness I spent on this DVD back)