The 1990's were a truly weak decade for insane and bloody slashers, unless of course if you think "Scream" and all its uninspired clones qualify as good horror films. Luckily enough, there still was the companionship between William Lustig and Larry Cohen, who finished their "Maniac Cop"-trilogy and even pleased us horror fans with the entirely new and delightfully trashy "Uncle Sam". Naturally, this is a pretty insignificant film when it comes to plotting and building up tension, but it does deliver some great gore and splendid social sarcasm. Sam Harper was a loyal yet slightly deranged American soldier who got killed by friendly fire during operation Desert Storm. Some years later, his heavily burned corpse is brought back to the States just in time for the annual Fourth of July celebration in his hometown, where his young and naive nephew Jody still considers him to be a true role model. He comes back to life, obviously, and starts an ingenious killing spree dressed up like "Uncle Sam"; the symbol that used to recruit young men as American soldiers. "Uncle Sam" works well as a satire, criticizing the US Army forces that often don't really know what they're fighting for as well as typical blind patriotism, but foremost it's an exciting horror flick with several violent deaths and a cool, old-fashioned villain. The drama-story lines in Larry Cohen's screenplay (revolving on the aunt and mother trying to convince young Jody that warfare is actually a horrible thing) are surprisingly subtle and well-argumented. The two female leads (Leslie Neale & Anne Tremko) aren't very memorable and the young kid is rather annoying, but and as usual Lustig & Cohen could count on the presence of several B-movie veterans to star in supportive roles. Isaac Hayes is great as the retired army commander and Halloween's P.J. Soles appears as some kid's obnoxious mother. Good fun, recommended!
