IMPULSE is the story about a psychotic sociopath that seduces women and then kills them for their money. The film begins with a flashback where you learn how this evil pattern was developed and the film ends with, thank goodness, his demise.
William Grefe directed this terrible film. The fact that the film is bad isn't surprising considering that Grefe has directed such masterpieces as DEATH CURSE OF TARTU, STING OF DEATH and WILD REBELS. The trademark of Grefe's directing is cheap--cheap sets, cheap filming, cheap acting and cheap EVERYTHING!! While not as prolific as such terrible film directors as Hershell Gordon Lewis, Al Adamson, Ed Wood, Larry Buchanan and Ray Dennis Steckler, Grefe is their equal! Now this did not mean that IMPULSE had to be a truly horrible film. Grefe might have gotten lucky and produced a mediocre film had it not been for two "actors" that conspired to make this film truly dreadful as well as a script written by lemurs. The first bad actor is the obnoxious little actress that played the obnoxious little girl (Kim Nicholas). Her character is truly hateful and her acting, if you can call it that, is strictly wretched. A better director and writing might have been able to salvage this, but Grefe was not up to the task. While bad, her acting at least is understandable--after all, she was young and not a professional (in fact, Grefe rarely used professional actors due to costs). However, much more egregious is the job done by William Shatner--who manages to do an even worse job acting than the girl! You'd think having his many prior credits would have helped him to hone his craft, however, it was a serious liability having him in the film in any form--let alone in the lead! I assume the bulk of the problem was that Shatner was the professional and had more experience in the industry than all the others put together. Because of this, I am pretty sure Grefe was helpless in suggesting to Shatner how he should be acting--an important job for any director, but one that is impossible in this instance. Shatner just did what Shatner can do best if allowed--overact shamelessly.
So how bad is Shatner? Jaw-droppingly bad--that's how!! During parts of the film, he's just fine. However, whenever he is supposed to show any emotion, he mugs so horribly and acts like he's being eaten by internal parasites--writhing and bugging his eyes like he's in severe pain!! The worst scenes are with Shatner and the girl as it almost looks like they are having a contest to see who can over-emote the worst! It was also pretty funny seeing Shatner sucking on his pinkie like Dr. Evil as well as wearing a very effeminate striped muscle shirt on one scene. It's all so bad that you can't help but laugh--especially because he is the great William Shatner! I would venture to say that this might just be the worst performance by an established actor that I have ever seen--and I have seen more films that probably 99% of the IMDb readers. It's even so bad that it manages to be worse that his overacting in the final episode of the original STAR TREK series, "Turnabout Intruder", where Shatner plays a woman with severe PMS! As for the rest of the cast, they did okay.
Ruth Roman (a real honest to goodness professional) came off okay as a horny and nosy lady. Harold Sakata, oddly, appeared in the film--though he seemed really out of place. This actor was the same guy who played 'Odd Job' in GOLDFINGER and he was a strange choice to play Shatner's old cell mate from prison. It was also interesting that they seemed to imply that they were possibly lovers in prison and Sakata was the dominant "man" in this relationship. It's just too weird seeing this 300 pound Japanese-Hawaiian man as Shatner's bunk-mate! The only one who did a good job was Jennifer Bishop. Not only does she deserve kudos for her decent acting but also for managing to keep a straight face when Shatner and Nicholas were acting like idiots.
Overall, it's a horrible film that bad film lovers like me will love. Show it to your friends and have a big laugh. Just don't show it to STAR TREK zombies who can't laugh at Shatner or admit that he's not the greatest actor to have ever graced the screen--they just won't get it.
William Grefe directed this terrible film. The fact that the film is bad isn't surprising considering that Grefe has directed such masterpieces as DEATH CURSE OF TARTU, STING OF DEATH and WILD REBELS. The trademark of Grefe's directing is cheap--cheap sets, cheap filming, cheap acting and cheap EVERYTHING!! While not as prolific as such terrible film directors as Hershell Gordon Lewis, Al Adamson, Ed Wood, Larry Buchanan and Ray Dennis Steckler, Grefe is their equal! Now this did not mean that IMPULSE had to be a truly horrible film. Grefe might have gotten lucky and produced a mediocre film had it not been for two "actors" that conspired to make this film truly dreadful as well as a script written by lemurs. The first bad actor is the obnoxious little actress that played the obnoxious little girl (Kim Nicholas). Her character is truly hateful and her acting, if you can call it that, is strictly wretched. A better director and writing might have been able to salvage this, but Grefe was not up to the task. While bad, her acting at least is understandable--after all, she was young and not a professional (in fact, Grefe rarely used professional actors due to costs). However, much more egregious is the job done by William Shatner--who manages to do an even worse job acting than the girl! You'd think having his many prior credits would have helped him to hone his craft, however, it was a serious liability having him in the film in any form--let alone in the lead! I assume the bulk of the problem was that Shatner was the professional and had more experience in the industry than all the others put together. Because of this, I am pretty sure Grefe was helpless in suggesting to Shatner how he should be acting--an important job for any director, but one that is impossible in this instance. Shatner just did what Shatner can do best if allowed--overact shamelessly.
So how bad is Shatner? Jaw-droppingly bad--that's how!! During parts of the film, he's just fine. However, whenever he is supposed to show any emotion, he mugs so horribly and acts like he's being eaten by internal parasites--writhing and bugging his eyes like he's in severe pain!! The worst scenes are with Shatner and the girl as it almost looks like they are having a contest to see who can over-emote the worst! It was also pretty funny seeing Shatner sucking on his pinkie like Dr. Evil as well as wearing a very effeminate striped muscle shirt on one scene. It's all so bad that you can't help but laugh--especially because he is the great William Shatner! I would venture to say that this might just be the worst performance by an established actor that I have ever seen--and I have seen more films that probably 99% of the IMDb readers. It's even so bad that it manages to be worse that his overacting in the final episode of the original STAR TREK series, "Turnabout Intruder", where Shatner plays a woman with severe PMS! As for the rest of the cast, they did okay.
Ruth Roman (a real honest to goodness professional) came off okay as a horny and nosy lady. Harold Sakata, oddly, appeared in the film--though he seemed really out of place. This actor was the same guy who played 'Odd Job' in GOLDFINGER and he was a strange choice to play Shatner's old cell mate from prison. It was also interesting that they seemed to imply that they were possibly lovers in prison and Sakata was the dominant "man" in this relationship. It's just too weird seeing this 300 pound Japanese-Hawaiian man as Shatner's bunk-mate! The only one who did a good job was Jennifer Bishop. Not only does she deserve kudos for her decent acting but also for managing to keep a straight face when Shatner and Nicholas were acting like idiots.
Overall, it's a horrible film that bad film lovers like me will love. Show it to your friends and have a big laugh. Just don't show it to STAR TREK zombies who can't laugh at Shatner or admit that he's not the greatest actor to have ever graced the screen--they just won't get it.