Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: A boy, staying with his father and stepmom, is tormented by sentient electricity...or something.
Review: A few items up front: this is not to be confused with the Japanese film of the same name, the shitacular American remake of the Japanese film, or the ungodly sequels to that remake. Strangely enough, you could say this movie may have inspired the Japanese film, but the ideas are pretty broad. Setting that aside, this is a bizarre film in its own right. It comes off as a creature feature yet there is no monster, and it builds up similarly to a slasher yet no one dies. A horror movie with zero body count except some dude off screen? Hmm. But it's more than a genre-confused situation, they never explain what's going on and spend way too much time with this whole father/son drama. In a nutshell, this movie is a fucking mess. It's not all bad, however, as you will see.
After a bullshit montage of the electrical grid--thanks for that by the way--the film opens with its lone death. What the audience actually sees is the outline of a guy going apeshit before the cops find his dead body. We then cut to the main kid, David, played by Joey Lawrence, as he arrives to stay with his father for the summer. The parents are divorced and the dad has a new wife, played by Brenda from "Highlander." You might think that the drama will be cliched, but it's surprisingly not; the dad comes off as a nice guy and Brenda is a sweetheart. The main drama is more about the dad trying to, I guess, prove himself to David. Combine that with the idea that the dad is saddened by the fact that he hardly gets to see David who prefers to stay with the mother. I actually like this angle as it's not the one we usually see depicted. Also, Joey Lawrence was an infinitely better actor as a child than as an adult. WHOA!
For the second time this month, we see someone sleeping in a race car bed, and I'm jealous. One night, David is left alone when the killer electricity strikes. The best I can explain how this works is that the electricity has sentience and warps devices to receive its control or "pulse." The pulse somehow can see things and actively tries to screw with people. The movie isn't consistent with this at all either as we see it burst non-electrical pipes and magically shut and lock doors. Is it ghosts? Aliens? Some other supernatural force? Who the hell knows, because the movie never tries to explain it. Only one character even attempts to explain the pulse--in the vaguest of terms, of course--and he's a complete lunatic. In fact, I think we found crazy Ralph's West coast cousin; the crazy Ralph family certainly gets around. This crazy cousin somehow makes his appearance by jumping down from a ceiling like he's fucking Spider-Man too. 'Kaaay.
One of the best aspects is that Joey Lawrence's little brother, Matthew, plays a kid in the neighborhood. Besides looking like the most adorable '80s kid, this dude is playing with the goddamn Cobra Terror Drome! Let me repeat that: the fucking Terror Drome! You know, one of the absolute greatest toys of all time?! There are quite a few G.I. Joe figures and vehicles featured as well. I dare say, this is one of the best scenes in horror history. I never had the pleasure of owning a Terror Drome, but I want one sooo bad. The only thing that could have made the scene better was if he had the USS Flagg.
Lucky bastard. It's as big as the kid!
If you're not blown away by the Terror Drome incident, perhaps this will be of interest to you. The family rents a video tape at one point and it's distorted by the pulse. Brenda is forced to buy the tape from the rental store for--get this--60 fucking bucks in 1988 money! That's the equivalent of $121 today...for a VHS tape! They act like this is casual. I would be flipping tables and shit.
What is this movie about again? I'm getting so distracted. Right...the supernatural electricity finally decides it's time to off the family in the most drawn out manner. I do like how Brenda readily accepts all of this as real. Brenda is burned in the shower and hospitalized, the dad is later trapped in the basement, and David gets stuck in the house while it's on fire. The dad manages to rescue David, and the two escape the burning house. Then the dad goes all Jack Torrance on a utility pole which comes crashing into their home destroying the devices warped by the pulse. In the final shot we see that the pulse has now moved onto Matthew Lawrence's house. Oh no!
I don't know what to make of this movie. What was its goal really? The father/son drama was interesting but would have served better in a fully dramatic story. There is an apparent attempt at social commentary but that too is flimsy. The story didn't explain what was going on, and this is an instance where we need those answers. There was a point when the pulse was seemingly trying to brainwash David, but that never amounted to anything. The pulse struggles to kill people so this is a half-assed entity no matter where it came from. I do appreciate the originality and levels of shenanigans, but I don't know if I'd go as far as to recommend this; this movie is certainly an acquired taste. I think with better focus, and proper clarity in the writing, this could have been a memorable treat from the '80s, but it's bizarre and nonsensical story make it a forgettable mess.
Notable Moment: Just imagine this being under your Christmas tree in the '80s:
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