Reviewer: ShirleyC

The story is about John Strauss and his wife Kathleen who travel from Europe to the coast of Maine in search of John's family. It seems that John has some strange blood disease and they've been told it is terminal. They have seen all of the best doctors in Europe in search of a cure and their last hope in determining what the disease is, is to track down John's family. By the time they arrive at the little coastal town in Maine John is in pretty rough shape. They manage to get him to the only doctor in town but he happens to be little more than a drunkard and appeared not to be of much help. After a time though you discover he is not what he seems and Kathleen finds a friend. She confides in him that she is expecting John's child and is afraid that John's blood disease is genetic, therefore possibly hereditary.

What unravels is a sick, morbid story. It seems that John's family name is really Van Daam. They fled Holland hundreds of years ago due to the fact that they had this strange fetish and were in danger of being discovered. They kept things in the family so to speak, they were in love with themselves but since they couldn't do anything about that they became inbreeds. Unfortunately, from all the years of inbreeding, they became little more than mutants. Everyone in the town thought the Van Daams were killed in a fire many years ago but it was discovered that these freaks of nature were living among the bowels of the town. And what they have been eating to survive is sickening. John learns the truth as to why his name is Strauss and not Van Daam from an old nurse that used to work for the Van Daam's and still lives at their old mansion. John and Kathleen visit her and she recognizes him at once. John is beautiful but has one strange characteristic. He has one blue eye and one brown one. The nurse explains to him that the night of the fire she helped him escape to Europe and gave him the name Strauss - her favorite composer. When she learns that John does indeed have a strange craving she becomes hysterical and tries to send him and Kathleen away. It almost works but then John rushes back to get the real story. They go into the Van Daam mansion and as the nurse is telling John his story one of the little mutants comes out of the wall attacking and killing the nurse. John and Kathleen are horrified and manage to escape the mansion unharmed.

In the meantime, Dr. Marlowe discovers the horrible truth and informs John and Kathleen what John needs to survive. At this point John is near death. John has had this craving over the years and could not figure out what it was for. It seems the Van Daams survived by eating the corpses on the island and once their food source was taken from them, due to shady dealings with the town undertaker, they moved onto the townspeople creating a panic.

Since Dr. Marlowe had the "cure" for John he provided him with a fetus / specimen he had stored in a jar. Kathleen is sickened but once John feeds on the fetus he becomes a new man. Unfortunately, he begins to take on the characteristics of his family by looking at himself longingly in the mirror. Kathleen comes upon him and they passionately make love. Again RD comes through. This scene was, in my opinion, one of the most erotic scenes I've seen in a long time and it was done tastefully. Oh what that man can do on a kitchen counter! After making love they are both moved to tears by the hopelessness of their situation, what are they going to do?

All of the townspeople gather in a lighthouse for a showdown with the Van Daams. It's raining, cold, and windy. Dr. Marlowe has become the leader of the group. Try as they might the townspeople are just no match for the little mutants. Not only are they banging on the outside of the lighthouse they are also underneath in the many tunnels they have lived in over the centuries. The floor collapses and children are captured and dragged off. Kathleen jumps in to save them with Dr. Marlowe and ends up being dragged away. I found this a bit unbelievable since the tallest Van Daam had to reach only two feet in height, had no legs to speak of; and either had slits for eyes or they were displaced on their faces. They did have some mighty sharp little weapons though. Still totally unbelieveable that the townspeople, who happened to have rifles, pistols; and knives couldn't have won the battle.

John had jumped into the melee when Kathleen was taken but seemed to have disappeared. Dr. Marlowe rescues Kathleen. They come upon John carrying the body of a boy which he offers to his family. Horrified Kathleen watches as John also takes a taste of the boy. She tells John to come home with her and he says, "I am home." Heartbroken Kathleen leaves John as the tunnels begin to cave in.

The morning after the townspeople are evacuating the island. Kathleen is heartbroken leaving without John and she is consoled by Dr. Marlowe. As they hug she feels the baby move. Hmmmm sequel in the making?? Truly doubt it.

The movie ends with John walking among his little mutant family. It seems he has a twin. Must be fraternal because where John is beautiful his sister is a whale. We are now supposed to believe that John is going to be very happy living among his family and making love with his sister. This had to be the most asinine ending to a movie ever. It ends with John resting his head on the breast of his sister - majorly grossed out.

The only redeeming qualities of the movie were Roy and Rutger Hauer, who has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Rutger did provide some comedy relief. Kristen Lehman's (Kathleen) talent was wasted. She played a terrific Ester Nairn in the Xfiles. The rest of the actors were so cornball it wasn't funny and the little mutants weren't even really that scary. As I had said earlier it was so totally unbelievable that something so small with no legs and misplaces eyes could kill so many people.

The only reason I recommend seeing this movie, rent it first!, is if you like RD. He looks terrific and you get some great shots of him, otherwise forget it.