UNDERGROUND TERROR
Probably should've stayed underground
When I was a kid, I had this weird dream that has stayed with me ever since. Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin are engaged in a heated debate over something, and Vader tries to emphasize his point by raising his hand to Tarkin, a hand that has become a hideous, mechanical claw. Tarkin's reply? "You're insane!" And he runs away, trying to escape through the nearest door. But the door won't open, and as Tarkin pounds on the door, Vader uses the Force to pull it off of its hinges so that it falls on the Moff and squashes him flat.
Yes, there's infinite ways to read this particular dream, but it's the way that Tarkin said "You're insane!" that really stood out. And some guy in this movie says it exactly the same way.
Other than that, this is a stupid, lame little flick that isn't even really a horror movie - the title alone suggests why I found it in the horror section. You know I've been seeing some really cheap, crappy movies lately when I've seen the trailer for Summer Job...twice!
It's an unbelievably badly-written cop thriller, about a New York cop with an attitude (what's that?), a recently slain partner, and a new thorn in his side - a nosy female reporter who's writing unflattering cover stories about him (you know, things like "COP/JUDGE/EXECUTIONER?"). If you guessed that the two of them will fuck by the end of the film, congratulations, you have an IQ of at least six. Here's a sample of dialogue from the would-be plucky reporter: "Last time I checked, it was still a free country." Or how about "Excuse me, officer, but do you have a warrant?" The two of them proceed to hunt down a gang of subterannean thugs who prey on those silly enough to use New York public transit.
Also included, at no extra charge, is an excruciatingly long sequence where some unlucky bastard is followed, stalked, harrassed, annoyed, chased, teased, and eventually killed by asthma (!). I swear, this goes on for 15 minutes. The ending rips off The Taking Of Pelham One, Two, Three (anyone ever see the remake of that with Edward James Olmos? Any good?).
All there really is to reccommend in this one is seeing (offscreen) a bunch of people get tossed in front of trains, and one guy tied to the tracks (since he's male, nobody comes to rescue him), and there's some nice music by some guy named Taj. That's about it. Keep away, folks, keep away.
Robert Zimmerman, the line producer, inexplicably has his name circled on the front of the box, as if people are to be impressed. Never heard of him, especially considering how this is his only film credit.