Story-wise this goes well beyond the usual monster-in-the-closet story. An evil is awakened by a child (Scott Curtis) whose father (Tab Hunter) has conducted occult experiments with his son's powers. A monster comes into existence through one of Cameron's toys & takes up residence in & above the closet. Its first act of not-niceness is to decapitate Tab Hunter who despite being way beyond his star years must still be too expensive an actor for such a low-budget affair to afford for longer than a few minutes.
Cast members mount up in order that there can be a noticeable body count, including a particularly unlikely though memorable death by ceiling fan.
Cameron must next live with his icky mom (Kim Lankford) & her unpleasant boyfriend (Gary Hudson), with more slaughter inevitable. A woman psychiatrist (Mel Harris) & a mentally stressed police officer (Cotter Smith) try to sort out what is obviously not an ordinary crime. They figure out that the creature wants to possess the boy Cameron, & no one can help the boy but himself.
This is low budget all the way but whoever likes cheap horror films will probably find a measure of entertainment in this one. The monster FX were hokey even by 1989 standards, but there was something appealing about how the FX crew sustained such bad FX for so long during the protracted climax, making the most of the limitations.
The acting is all right, the characters interesting, the story so-so. I got a full measure of entertainment even though the film is no great shakes.
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
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