My review was written in March 1992 after watching the movie on Prism video cassette.
Barry Sandler's quirky "All-American Murder" is an unusual fil debunking the American Dream within the format of a murder mystery. Picture is being aimed directly at the video market, bypassing theatrical exposure.
Sandler's scripts for the gay-themed "Making Love" and Ken Russell's "Crimes of Passion" are solid preparation for this very strange tale. Russell was set to direct it for Vestron in 989, but the project was canceled when that distributor's financial woes hit home, with former TV actor Anson Wiliams getting the helming assignment two years later.
Young Charlie Schlatter strs as the new kid in school, immediately seduced by the dean's wife (Joanna Cassidey). After the conquest she tells him: "Last month alone I knocked offmore undergraduates than Kent State", typical of Sandler's unrelenting black humor and fresh wit.
Schlatter gets a crush on beautiful blonde coed Josie Bissett, and when she's burned to death in a fire, he gets blamed. It seems that Schlatter has a history of pyromania, making him an excellent fall guy.
With weird, tongue-in cheek detective Chrisopher Walken assigned to the case, Schlatter is given a long leash to investigate himself. As a string of murders ensues Sandler injects effective red herrings (Schlatter's dad is a prominent judge, while Bissett's pop is a right-wing senator). Final twist is true to p;ic's anti-establishment theme and very surprising in its revelation about the true facts.
Schlatter is quite effective in a role reminiscent of Christian Slater's definitive turn in "Heathers". Film's chief drawback is that top billed Walken is written out of most of the middle section, a shame since his flippant attitude is a key element to enjoying Sandler's off-kilter point-of-view.
Bissett makes a strong impression as the heroine hiding a secret life. Film's message and unclassifiable genre present a challenge to find an audience. Since direct-to-video releases are usually routine genre pics or left-over, would-be theatricals, its release experiment could prove to be interesting.
Barry Sandler's quirky "All-American Murder" is an unusual fil debunking the American Dream within the format of a murder mystery. Picture is being aimed directly at the video market, bypassing theatrical exposure.
Sandler's scripts for the gay-themed "Making Love" and Ken Russell's "Crimes of Passion" are solid preparation for this very strange tale. Russell was set to direct it for Vestron in 989, but the project was canceled when that distributor's financial woes hit home, with former TV actor Anson Wiliams getting the helming assignment two years later.
Young Charlie Schlatter strs as the new kid in school, immediately seduced by the dean's wife (Joanna Cassidey). After the conquest she tells him: "Last month alone I knocked offmore undergraduates than Kent State", typical of Sandler's unrelenting black humor and fresh wit.
Schlatter gets a crush on beautiful blonde coed Josie Bissett, and when she's burned to death in a fire, he gets blamed. It seems that Schlatter has a history of pyromania, making him an excellent fall guy.
With weird, tongue-in cheek detective Chrisopher Walken assigned to the case, Schlatter is given a long leash to investigate himself. As a string of murders ensues Sandler injects effective red herrings (Schlatter's dad is a prominent judge, while Bissett's pop is a right-wing senator). Final twist is true to p;ic's anti-establishment theme and very surprising in its revelation about the true facts.
Schlatter is quite effective in a role reminiscent of Christian Slater's definitive turn in "Heathers". Film's chief drawback is that top billed Walken is written out of most of the middle section, a shame since his flippant attitude is a key element to enjoying Sandler's off-kilter point-of-view.
Bissett makes a strong impression as the heroine hiding a secret life. Film's message and unclassifiable genre present a challenge to find an audience. Since direct-to-video releases are usually routine genre pics or left-over, would-be theatricals, its release experiment could prove to be interesting.