Sky High (1985) User Reviews

this is so bad it's almost good

[frando-2 · 2/10 · 22 May 2006]

You never really quite know what's going on, and some of the acting is unspeakably terrible, amongst the worst I've ever seen. The plot is not so much full of holes as gaping bottomless-pitted crevasses. Nevertheless I can't give it a 1/10, there is something about it that makes it riveting viewing, just to see the next mind-bogglingly acted scene or twist in the "plot". I have to also give it marks for originality as well, and the rickshaw-chase scene with the two heroes throwing eggs at the villain was a camp masterpiece that had me in stitches. I mean, it's so frightening it's almost good! Remembering that it was filmed in 1985 in the middle of cold war hysteria, it does look a little bit dated now with the KGB and all, but it was certainly a reasonable idea that could have been executed better, although that might have taken it out of the realm of the truly pathetic and into the humdrum of the forgettable.

Wow

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 11 June 2021]

Man, Nico Mastorakis made some crazy movies. Like this one, in which a bunch of teens on a Greek vacation discover an entirely new kind of drugs: audio cassettes that deliver orgasms via hallucination filmed music videos. No, really. What is this, The Digital Underground's Sex Packets: The Movie?

It also has a soundtrack filled with songs by Chris de Burgh, the guy who wrote "Lady In Red," so it has that going for it. Also, Seiko paid big money to get their Data 2000 watch into this movie, as if the people who watch Nico Mastorakis movies are looking to upgrade their digital watches.

This is a movie about an old man inside the cassettes trying to get the three heroes to find the second tape, which will weaponize the music video orgy inside. So basically Porky's meets Videodrome but Debbie Harry never puts out a cigarette on her breast.

Yes, it's exactly as odd as it sounds.

Travelogue Masquerading as Thriller in Sunny Greece

[zardoz-13 · 3/10 · 8 April 2011]

This tame account of three single, male, UCLA students on vacation in sunny Greece is a travelogue masquerading as a thriller. Director Nico Mastorakis stages the action against some of the most breathtaking scenery in the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately, the scenery is more interesting than this lame spy thriller about a Russian who gives a top secret formula to a nerdy kid while visiting the Acropolis of Athens. The drug works on the central nervous system like no other drug imaginable at that time. This mysterious drug is the best thing about this forgettable nail-biter. The KGB stalk Lester (Daniel Hirsch of "My Chauffeur"), Bobby (Clayton Norcross of "Defending Your Life"), and Mick (Frank Schultz) across the Aegean in an effort to get their hands on the secret formula. Along the way, our misfit heroes run into a bevy of beautiful babes, and we are treated to lots of topless shots of women strewn out on the beach. Mastorakis conjures up marginal suspense. The best action scene involves a "From Russia With Love" style helicopter shoot'em up where a major supporting character, a CIA agent Boswell (John Lawrence of "Hot Summer Week"), who has been running interference for them for about two-thirds of the movie, dies from three bullet wounds to the chest. The three leads are leaden lugs and their acting is abysmal. Les is the be-spectacled computer nerd who is drawn out of his corner and given a make-over. Les is also the one who has the drug thrust upon him before they pile aboard a cruise ship with two sinister KGB agents tailing them. Les throws the drug that was recorded onto audiotape into the sea. Evidently, the drug when it is encoded into a tape puts out a sound that stops people dead in their tracks so you can walk around them without them seeing you. The dumbest scene has Bobby and Mick fleeing across white-washed roof-tops with the KGB hot on their heels and then leaping off the roof and landing without injury onto a vehicle loaded with eggs. Talk about far-fetched nonsense. As one KGB agent pursues them, they hurl eggs at him. Eggs! The major revelation that comes with a quarter-hour left to go contains a couple of surprises, but these reversals don't compensate for the lackluster thrills and chills. Incidentally, the title of the movie is the name of the mysterious drug that gives everything an hallucinatory experience.

SHOULD BE PASSED OVER.

[rsoonsa · 1/10 · 10 June 2004]

Director Nico Mastorakis is responsible for some fairly well-crafted linear output, but with this piece it is obvious that he lacks a point of view as to the nature of the type of film he wishes to create, with a result being an inordinately silly affair that is opposed to constraints of taste or the merest intelligence. The storyline wanders in all sorts of directions, beginning with a scene of suspense, then abruptly shifting into being after a teenage sex farce, all the while touching upon themes of what could have been, if handled appropriately, mystery and romantic love, with ancillary liaisons to slapstick, psychedelic music videos, and entirely too much else. A chaotic plot outlines antics of three male U.C.L.A. students who have taken a year off from school to gambol about in Greece but, instead of just chasing young women, they also find themselves prey for what may be C.I.A. operatives, since it is believed that the collegiate trio has by chance come to possess an astounding audio visual tape that may destroy civilization. This is rather stupidly presented and is exacerbated by some atrocious acting, largely by tyros who seemingly receive little directoral supervision, although veteran supporting player John Lawrence adds needed ballast. The self-indulgent director is responsible for having organized digital effects design and trite sound FX, as evidenced in tiresome scenes mindful of MTV, and also offers meaningless voyeuristic shots of topless beach bathers. As in many films lacking coherence, a goodly amount of footage is of scenery, in this case featuring the beautiful Greek islands of Rhodes, Santorini and, especially, of Mykonos, where most of the sunlit action is to be found. As some of the locations are responsible for backing of this puerile effort, camera eye roving of the picturesque is understandable on that account, but no rationale can be found for the greatest portion of a film that one avoids, to one's advantage.

Ground Low

[blurnieghey · 3/10 · 10 October 2022]

Well, I like bad movies but this one definitely pushes it into the unwatchable category. So what is it? A teen sex movie? Well, no, but sort of. An action flick? I guess, but it veers off into the teen sex thing too much to be really effective, never mind that everything about the entire premise and everything that transpires from start to finish is complete Hollywood BS of the worst intelligence-insulting variety. From the doofus lead characters picking up chicks way above their pay grade to ridiculous stuff like jumping off a building and landing directly into a car seat without injury, you are bombarded from start to finish with implausible actions and dialogue from every character you are subjected to, never mind that dorks like the three lead characters would probably just pee their pants if they found their lives being threatened in real life. As an added dose of cheese, you get to see a couple of lame rock videos that are supposed to be part of the "hallucination" one experiences while under the spell of the magic, subliminal tape and it really is too much. 1985 was still a big year for rock videos but seriously? Awful acting, unlikable characters, terrible dialogue, no action or nudity of any interest--you name it and this film manages to screw it up. I'm only rating it as high as I am because I experienced a certain degree of entertainment watching the whole train wreck unfold but rest assured this one is as bad as the other reviewers are saying and then some. Watch at the risk of killing brain cells.