Movielogr

Rating: 7 stars

Tags

NWI courtroom drama insanity dismemberment killer

All movies seen on 05/25/2012

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Rampage (1987)

Directed by William Friedkin

Drama | Thriller

Overview

Liberal district attorney decides to seek the death penalty for a man who slaughtered a family at Christmastime, then drank their blood. He escapes, though, and starts killing again.

Rated R | Length 97 minutes

Actors

Michael Biehn | Alex McArthur | Nicholas Campbell | Deborah Van Valkenburgh | John Harkins | Art LaFleur | Billy Green Bush | Royce D. Applegate | Grace Zabriskie | Carlos Palomino | Donald Hotton | Andy Romano | Patrick Cronin | Roger Nolan | Roy London | Rosalyn Marshall | Whit Hertford | David A. Kimball | Brenda Lilly | Joseph Whipp | Chip Heller | Rodney Cornelius | Dave Alan Johnson | Roger Broyles | Edith Fields | Neal Hahn | Gale Beeman | Marni Webb | Paul Gaddoni | Bernard Zanck | Noreen Farley | Peter McKernan

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

It’s a shame that the version on Netflix Instant that I watched was a chopped 4x3 pan and scan instead of in its original aspect ratio. Even so, this underseen Friedkin film is a pretty good watch.

The court room scenes in particular are pretty intense; not the dramatic stuff we’re used to from Law and Order, but what feels like real court room dialogue.

Apparently Rampage was released in 1987 in Europe. However, due to legal entanglements with the production/distribution companies, was not released in the U.S. until 1992, and largely ignored.

Rampage definitely feels like an ‘80s era movie, so I can understand that, but it’s still too bad, because it’s a compellingly watchable story about the pros and cons of the insanity plea.

I don’t know if Rampage is available on DVD, but if so, it’d be worth it to track it down to see the movie in the proper aspect ratio rather than watching on Netflix Instant. However, if you have no choice, the 4x3 version is still watchable.

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