Curfew

source: Curfew

Gary Winick sadly died young from brain cancer, but left behind Charlotte's Web, Tadpole, 13 Going On 30, Letter to Juliet and this one, his first movie. Stephanie Davenport (Kyle Richards, who had already survived a demonic car and Michael Myers at this point in her life) is out all night with her friends while her parents Walter and Megan (Frank Miller and Jean Brooks) leave for vacation. At the same time, Ray and Bob Perkins (Wendell Wellman and John Putch) have escaped from death row and come back to where the Davenports live, because Walter is the DA that put them away. He's last on their list of bloody terror. According to The Unknown Movies, "the British Board of Film Classification banned the movie from getting released on video in England." I'm not sure why, as even though there's torture and murder. It all feels like it's way more than good taste though. Perhaps they knew it would be too much to have Christopher Knight as a cop? Regardless, if you're looking for a movie where Kyle Richards causes one murderous brother to murder the other with a drill, well, here it is.

A dull home invasion thriller with only the novelty of featuring Halloween star and current Real Housewife Kyle Richards in one of her few adult roles. She's given little to do here and comes across better than some, but the story is repetitive and the two lead psychopaths seem to be trying and failing at trying to be funny. There's never a lot of urgency or suspense and characters behave in the dumbest ways imaginable.

Very low budget effort from the tail end of the 80's slasher scene. If you're into obscure slashers then this may be worth a passing interest, but there isn't much reason to recommend it beyond that.

Thank GOD, I was given a cheap copy of this movie and saved a precious few dollars. This movie is complete garbage and at times I found myself fast forwarding several parts. I never thought that a movie where nearly everybody gets killed, can be so utterly boring. Why this was banned is anyone's guess. The premise is a relatively simple one of misguided revenge. After being declared mentally competent to stand trial, 2 brothers were then put away for murdering a young girl, and that's pretty much it. We're not talking Shakespeare here, so you'd think that with such a straight forward plot, there'd be no chance of stuffing it up; yet somehow they managed to do just that, and with this abomination, stuff up royally! Somehow these 2 idiots manage to escape from prison after 7 years and set off back to the town to exact their revenge. Inexplicably everybody who was ever involved in their incarceration still seemingly lives or works only a few doors from each other and given that this was in the days before the Internet, how they were able to locate everybody's exact home address and place of business after that length of time is anyone's guess. Without a working brain between the 2 of them, you can't work out why these morons aren't caught within the first 5 minutes, yet when you see the towns only police officer, it's just dog of a movie that ends up chasing it's own tail. Aside from the fact that this is supposed to be a slasher movie, you don't really see anything. Almost all of the violence happens off camera and the editing is so poor, it feels as though entire scenes are simply missing. A typically brainless scene has the brothers entering the office of their former psychiatrist, and after killing the receptionist, (which again you don't see), one brother says to a patient already there that her session is over. Cut away to look at something else and then when they cut back, the patient has a machete sticking out of her chest. Did I blink? The movie meanders from one pointless random act of unseen violence to another, and mixed in with all that is incessant talking about how they were so hard done by and that they wanted to be found criminally insane and let off. The way this all plays out doesn't make a great deal of sense and despite the low budget & 80's formulaic approach, there are way too many plot holes and moments of mind-numbing stupidity to make this worth watching. To say that I hated this movie is an understatement. There are way better low budget slashers out there, see one of them.

The Perkin brothers Ray Don (Wendell Wellman) and his younger sibling Bobby Joe (John Putch) have been in prison for seven years having been accused and convicted of murder. Somehow they escape, it's not actually shown on screen as they just appear walking around free. They come across two ranchers (Randy Patrick and Sam Braslau) who they kill and steal their clothes and leave their bodies lying by the side of the road. They head for a psychiatrist named Dr. Franklin (Guy Remsen) who testified against Ray and Bobby at their trial. Next it's Judge Collins (Douglas Robinson) who sent them down, and his wife Mrs. Collins (Marla Rix). Then it's off to see the D.A., Walter Davenport (Frank Miller) and his family, his wife Megan (Jean Brooks) and their teenage daughter Stephanie (Kyle Richards). Stephanie is out with her friend Monica (Nori Morgan) her boyfriend Pete (Niels Mueller) and a member of the school football team and a real jock named John (Peter Nelson) who wants to have sex with Stephanie. They are all having some fun in the 'Pink Cafe' which is located next to the 'Pink Motel' believe it or not. After a bit of dull exposition Stephanie suddenly realises she's late since her parents have set a curfew of 10 O'Clock. Once she arrives home she finds the housekeeper Mrs. Mary Cox (Peggy Rea) dead and her parents being held hostage by Ray and Bobby. And so starts a nightmare for Stephanie and her parents as the Perkins brothers most definitely hold a grudge! Directed by Gary Winick I actually rather liked this nasty little exploitation film, the film feeds on our fear of being attacked and violated in our own homes which we all like to consider as a safe place. The script by Kevin Kennedy plays the entire film straight and there isn't any comic relief among all the nastiness, for which I applaud him. It moves along a really good pace and is never boring. I liked the shot at the end as Stephanie walked over to Ray's body which is lying face down on the floor and stands in front of him looking down as his face is a few inches away from her high heels, it seemed like a nice role reversal with him now being at her mercy at her feet. There aren't any long scenes of character exposition that we don't want or need, except maybe Stephanie and her friends at the start but this is only a couple of sequences. There are some nice and sleazy scenes in here too, people are made to walk over broken glass, sprayed with paint, threatened, humiliated, killed and generally abused. I liked Wendell Wellman's villainous character Ray more than Bobby. He isn't a particularly good actor but I started to really dislike Ray by the end so Wellman must have been doing something right. John Putch as Bobby is more goofy and silly as he watches Porky Pig cartoons on T.V. and falls in love with Stephanie and is convinced to let her go just because she ask's him to. There isn't much graphic gore but it's still quite a nasty film, for example a partially sighted man (Burt Remsen) is beaten with his own walking cane! There is a sex scene as well so we get some nudity too. The film generally has low production values, but it isn't too bad to look at and I've seen worse. I enjoyed watching this a lot more than I originally thought I would, it ain't no masterpiece but as pure sleazy exploitation entertainment you could do a lot worse than try to track a copy down which unfortunately probably isn't that easy. Recommended to those with the stomach and tolerance for this type of film.

The Perkins brothers, Ray and Bobby were sent to prison seven years ago for the brutal rape/murder of a sixteen year old girl. They manage to escape death row, and head back to the town to exact revenge on the psychiatrist, Judge and DA who sent 'em there. During the night, the DA's daughter Stephanie arrives home to meet her curfew, to only find that she and her parents have unwelcome guests wanting to make their night a living hell. Nasty, quite often sleazy and sometimes effective little low-budget film, without showing a whole lot of explicit images to brew up its sadistic edge. You could say it's more tame then you would expect. Its formula is a typical psychotic madmen wanting revenge in the most deranged way. In saying that the concept has its moments, like the way the captors are slowly tortured and humiliated for basic kicks. The script takes itself rather seriously, although are moments of dark mocking humour or the occasional unintentional slip-up of just trying too hard. The story is made up of bits and pieces, with plenty of clichés tacked on. Director Gary Winick goes about things in a mechanical fashion and can't seem to sustain much suspense, however there's a steady pace throughout and the heartless attacks/killings (some off screen) have a random touch to them. The atmosphere might not be heavy, but there's always a stroke of ominous cruelty in the air and it does seem to get a little tighter when the action centres in the homestead. Wendell Wellman plays the dominating older brother Ray with plenty of grunt, while John Putch is the dim-witted younger brother Bobby. They weren't bad, but still there were scenes, which are quite laughable. Kyle Richards looks stunning, but also manages to provide a savvy and intelligent heroine out of Stephanie. Frank Millar and Jean Brooks were engaging in their strongly fine performances as Stephanie's parents. Peggy Poe and Robert Romanus also contributed to amusing minor support. Cengiz Yaltkaya's music score is very much a bloated clunker of generic cues with the odd quirky lashing. Since it bombards the film, it basically telegraphs most of the action and can annoy. Focused cinematography of Makoto Watanabe fits the grimy style. The editing can get sloppy. Nothing great eventuates, but this psychotic fodder is a decent time-waster.

I bought this film as part of a '5 movies on 2 discs' pack, and was fully expecting it to be bottom-of-the-barrel stinker (my expectations were set way low having recently watched Bachelor Party Massacre and The Choke, two other awful efforts in the same set); I am happy to report, however, that although this late-80s home-invasion flick might not be the most offensive or sleazy movie in the genre (see 70s classic Fight For Your Life or Ruggero Deodato's House On The Edge of The Park for more extreme examples), it does provide enough dubious fun to warrant a watch. Kyle Richards plays Stephanie Davenport, the big-haired, big breasted (but not really that attractive) teenage daughter of a district attorney. After a night out fending off the amorous advances of her high-school quarterback boyfriend, young Steph returns home to find that her parents have been taken hostage by two violent escaped convicts, Ray Perkins and his younger brother Bob (played by Wendell Wellman and John Putch), who are seeking revenge on those responsible for putting them behind bars. Having already murdered the judge and psychiatrist involved in their case, the vicious psychos now intend to dish out their own brand of justice to the Davenports. After humiliating and torturing the family (including spraying the mother with paint and forcing the father to walk on broken glass), the two thugs decide to execute their prisoners; however, the appearance of Stephanie's drunk school pals, and the unexpected arrival of a policeman makes finishing the job harder than they expected. A pretty tasteless film packed with assorted moments of gratuitous nastiness (and a little bit of nudity for good measure), Curfew might not be to everyone's taste, but if you like exploitation, then you could certainly do a lot worse. Admittedly, the story is occasionally too clichéd (Stephanie working her womanly charms on younger brother Bob was very predictable) and some moments are rather questionable (the victims are locked in a cellar full of tools, yet fail to arm themselves), but as low-budget trash goes, this one's really not that bad.

Pretty stupid and totally insignificant no-budget thriller that looks an awful lot like a typical late 80's slasher... but isn't one! Oh sure, high-school jocks and slutty girls are getting killed but that's just pointless padding to increase the body count and sleaze-level. The actual story handles about two criminal brothers that travel towards a little community with the intention to kill everybody that was jointly responsible for their prison sentence: the judge who spoke the verdict, the psychiatrist who declared them mentally sane and – of course – the prosecutor who said all those nasty things about them being evil and such. The prosecutor, along with his wife and yummy Demi Moore look-alike daughter are held hostage and their only chance to survive is for the young girl to set the murdering siblings against each other. The script contains one or two creative ideas, but "Curfew" is overall tedious and without suspense. Actors John Putch and especially Wendell Wellman try incredibly hard to look like genuine bad boys, but they really don't convince and they often evoke unintentional laughs. There's a lot of killing going on, but we're only served a glimpse of the action and all the rest happens off screen. Lame! In my humble opinion, there are much better horror gems from the 80's waiting to get discovered properly, so I have absolutely no idea why this turkey received a DVD-release before any of them. Feel free to skip this one

My review was written in June 1989 after watching the movie on New World video cassette. "Curfew" is an uninvolving update of the format of "The Desperate Hours", substituting sadism for dramatics. It's a very minor direct-to-video title. Wendell Wellman and John Putch portray two brothers who break out of jail to terrorize the judge, district attorney, etc., and their families responsible for sending them up for raping and killing a young girl. They take the d.a.'s family hostage and pic dwells predictably on the psychological and physical torture inflicted as well as the victims' attemp[ts to turn the brothers against each other. Title refers to sexy heroine Kyle Richards (the d.a.'s daughter) having to be home by 10 p.m. According to her parents' strict rules. This is contrasted heavy-handedly with the severe treatment met4ed out by the brothers. A subplot of pranks by Kyle's high school classmates has little force except to set up a "boy who cried wolf" gimmick. Acting is acceptable, though Wellman is overly theatrical as the domineering older brother, Richard is styled intriguingly as an innocent sort of bombshell, but her performance is unimpressive.