Deadland

Eagle Entertainment

R4

Once again, it’s The End Of The World. The bombs have been dropped and now one man is searching desperately for his wife in the depopulated post-apocalypse United States. The U.S, has been divided up into provinces something like the old medieval feudal system. Strong military commanders have taken what’s left of their units and built them up into militia that now rule the Provinces with an iron hand. They have set up prostitution camps. With the U.S. largely depopulated it is hard to tell what they are ruling or where they are getting food and fuel for their vehicles.

Sean Kalos is looking for his wife and believes she may be being held in one of the prostitution camps and he sets out to rescue her. So much for Family Values. In the five years he has been looking for her he still hasn’t managed to find a weapon, but he is armed with a copy of the Bible given to him by one of the survivors living wild in the forest (Deadland? Not really). That takes care of Good Christian Values, so we know he will be successful. It’s that sort of film.

For some reason the local militia headquarters is a draughty old wooden cabin and a few derelict Winnebagos in a clearing in the forest. All the survivors of the bombs are infected with plague. The militia at least has a supply of antidote to it. Sean must fight his way into the compound, rescue all the women, find his wife among them, get them to safety and start a revolution against the Province rulers so Truth, Justice and The American Way can be reintroduced. Then he has to cure the plague. Can he do it? Of course he can do it – was there ever any doubt?

In spite of cliché after cliché the film has its good points. Director Damon O”Steen has an eye for a nice shot of the forests and streams. It is vastly different (and better) than the conventional dusty town in the middle of the desert. Of course this doesn’t exactly look like Deadland, but he has broken away from the clichés. William Katt in his brief appearance as a codebreaker is brilliantly fussy and eccentric.

The hero is played by Gary Weeks who also wrote the rather convoluted story. I am not sure if he just can’t act or whether he saw his part as the lost and lonely tough guy. It doesn’t really matter. He still manages to hold the story together in the face of the other stereotype characters and he has plenty of muscles to amuse the lady viewers.

The film has “microbudget” written all over it, from the lack of effects to the heavy use of outdoor scenery. Yet even with a clichéd story that’s full of holes, unconvincing actors and incredible coincidences it’s quite an entertaining film. I still have mixed feelings about the overall quality but I must admit I enjoyed it. Give it a try and make up your own mind.

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