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It's 1960, the era of rock and roll, when music and dance rules. Johnny Taylor is a talented dancer, but is shy and suffers with a stutter. Johnny's dream girl is Sally Martin; one dance and he will die happy. But Sally's violent boyfriend, known as Creeper, prevents the liaison with threatening and bullying behaviour. Suddenly, in the ensuing melee, someone is murdered and Johnny is on the run. An accident sees his car leave the road, and he is drowned in the river. Forty years later he is revived by the rockabilly sounds of a local pirate radio station. His car is dragged from the river and he uses it to cruise the streets late at night, seeking retribution against those people who had made his life such a misery. Although now a zombie-like monster, he still sees the town's locations and people as they once were. His greatest wish is still to gain that elusive dance with Sally. Flick is made in the style of the old E.C. horror comics, and so borrows very heavily from the format used in Creepshow. If you've seen that film you will remember how we see on-screen comic strips at certain points as links between the depicted live-action short stories. Flick is one single story with an obviously low budget, so instead we see the artwork at points where more money might well be needed. That's fine, because it does work quite well. It's described as a spoof/comedy, but it's more of a pulp horror with tongue-in-cheek elements. This may be a low-key British film, but that hasn't stopped it attracting acting talent such as Faye Dunaway, Michelle Ryan, Mark Benton and Hugh O'Conor. The greatest elements of this movie involve the situations surrounding his mother (Liz Smith), who has never been able to accept her son's death. She has lived in relative isolation for forty years, awaiting his return. This has understandably unhinged her to the point that when he does come back from the dead she just thinks he looks a little unwell. She washes his blood-soaked shirts without recognising anything as strange, and when he stabs someone to death with his trademark flick knife in the house, she simply asks the survivor if she wants a cup of tea. Moments like this and the occasion when he just happens to return to the dance hall on Halloween night, and so fits in with the crowd, are priceless. However, although it's a nice little film with some clever ideas, it doesn't exactly set the film world - or indeed the horror genre - on fire. Hence the average score. 5 Ty Power |
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