Movie Review: Crimewave (1985, Embassy/Shout Factory)

...this viewer, like many of you out there, without a doubt, harbor an undeniable cherished spot for the early Warner Brothers 'Looney Tunes', and the classic MGM Tex Avery-produced cartoons. Those hilariously senseless and maniacally frenzied little snippets of animation, which once graced the sandwiched intermissions of many a theatrical double feature, and eventually relegated to Saturday morning kiddie viewing fare. Without a doubt, it had often been suggested...and at times, genuinely attempted...to translate such frenzied insanity and hilariously bent wackiness to live action motion pictures (...see 1966's "The Great Race" and 1980's "The Villain", just to name a couple). How unexpected is was, for fledgling director Sam Raimi...having just dismounted the cult cinemania whirlwind, with his campy, over-the-top horror entry from 1981, the now-classic "The Evil Dead"...only to throw HIS hat into the arena, as far as flying his own 'screw ball' banner, and taking on such unconventional material...'unconventional', as compared to "The Evil Dead", that is. And the result?? As notoriously patchwork, scattered and uneven, albeit outrageously nutty as 1985's wacky "Crimewave" is (...originally conceived as "The XYZ Murders"), it remains an intriguingly curious and odd little comedy ditty, which is inexplicably hard to turn away from, once engaged...a flavorful bit of comic film noir, that's seems missing a questionably undetermined ingredient, yet remaining equally questionable, as to why it's oh-so damn irresistible..
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 ...Victor Ajax, a reluctantly captive resident of a local town prison's death row, and about to be electrocuted, takes pause during his final moment, to reflect upon how he got himself into such a predicament. At one time, an enthusiastically able-bodied, though quite naive electrical technician, employed at the reputed security company of Trend & Odegard, Victor spends a good amount of his down time, dreaming of finding the perfect woman in his life. His employer, Mr. Trend, in the midst of carrying on regularly scheduled business, runs afoul of an underlining plan by his partner, to dump the company onto the wretched hands of a seedy, egotistic nightclub barfly called Renaldo the Heel; in retaliation, Trend covertly hires out for two 'exterminators' to snuff out Odegard, and stop the takeover, in it's tracks. During a security camera installation, Victor is intercepted and distracted by Trend, as he is heading back to the shop for parts...at the same time that the 'extermination' was supposed to take place...enamoring Victor of the 'greater scheme of things', and that he should take time off to pursue the woman of his dreams...

 ...taking the sound advice, Victor quite literally stumbles upon the beautiful Nancy...who initially seems more attracted to the suave, albeit despicable wiles of Renaldo, than Victor. In the meantime, in another part of the building, our intrepid 'exterminators', in assuring no loose ends, find that they have to take out Trend's wife, as well, as she bears witness to their incidious activity. However, repeated pratfall-resulting attempts at killing her, wind up instead snuffing out other tenants of the building...the latter murders of which are mistakenly, albeit conveniently attributed to Victor, who coincidentally happens onto the scene of each death. When Victor finally realizes what is transpiring, and Nancy herself becomes one of the 'exterminator's intended targets, he selflessly and heroically directs all of his efforts toward thwarting the assassins' intent...uh, only to get arrested for the ensuing murders. Back on death row, with the electrocution master switch about to be pulled, Victor resigns himself to his haplessly tragic fate. Is he truly a dead man, at this point, or will somebody step in at the last minute, and save him??...

...as forgivably incoherent and kinetically crazed as these proceedings might be, "Crimewave's" finest assets are it's suggested style (...in many ways, woefully diminished and minimized, as the result of ill-reputed studio 'interference'...the background story of which might genuinely make for an intriguing cinematic study, equal to the insanity of the film, itself), and it's onslaught of some of the most outrageous character performances set to celluloid. Once again citing the obvious cartoonish fervor of the film, an equally distinct comical slapstick factor is also evident, giving clear note to director Raimi's well-reputed affection for the antics...as well as the oh-so familiar sound effects...of The Three Stooges...the inspiration of which he would carry further, in post-"Crimewave" films, like 1987's "Evil Dead II" and 1992's "Army of Darkness". The film's quirkiness...almost a character unto itself, in the film...can easily be attributed to the literary prowess and contributive efforts of fledgling filmmakers/writers Ethan and Joel Coen, who having already made a substantial mark with their film, 1984's "Blood Simple", would progressively engage their own distinct style, and establish their indelible, influential & critically acclaimed milestone, in films produced, written and directed by them, thereafter...culminating in eventual Academy Award recognition...

 ...eclectically cast with some of the most recognizable, albeit underrated and under-appreciated performers, the characters presented in the film, both main and fleeting, are most assuredly of an ilk, not easily forgotten. Loiuse Lasser is over the top, as the hapless plagued-upon Mrs. Trend, who manages to blindly avert every attempt by the killers, to snuff her out. Bruce Campbell is the egocentrically suave and dastardly Renaldo...a role which Bruce was ultimately compelled to resign himself to, as the result of the production powers that be, preferring him not to play the originally intended lead character, Victor (...even less comprehensible, since Bruce himself helped to executive produce the film...again, part of the aforementioned studio 'interference'...a story of creative woe and tragedy, partially capsulized in the accompanying interview 'extras', on Shout Factory's DVD/Blu-Ray). And cameos by Frances MacDormand, Antonio Fargas, John Hardy, Matthew Taylor, Sam's (...always cinematically tortured) brother Ted, and once-'Stooges' regular, Emil Sitka, amongst others. However, having the most devilish fun amongst the celebrated performers here, clearly fall with character actors Paul Smith (...of '80's "Popeye", '82's "Pieces", '84's "Dune", etc.) and Brion James (...of '82's "Blade Runner", '89's "The Horror Show", ;88's "Red Heat", amongst countless others) as the bumbling, albeit cackling and giggly maniacal hit men, Crush and Coddish...two rogues' gallery villains, with deadly intent...be it either, to die by their hands, or die laughing...

...initially shunned by the general public...somewhat understandably skewered, and seemingly misunderstood by most critics, & ultimately relegated to an almost irretriveable obscurity, "Crimewave" remains under-appreciated and underrated, even to this day. And yet, given a second look, one might be surprised at how subtly the film grows on a person...or rather, creeps up on a person, and commands one's attention. An indelible headshaker...clearly, not one of Sam Raimi's finest moments...and yet, one cannot help but be torn about the film, as once the film frames flicker on the screen, it's hard to look away...you're trapped...and before you know it, you may find yourself cackling insanely, along with the proceedings...as maniacally as the oh-so mad protagonist killers in the film.....