ecl@hocsj.UUCP (10/01/84)
IMPULSE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
This is not a new idea. George Romero did the same idea in a film
known as CODE NAME TRIXIE or THE CRAZIES. It shows up on WOR-TV every now
and again. The idea is that some chemical "stuff" gets loose in a town and
the people who ingest it are mentally altered so that they are prone to
violence. Not surprisingly, IMPULSE, which was a theatrical co-production
of Twentieth Century Fox and ABC Pictures (so it was made with an eye toward
TV) is less violent and more subtle than CODE NAME TRIXIE. The Romero film
starts with half the town going crazy. IMPULSE has a much slower build and
a somewhat more engaging premise. A chemical contaminant destroys people's
inhibitions. They don't do completely weird things, but start doing the
sort of things they really want to do but would normally be inhibited from
doing when they evaluate the results. A broad range of desires is exhibited
by the townspeople who slowly become less and less able to control
themselves. Children's mischief turns homicidal, parents become child
beaters, doctors turn to murderers. Ironically, a soda jerk gives away ice
cream to a child who cannot pay for it. Still, IMPULSE allows itself to
disintegrate into a mindless action film and never really lives up to the
implications of the promise. Rate it a mediocre 0 (on a -4 to +4 scale).
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!lznv!mrlbsa@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery) (10/06/84)
[Forgive -- the news admin. hasn't installed the rn fix yet] No thanks. Thionite never did interest me. --bsa