Customer Reviews

Ablaze [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Cathy Lee Crosby and Tom Arnold star in this fast-paced (albeit low-budget) thriller from cineschlocker Jim Wynorski. No, the movie is not realistic, and the synopsis on the back of the box has nothing to do with the real movie, but it doesn't matter. This is pure B-movie fun. The DVD is in widescreen (1.85:1) with 5.1 surround sound that rocks your sound system. The picture is crystal clear and the colors pop off the screen. If you are into high camp (or just want to see a lot of people spontaneously combust), go ahead and buy or rent this one. You may not think it the best movie in the world, but if you give it a chance, it's pretty entertaining.

"Ablaze" was actually a pretty decent film! I mean, sure it had its plot holes, its mistakes, and its obviously stolen stock footage, but, for a disaster and/or hospital chaos (a la "E.R."), this film will (for the most part) keep you on the edge of your seet (somewhat). As with most, if not all of Jay Andrew's (AKA Jim Wynorski) B-films, the description on the back of the case has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the film at hand, and i do mean nothing! It seems to describe Ron Howard's "Backdraft" in the description, even though i actually liked this film nore than Howard's much nore famous catalyst, if you will, for this type of movie (also having its plot ripped off for the Hong King film, "Lifeline" which is available here at Amazon).

The film itself begins with a really pointless car chase of a mad bomber(?) who ends up being shot by one of the main characters (the captain of a fire department) who is on a stakeout with Jay Andrew's good B-Movie friend, Ice-T, whom, for some odd reason always seems to pop up in one of Andrew's films, why? I havn't a clue. Anyway, the bad guy catches fire (he does not spontaneously combust like some believe, the poeple that catch fire actually do have reasons why) and he burns to death in a park.

Then we go into learning about the characters, like Tom Arnold, who plays the greedy oil/gas refinery owner who is illegaly dumping(?) gasoline into the sewer system of what appears to be Los Angeles (though we actually never do know the city's true name, but the opening shot is one of downtown LA). Arnold's character has also built a hospital at the end of a cultasac and it is understaffed, under budgeted, and run by a truely evil woman, but one doctor is determined to do what's to help a low-income woman have her baby, and later on save the lives of everyone in the hospital. The fire captain has a brother whom he dislikes (for a certain reason) and the brother is an undercover agent seeking to find out the truth behind Wendel Mays' (Arnold's character) bribery and corruption.

Mays' refinery then dumps a large load of gasoline into the sewer system of the city and then the refinery catches fire from a welder's torch and catches everything on fire. The Mays Hospital is the only one near to take burn victims but gets cut off by a firestorm that theatens to blow up the whole city block (which looks like a street in New York City). The same traffic shots w/ fire in the far off distance is used over and over to show that the city is, well...ablaze! As well as a cheap special fx shot of a skyscraper exploding due to the whole sewer system catching fire. So now the city is in "flames" and the hospital must evactuate everyone down a burning street, where many meet their ends.

This film is pretty merciless in killing off its characters (just like in the great 1970's Irwin Allen films), even the nice Cathy Lee Crosby who is a kind and sweet television actress (combining the "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Genie" stars together, for this film) and she tries to make a run for it (whether to be the guinea pig to test it out, or because she just wants to save herself) and she catches fire and burns to death. Then falling debris kills some people and some stupid nurse opens a closet that has fire on the other side and the backdraft that unsues torches the poor girl, tisk, tisk, tisk, didn't she watch "The Towering Inferno" or "Backdraft"?

The movie was made with obvious stock footage from the 1970's, which I actually enjoy! Especially since "City On Fire" is an extremely hard to find film. "City On Fire" is a Leslie Neilson and Ava Gardner 1979 disaster film where a disgruntled oil refinery (or chemical plant) employee purposely catches the city on fire and a threatened hospital must evacuate its occupants, hey that sounds kinda familiar... Anyway, this film was pretty decent and much better than Andrew's previous fiascos like "Final Voyage" and... uh...you know that one with Ice-T in it.

I have to admit, I must be a kind of sucker for these disaster type films. I have long admired firefighters for the great risks and macho savvy they always show in real life. This isn't real life, but hey this is a movie, and I don't care if it's not the way the real firefighters work. Director Jay Andrews brings nothing new to the venue, but I had fun watching all the pyrotechnics and seeing how our brave men respond, and the subsequent human interests. I think model turned actor John Bradley acquitted himself nicely, as did Amanda Pays and Larry Poindexter. Even Pat Harrington, Edward Albert and Tom Arnold did okay. William Zabka continues to reign as direct to video villain. Cathy Lee Crosby's character was totally off the wall, I never really understood why she was even in it?? Anyway, I enjoyed it, and that's what movies are to me. Enjoyment in a fantasy world.

This is the most unrealistic movie I've seen with horrid special effects. There were some effects that were good but they went too far overboard on the dramatics of things blowing up, people falling from heights, and of course explosions. The best thing I can compare this to would be the original godzilla, only godzilla has better effects, and was more believable than this movie. I could only watch 1/2 the movie before I had to shut it off. If you still have a morbid desire to buy this movie do yourself a favor and rent it ...

This is a so-so movie if you like watching fires and mayhem. But, the official synopsis of the movie has nothing to do with the movie! I understand if they had a low budget and hired green producers and directors, but what's the deal with the wording on the back? It says, quote: " A DEADLY ARSONIST HOLDS A CITY HOSTAGE. A routine investigation into a hotel fire becomes a grisly discovery when evidence uncovered among the ash suggest the fire was planned. As more deliberately set blazes sweep across the city,local firefighters scramble to save as many lives as they can.But the body count is rising and soon it becomes clear that these fires are deliberate death traps-perfect infernos created by a Serial Arsonist turned Serial Killer. "

Did they pay someone who was not even involved in making the movie and knew nothing about it, maybe one freaking dollar to write that? Whomever it was, he or she must have watched the first few minutes of it, seen an arsonist was sought by detectives, then fast forwarded it to see lots o' fire; then wrote the now infamous words. Just as confusing is the fact that no one seems to have checked on it for final editing or approval. So the movie was released with a review that had nothing to do with the movie. Impressive!

As for what the movie was really about, well- who cares? Doesn't this alone give you a clue as to the rest of it? I bought it for a dollar, and feel like I wasted my money. Next time I am drinking I plan to try watching it again--as a comedy.

A MASSIVE FIRE SWEEPS THROUGH A CITY AND IT'S UP TO THE LOCAL FIREMEN TO SAVE AS MANY LIVES AS POSSIBLE. UPON LOOKING AT THE COVER FOR THIS FILM, ''BACKDRAFT'' IS PROBABLY THE FIRST MOVIE THAT'LL POP INTO YOUR MIND. WHILE THE MOVIE IS REALLY NOT A BACKDRAFT CLONE, IT'S JUST YOUR AVERAGE DISASTER MOVIE. LAZY WRITING, AMATEURISH ACTING, AND AN ALL TOO FAMILIAR PLOT KEEPS THIS MOVIE FROM BEING GOOD. YOU'LL MOST LIKELY ONLY RECOGNIZE THREE OF THE CAST MEMBERS, WHICH ARE; ICE-T [NEW JACK CITY], MICHAEL DUDIKOFF [THE AMERICAN NINJA MOVIES], AND TOM ARNOLD [TV'S ROSEANNE]. OH, AND IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN RENTING OR BUYING THIS MOVIE BECAUSE ICE-T'S NAME IS ON THE COVER, THEN YOU REALLY MIGHT WANNA THINK TWICE ABOUT GETTING THIS. ICE ONLY HAS 2 SCENES IN THIS WHOLE MOVIE! EVEN TOM ARNOLD'S ROLE ISN'T THAT BIG! IF YOU'RE SERIOUSLY INTO DISASTER FILMS, GIVE THIS A TRY. BUT IF YOU DON'T LIKE DISASTER FILMS, SKIP THIS MOVIE. IF YOU DECIDE TO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE, YOU'RE NOT MISSING OUT ON MUCH OF ANYTHING.

I concur with some of the opinions already mentioned. The cast was the redeeming factor. The Car Chase, in the opening scene, was directly from a Bruce Willis film, Striking Distance. Overall, for the viewer that enjoys a suspense filled film, with multiple plots, I recommend the film.

Ablaze was amazing. More errors per minute than any film I've ever seen. The box tells you that the movie is about an arsonist trying to set the city on fire. It's a great setup, as the arsonist dies in the first few minutes of the flick. The movie begins with a cop and fireman on a stakeout to catch an arsonist. The fireman begs for a gun, but the cop can't let him have one. The two of them boldly face the arsonist, but can't shoot him because he's standing in an open area, loaded with explosives. He detonates a small charge, and escapes. Now, knowing that they couldn't shoot him, they make the next logical move . . . they race to their car to pursue him at high speed. The energy is sky high as the cop (Ice-T) turns to the fireman to say, "I am not authorized to allow you to drive this vehicle" or something like that. What seem like hundreds of police cars enter the chase, and ultimately surround the arsonist. Hundreds of police guns trained on him, with his fate certain, the same cop casually tosses a gun to the fireman to add to the count. Ludicrous! Now, standing on a city street surrounded by urban sprawl, they can finally shoot him! Crazy! In another fire, a kid is deadbolted into his modern home. Of course, the mom leaves matches next to the burner on the modern gas stove. Well, she steps out the door and the kid does what we all did as children . . . lights a paper airplane on fire and throws it into the draperies. Our lethal fireman shows up to save the day, and enters the mysteriously unlocked home to rescue the kid. Sadly, our hero suffers smoke inhalation. More unrelated fires are set, and handled (without any radios, hoses, breathing apparatus, or even water) until the city finally ignites from (are you ready for this?) men welding in a sewer system where gasoline is being drained. (You know . . . a lot of companies are polluting our environment by flooding the sewers with $2/gallon gas!) The city's fire chief, apparently standing at the electric company's office, takes charge immediately of the city's plight, as it is totally engulfed in flame. He promptly calls the fire station that rescued the kid to tell them that, without their genius captain who suffered smoke inhalation because he never wore his SCBA, they can't be counted upon to fight the fire, and must stand down. Every unit in the city is needed, and he calls ONE unit alone to tell them NOT to respond! Now, if you think that sounds ridiculous, then you have LOTS to look forward to. That was the LOGICAL part of the story line! This thing is so flawed that it's hysterical. I'd recommend it to anyone. In my book, this is the best surprise comedy (and worst action thriller) of all time!

I had to give a star. This movie isn't worthy enoungh to have a star. The plot is unrealstic, the start of the movie has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Scenes are unrealstic, it's just dumb and waist of money I don't know why I rented it. The cover of the movie looks cool and thats it.

This is abslutely one of the worst films ever produced. It represents everything wrong with Hollywoods attempts at making movies on fire and firefighters. I couldn't even finish watching this horribly acted and poorly directed movie, it was that bad. First of all they copied (almost exactly) a car chase scene from the beginning of Bruce Willis' ''Striking Distance''. In fact it would not surprise me if the scene was merely taken directly from this movie and added to the beginning of Ablaze. Secondly, the acting, well, let's just say it was worse than most soft-core XXX movies out there. Thirdly, real firefighting scenes were dropped into the movie to try and give it credibility but they were so poorly edited that it was blatantly obvious that they were not filmed for this movie. Lastly and most importnatly, the actual firefighting scenes were just deplorable, a real embarrassment to anyone in the firefighting profession. No SCBA's at all, large groups of men running into burning building with little more than an axe (last time I checked, water put out fires, not axes or bare hands), no gloves, running calls with trucks that would be out-of-service 30 years ago (obviously no Fire Department with an ounce of credibility would lend this picture their vehicles), etc, etc. When there was a scene of water being put on a fire, it was obvious that the fire was not part of the picture but added later as no water ever hit the building. Just really poor editing and effects. And this is only from watching less than half the film, I can't even imagine how much worse this movie gets. What ever you do, don't waste your time and money with this film, it is a disgrace and thoroughly embarrassing to watch, literally. It is unfortunate that some of the better actors in this film had the poor judgment to make this movie in the first place.