Customer Reviews

Intermedio

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I not sure what to say about this movie but dont bother. The only reason I did see it was for Amber Benson. She must have done it to fund one of her own movies. Anyways the movie it about these two couple who go to the caves of Mexico to score some pot to sale. Well the caves are haunted by really stupid ghosts. They begin to kill them off one by one they must some how escape this cursed cave. There not much here for as a story line and the gore is just to cheesy. I will give it this at least they hired actors who can act but it really was not a origanal story or one worth watching. Thats why I say poor Amber because she is great actress in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even if your a fan of hers it does not help this film not to mention they kill her off really early in the movie. Maybe she wanted it that way.

...to cut to the chase, it was AWFUL! I had read about it and the plot seemed promising: 4 young people travel through some haunted tunnels under the California-Mexico border to score some drugs even though two of the characters' fathers had disappeared in the caves when the kids were very young (and left waiting in a truck, in the desert, while their fathers took off into the tunnels. WHERE are the Child Protection people when you need them?). These two principle characters are Malik (Edward Furlong - "T2") and Gen (Cerina Vincent - "Cabin Fever") and along for the ride with them are Malik's girlfriend, Barbie (Amber Benson - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Gen's boyfriend Wes (Callard Harris). There is a lot of confusion (or there was for me) as to who is involved with who as Malik and Gen seemed more of a couple while Barbie and Wes were just "there". Anyway, there is a LOT of ridiculous running back and forth in the tunnels, the bare lightbulbs keep flickering or going out temporarily (of course!), Steve Railsback ("Helter Skelter", "Ed Gein") is there to menace the kids with an oversize pick-ax, the kids make their drug connection which goes gruesomely wrong and there is the little problem with the changing head count of just exactly how many people are running away from these ghosts or "Intermedios" (Spanish for "in between") who seem to be controlled by Steve Railsback's character, the Old Man. This is SO obviously a low-budget movie that it's laughable. Some of the sets moved when they should have been "solid rock", I expected more, acting-wise, from Furlong, Vincent and Benson, the ghosts just look like somebody's weird idea of an x-ray, the dialogue was just dreadful and don't even get me started on the Old Man's "amulet". I hate trashing low-budget horror movies as there are so many GOOD ones out there and nearly all of them are made by people who really CARE about them, this one was the directorial debut for actor Andrew Lauer ("Caroline in the City") and I really had high hopes for "Intermedio" but don't bother. There are no scares, the gory scenes aren't gross and there is just no logic to any of it. BIG disappointment!!

This has got to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen! I wish that Amber had quit after she broke her foot, Cerina had passed it by and ridden on the dubious glory of "Cabin Fever" and poor, poor Ed Furlong had just stayed in rehab (from which he CLEARLY had just escaped). These folks are all lovely people and MUCH better actors than the drek they are stuck with in this film would indicate. Do yourself a favor and avoid at all costs.

Intermedio (Andrew Lauer, 2005)

Poor Edward Furlong. He started his career with a wonderful turn in Terminator 2, then immediately descended into obscurity, taking crap roles to pay the bills. Seven years later, he rose to prominence again with a fantastic turn in American History X. Here is a kid who'd been given a second chance. And what happened? I'm not entirely sure, but he's back to taking crap roles to pay the bills. And my oh my, Intermedio is the king of crap roles. This makes Detroit Rock City look like Oscar material.

Furlong plays Malik, a pot-smoking roustabout who attempts to make a living as a farmer in the southwest. He has a special bond with his childhood friend Gen (Cabin Fever's Cerina Vincent)--the two of them were in a truck when their fathers went into a set of tunnels connecting America to Mexico and never came out. One day Gen's boyfriend Wes (Fashion Victim's Callard Harris) comes over with a plan: they can all head down to the border of Mexico, pick up $120,000 worth of pot for half the price, and all get rich. All they have to do is get meet the suppliers in some tunnels that run between America and Mexico... Malik and Gen jump at the chance to see if they can find out what happened to their fathers, though Malik's girlfriend Barbie (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Amber Benson) is a bit more reserved. Of course, once they get down to the tunnels, it turns out to be a lot tougher than anyone figured. And who's that kid Wes keeps seeing?

This could have been quite a flick; the setting is great, there are some decent actors (Steve Railsback also makes an appearance towards the end), and you gotta love ghosts-in-tunnels movies. It lacks a great deal, though, and much of that can be placed squarely at the feet of actor-turned-director Andy Lauer; really, do you need to know any more than that Lauer was the second unit director on Legion of the Dead? (The Courtney Clonch flick, if you end up needing to look it up at IMDB. You can find my review of that one elsewhere on Amazon.) But there's one scene here that really outlines what's wrong with it. It would be a spoiler to completely describe the scene, but you'll know it when you see it. The special effects in the film up to that point had been ranging between competent and crap, but this particular scene, in which one character gets split in half, has CGI so terrible that it's laughable. And the aftermath is even worse. That a director, or anyone else involved with the movie, would be willing to settle for leaving such a terrible scene in a movie says a great deal about it. If the movie's connections don't respect the viewers, why should the viewers respect the final product? *

Intermedio is a fun movie even if its not the most well written. The film does contain a good claustrophobic feel for a film set in undergroud tunnels. The special FX are made for tv movie yet in this flick they work. The actors portray a good range of panic and fear while the dialogue is weak to put it kindly. I will say that the actors do a good job for what they had to work with. I do feel that Cerina Vincent was underused.

I had expected the film to be interesting, but this one failed in the emotion department. Don't expect to really feel anything. The film centers around two couples, who decide to go into a cavern along the Mexico to buy drugs. Little do they know that the caverns are hanted by ghosts, that are murdering people.

If it hadn't for Amber Benson, I wouldn't have known or much less care about the film. Her acting in Buffy made me curious to see this. Well. It wasn't a hit.

How could anyone in their right mind pay to see this. They should stop the sale of this dvd immediately! This movie makes no sense. These kids are running around in circles in this cave, Eddie Furlong is screeching at his friends. The lights in the cave flicker and go out in one scene, and it's complete darkness, at other times there is still light and shadows. When the girl gets cut in half, she is obviously buried in the dirt as you can see the ground moving. Another character, Wes gets sucked into the ground and comes out on the level below. He goes from wearing a backpack, to no backpack, and then it is back on again. Very poor acting and dialogue, as well as not so special effects.

Don't waste your time, not even a good film to watch and make fun of, it's just that bad.

So-So movie. I bought this movie because first, it looked interesting and secondly, I got the DVD at a good price. One of the reasons I wanted to see this film is because Steve Railsback ( Ed Gein ) stars in it. I think he's a great actor! In short, this is a movie that takes place in the caves of Mexico where the dead become alive...... evil dead. Four friends decide to take an expedition into the caves. They find the caverns a underground graveyard full of tortured ghosts who want them to be their prey. Some good moments, some not so good, some boring parts, but overall not a terrible movie. I just wish that Steve Railsback had a bigger starring role in this film. A little gore adds to the 2 star rating. A movie I'd suggest just renting before buying.

Intermedio (2005) might be a worthy achievement as an amateur filmmaker's project, but judged as a legitimate film, it is a poorly executed and acted effort, that is pathetically bad in so many ways. The film features notables Steve Railsback and Edward Furlong. Railsback is perhaps most well known for his role in The Stuntman (1980), and for playing Charles Manson in the TV movie Helter Skelter (1976). Furlong is probably best remembered as John Connor in Terminator 2 (1991).

The dippy story, concerns two couples hoping to make a big score, who venture into a system of underground tunnels to rendezvous with some drug dealers. On the way, the young people run into a malevolent supernatural force, unleashed in the tunnels by a vengeful sadistic man, looking to avenge his dead son.

The terrifically dumb plot makes it almost impossible to have any sympathy for the annoyingly pathetic characters, two of whom somehow manage to survive, and meander endlessly underground. There isn't an iota of realism in this disaster, and the inconsistent lighting is an annoying distraction. The weird looking special effects are awful. Railsback's performance isn't very good, and Furlong is scraping bottom, as his character is pretty much a whiner.

If you like appallingly bad movies, you might try viewing Intermedio on the Sy Fy Channel. Buying this movie might be a decision you would regret. It really is that bad.

2005's "Intermedio" (i.e. "inbetween") is a low-budget horror flick about four youths who attempt to make a drug score with a couple of Mexicans they meet up with in a tunnel complex between the U.S. and Mexico. Unknown to them the tunnels are haunted by killer ghosts controlled by a man with a vial containing the last drop of blood of each specter (or something along these lines).

WHAT DOESN'T WORK:

- The special effects are very low-budget, particularly a scene where a girl is chopped in half, but much of the ghost effects look fine. Regardless, the poor stuff didn't bother me a bit since I'm used to the weak F/X of, say, the Original Star Trek tv series. As long as the story's good I can accept poor F/X.

- Once the youths enter into the tunnel system the locations become one-dimensional for the next full hour. Needless to say, dark tunnels can wear out their welcome real fast.

- The plot is good and the actors do their best to illustrate seriousness, horror and tension, but all-in-all I didn't find the story all that compelling.

WHAT WORKS:

- Cerina Vincent was 25 at the time and in her physical prime. She wears tight black pants and a red billy shirt throughout most of the film and never looked better, except maybe in 2006's "Sasquatch Mountain." She's involved in most of the action and is, in fact, the heroine of the story.

- Amber Benson and Edward Furlong (the juvenile John Conner from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day") are also on hand as two of the other youths; take note if you're a fan.

- The film was shot in Acton, California and Calico Ghost Town, Calico Dry Lake Bed, Mojave Desert. These locations are fine except the overlong time the film bogs down in the tunnels.

FINAL WORD: "Intermedio" is worthwhile if, like me, you're a fan of the beautiful Cerina Vincent who looks fabulous throughout, as well as other actors like Amber Benson and Edward Furlong. I also recommend the film if you enjoy desert crisis/survival flicks in general, horror bent or not. The plot's good, but the tunnel sequence is overlong and the story's execution fails to fully captivate despite the earnest efforts of the cast (not that some of them are the best actors, but they're certainly earnest). But stay away if you can't stomach low-budget special effects.

The film runs 82 minutes.

GRADE: C