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Rampage [VHS]

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William Friedkin's little seen "Rampage" is a disturbing film that doesn't quite work but still deserves some credit for being one of the few films to actually try to seriously examine the actual real life issues of evil, murder, and justice in this country. Alex McArthur plays a blank-faced serial killer that Friedkin apparently based on Richard Ramirez, the infamous night stalker. The always underappreciated Michael Beihn plays the district attorney who prosecutes McArthur and seeks the death penalty despite his own personal opposition. During the trial, Beihn is himself haunted by memories of the death of his own daughter who we learn was being kept alive by machines until Beihn ordered her to be taken off life support. If all of this sounds a bit heavy handed, well, it is. After years of making films that, at times, seemed to define "style over substance," Friedkin attempted to make a film that was all substance but stacks the deck so in favor of the death penalty that the film's attempts to provide a serious debate of the issue ends up falling somewhat flat. (I should note that I support the death penalty so I didn't have any trouble with the politics of the film. My objections, instead, rest with the heavy handed way those politics were presented.) However, that said, it should also be said that this is still a powerful, if flawed, film. Friedkin's direction is grimly realistic and, admirably, he tones down the hyper kinetic, "look-at-me-ma-I'm-an-auteur" flashiness that had marred most of his films since 1980's unfortunate Cruising. Uniquely and admirably amongst films of the serial killer genre, Alex McArthur's killer isn't turned into some sort of wanna-be Hannibal Lecter, dispatching nameless victims with a quirky one liner. This is the rare film that has more sympathy for the victims than the killer and as a result, the viewer never forgets the true horror that madmen like McArthur's killer bring ino the world. The film's initial murders are devastating and rather hard to stomach (as real-life murder is). This realistic quality, the feel of real life being played out before our eyes, was what made Friedkin's earlier films like the French Connection and the Exorcist so memorable. However, at the same time, he also fails to give us anything as captivating as Gene Hackman chasing the subway or Linda Blair's head doing a 180 degree turn and, as a result, Rampage at times gets a little too talky for its own good. (Even the one action/suspense sequence towards the end of the film feels rather tacked on as if Friedkin's heart wasn't really in it and he was simply making a sop to commercial conventions.) The two leads, who have never become stars though both have strong and loyal followings, also do wonderful work. With his pleasant but off-looks, McArthur is terrifying as the emotionless killer -- all the more so because both he and Friedkin never resort to any easy answers to explain his madness. Michael Biehn plays an essentially introspective role and manages to pull it off with a skill that bigger stars should envy. Wisely, Biehn plays up the very ordinary, almost bland qualities of his character, creating a human being as opposed to just another character in a film. Whatever depth that film's ethical debate carries belongs not to the heavy handed script but to Biehn's totally convincing performance. As well, though she doesn't get to do much, Deborah Van Valkenburgh (cursed to be remembered primarily as McLean Stevenson's brunette daughter in that most banal of all sitcoms, Hello Larry) is sympathetic and likeable as Biehn's wife. Most importantly, when this was first made in 1986, Rampage was one of the few films to actually attempt to intelligently examine the issues involving the death penalty. Certainly, its no where close to the standard for such films, Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, which, despite the fact that Robbins has always been far more outspoken politically than Friedkin ever was, managed to avoid this film's heavy handedness -- i.e., while it was obvious that Robbins didn't support the death penalty, his film still can be seen as a persuasive argument for both sides of the issue. One wishes that Rampage had managed to pull off the same trick because, when combined with the performances and Freidkin's direction, one can't help but feel the film could have then been truly great instead of just being a noble misfire. Rampage, itself, wasn't released until several years after it was first filmed. By that time, most of the country was firmly pro-death penalty and the film's attempts to spur debate seemed rather dated. Now, with Bill Clinton's 1992 execution of Ricky Ray Rector and the more recent spate of executions in Texas under then-Gov. Bush, the issue has come back and even supporters like myself have somewhat ambigous feelings towards the death penalty. As well, recent years have seen an increase of films like Natural Born Killers, Hannibal, and the whole slahser film genre; films that have created a cult of celebrity around the characters of brutal murderers and that often present brutality as the modern equivalent of slapstick comedy (all trends that Rampage very much did not embrace). Now is a perhaps a good time to rediscover Rampage, admired it's succesful moments, and regret it's noble failures.

Rampage is about Michael Biehn (The Terminator, The Rock), a prosecutor who is tracking down a killer who has done several heinous crimes. Soon, they find the killer, a one Charles Reese, played by Alex McArthur (Route 666, Kiss The Girls) and they find out that Reese killed each of his victims and drank their blood but they find out that there's nothing wrong with his brain so that means he killed all of his victims with a sane mind. Interesting story is very rough and wont hold close to some people and is anchored by the performances of Biehn and a really all too believably creepy McArthur. Also starring Deborah van Valkenburgh (Mean Guns, The Warriors), Art LaFleur and Grace Zabriskie (R.S.V.P.). Really creepy scenes are the scenes in which McArthur is splashing blood onto himself with a Tiger in the background. Directed by William Friedkin (The Hunted, The Exorcist, Rules Of Engagement). Biehn can now play this kind of character in his sleep.

This film was panned by the reviewers when it was came out because it was released many years after the key subject matter had changed in the publics mind. The era in which this film was intended was a time when the options for sentencing a convicted murderer were limited to a life sentence, which would allow some killers to be back on the streets in as few as twelve years or the death penalty.

In that time period William Friedkin started researching material for a film that was supposed to show how the death penalty was too extreme for some cases. As he studied the case in which the filmscript was based he became convinced that the death penalty was needed and that some killers really deserved to die for their crimes. The tone of both the script and the film that would follow then started to change dramatically.

I suspect one of the reasons the film remained in the can (completed but not released) as long as it did in no small way had to do with Hollywood's political leaning away from the death penalty. It was also a time when Chief Justice Rose Bird of the California Supreme Court granted every death penalty appeal that went before her court.

Freidken's depiction of the killer in this film leaves the viewer with no doubt the world would be a better and safer place if the death penalty was applied. His story also gives the viewer some insight into how the outcome of the trial could be changed by some small details.

Now that the courts recognise the concept of a life sentence without posibility of parole some of the passions in opposition to the death penalty have cooled off because the juries now have the ability to keep a killer out of circulation forever. Just remember the characters in this film did not have that option. And it was not going to happen for at least another ten years.

Can we expect a dvd release of this masterpiece someday ?
Maybe with the two versions ?
I can dream, can't I ?

a fan from France;

"Rampage" is a strange movie: it tells a small but nasty story of Charles Edgar Reece, a deranged young man on a killing spree, and the long courtroom battles that follow his arrest. What's so strange is that the movie seems awfully directed, even dull at times, more like a quicky or a routinely made-for-cable TV film. But its director is no one less than William Friedkin, the man who made such powerful films like "The French Connection", "The Excorsist" and "Sorcerer". Three movies which all had a lasting effect on its viewers.
The raw, almost documentery-like approach of Friedkin made these classics more than just entertaining fiction; they seemed real, and at some points very close to us.

So what happened on the set with Mr. Friedkin when he made "Rampage"? Was he bored, sick, or really not interested? Or is the almost amateuristic look not as amateuristic as it seems and is it in fact a slick trick of a man who still knew very well what he did?
A lot of serial killer movies have a dark atmosphere that is so visually present it seems almost touchable at times. This effect is created with all the necessary cinematic techniques available: lightning, suggestive camera movements, omnipresent sound FX, all the way to chilly music produced by an overacting, near psychotic orchestra.
By dismissing all these possibilities and forcing himself to stick with standard "TV movie grammar" Friedkin gives the story the chance to overwelm all by itself.

The question is, does it work? Does the story manage to overwelm us all by itself? Not quite, I'm afraid. And maybe that's the reason that this has become one of those "forgotten movies" made by a first rate director.
"Rampage" just doesn't manage to pull it off although Alex McArthur hits the right notes as the creepy prowler. But no other actor convinces us here, and in this case it's essential that they do, because the second half of the movie, the court room battles, is used to impose on the viewer the eternal question about the death penalty. Should we put to death people who put others to death? Can we do it? The actors should be the convincing embodiements of these questions, they should be able to manipulate us while keeping a straight face, they have that straight face but unfortunately not much else.

Imposing these dillema's and deal with it in a effective way can surely be done. It has all ready happened. Just watch the barely watchable "A short film about killing" by Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski. Although in this cold hearted movie the killer does get the death penalty, the filmmaker still makes it possible for the viewer to wrestle with the question whether or not this was a satisfying thing to do.

"Rampage" ends with the killer behind bars and the lawyers and prosecutors fighting over the insanity defense. The fact that the killer is still alive seems to give us more room to discuss the arguments concerning the death penalty but doesn't really provoke like the final minutes of "A short film about killing" did.

Maybe the silent body of a Polish convict put to death, hanging from a noose with his face turned away from us, gives us still more reasons to discuss and fight over then the American killer, still standing, being alive, smirking, staring straight at us in the final shot.

Loosely based on the crimes of Richard Trenton Chase a.k.a. "The Vampire of Sacramento" RAMPAGE starts out with a bang but then just fizzles out into a sub-par courtroom drama complete with a ending so blah that I could barely remember it 30 minutes after the movie was over.

I originally saw this movie as a teenager around 1992/93 and liked it quite a lot, so watching it again now was a big disappointment. Too much talking and not enough action. The main problem is the movie focuses too much on the District Attorney prosecuting the killer and not enough on the killer himself.

Worth watching once.

D: William Friedkin (BLUE CHIPS, JADE)

Anthony Frasier - Michael Biehn (THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS)
Charlie Reese - Alex McArthur (ROUTE 666, KISS THE GIRLS)
Naomi Reece - Grace Zabriske (THE PRIVATE EYES, DRUGSTORE COWBOY)