13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More Laughs Than Horror, October 27, 2003
"Rumpelstiltskin" stands proudly as a representative example of a recent trend to scrape the bottom of the barrel in order to come up with something new in the horror genre. O.K., so it isn't that new, as the similarly themed "Leprechaun" appeared on the scene some three years before the arrival of this movie, but "Rumpelstiltskin" picks up the challenge laid down by Warwick Davis and gang and attempts to push the envelope even further. Instead of asking the diminutive Davis of "Leprechaun" fame to pull double duty here, the producers of "Rumpelstiltskin" employed some guy named Max Grodenchik to play the scary little man of fairy tale legend. He does an adequate job, too, although that's one of the few good things one can say about this picture. Ultimately, "Rumpelstiltskin" fails to win many compliments because it fails on too many levels. In fact, the main thing a viewer will probably come away with after watching this film is a question: What in the heck is Allyce Beasley doing in a film like this? That's right, that loveable waif who played the over talkative and slightly neurotic secretary Agnes DiPesto on the Cybill Shepherd/Bruce Willis sitcom "Moonlighting" appears in her full glory throughout the first half of "Rumpelstiltskin." Her presence here underscores how far people can fall in Hollywood.
The opening sequence of the film sets the stage for the Rumpelstiltskin legend. Somewhere in fourteenth century Europe, a group of villagers carrying the stereotypical torches chase good old Rump through a forest in search of the missing child of the local miller's daughter. Well, the evil little man has the baby because the child's mother promised to give up her first-born child in exchange for Rump's services. You know the rest of the legend. As the villagers chase Rumpelstiltskin to the edge of a cliff, he demands to have the child as per the arrangement. To accentuate his seriousness, he tears out some guy's eye and eats it, then throws him off a cliff. The village witch, fed up with this sickening behavior, casts a spell on the dwarf that turns him into a strange looking rock. Casting this stone into the ocean, and presumably to a place where it can do no more harm to anyone, the villagers rescue the baby and return to their pitiful lives slaving away for the lord of the manor. Obviously, since all of this happens within the first five minutes of the movie we know that some poor soul will find the rock and unleash the wicked genie within. This opening segue to the real meat of the film had me rolling on the floor with its corny dialogue, cheesy effects, and over the top performances. Too bad the rest of the film isn't nearly as funny.
The movie jumps ahead roughly 500 years, to present day Los Angeles, California. The recently widowed wife of a police officer, Shelley Stewart, conveniently discovers this rock at some weird witch's store. Attracted to the stone by a strange green light, she takes the object home and through a series of highly improbable circumstances promptly unleashes Rumpelstiltskin. What follows is often a plodding series of events wherein the evil dwarf attempts to secure the widow's child in exchange for services rendered (in this case, our heroine wished for her dead husband to return from the grave, which he did for one evening). Throw in the aforementioned Allyce Beasley as Shelley's man starved best friend named Hildy, an obnoxious local talk show host called Max Bergman who eventually takes part in the plot to eradicate Rumpelstiltskin, and you have the fundamentals of this bizarre film. Oddly enough, several scenes in the movie reminded me of the "Terminator" franchise, specifically a lengthy (way too lengthy) chase sequence with Rump driving a semi truck and a series of murders in a rural police station. The whole thing wraps up very predictably for this type of film. Too my knowledge, the producers of "Rumpelstiltskin" wisely passed on a sequel.
A few good things appear in this film. The actress who plays Shelley Stewart, Kim Johnston Ulrich, does a good job with the lackluster script. The same goes for Allyce Beasley, who easily slums her way through the Hildy role. Tommy Blaze as Max Bergman quickly becomes tiresome with his endless stream of babble and smart alecky lines. Grodenchik as Rumpelstiltskin irritates with his dialogue, too, but at least the make up job inspires some grotesque interest in his character. Personally, my favorite scene in the film involved actor Jay Pickett as Stewart's police officer husband. He isn't around long, but the slow motion shoot out with a street thug that claims his life is hilarious. Overall, the performances in this film aren't as bad as they could be. As an added bonus, Rumpelstiltskin catches on fire on two separate occasions. Lamentably, the negatives often overshadow the positives: uneven pacing results in a chase scene that runs on long after its effectiveness wears off. The lame conclusion to the movie irritates, especially when Rumpelstiltskin calls on the "powers of darkness" or some such nonsense to help him destroy Stewart's baby. The powers of darkness? You gotta be kidding me! How generic and tiresome is that line in a horror movie? "Rumpelstiltskin" is definitely more of a miss than a hit.
The DVD version of the film, distributed by low budget loving Artisan Entertainment, does not provide much in the way of extras: you do get a trailer for the film and that's about it. As for the picture quality, it's acceptable but nothing you would write home to mother about. "Rumpelstiltskin," probably a film best reserved for die-hard fans of B movie horror, could provide a few laughs to a general audience looking for something slightly ridiculous.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally an answer to the timeless question Will there ever be an elf action hero?, November 12, 2010
Rumpelstiltskin is in the very limited elf genre so of course it has been a long time resident of the Must Be Reviewed list. But even if it wasn't, the fact that someone decided to make a b horror loosely based on Rumpelstiltskin would have been irresistable to supreme b enthusiasts. That it was made in 95 is just icing on the cake. Without going into the unnecessary back story the magical little gargoyle hunchback elf hunts babies. In the first scene the little guy is banished into a rock by a witch and thrown into the ocean. Then the witch sets him on fire. Watching this dwarf roll around on the ground on fire is one of the 10 funniest things ever. It has to be seen.
About 500 years after the rock was thrown into the ocean, Rump washes up on shore in LA where he is unleashed by a young widdow who of course has a kid. So the rest of the movie is him chasing her and the kid around. They're also helped out by a loud mouth TV host who happens to be standing on the side of the road when mom and baby are escaping Rump. Yeah this one was high on the made no sense scale if you couldn't tell by its 5 can rating. A cool wrinkle is that this little killing machine can't be killed. He was shot stabbed and set on fire and he didn't die. He's as tough as Myers so yeah he's pretty tough. The best part of the movie was when Rump kills a truck driver and starts chasing after the TV guy and a bundle of blankets he thinks is the kid who are in TV guy's dune buggy in an 18 wheeler. He's three feet tall but you know what? let's have him driving a truck anyway that'll be sweet. If you can't applaud the hell out of that, Sid doesn't know what to tell you. The him driving a truck thing lasted about 40 minutes by the way. And the TV guy was cracking one liners the whole time as he's being chased by a little killer creature. The whole thing was amazing really.
The bulk of this flick was Lincoln Hawk DeJesus all the way. The rest of the time it was Rump doing a Leprechaun impression. An hour and a half of pure b enjoyment. It's going to be a small sub-genre but Sid will without a doubt be on the hunt for more b elf-horror-action/comedies. This one was so great, especially under the right conditions so if you get the opportunity to see this one consider yourself lucky because there are still doubts that this movie actually exsists and wasn't some b induced hilucination.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent Horror-Comedy from the director of Leprechaun, March 19, 2005
A Kid's Review
Mark Jones who directed the 1993 classic "Leprechaun" directed this similar horror-comedy with the title character Rumpelstiltskin who rips a man's eye out and then is turned into a green rock by a witch and then dumped into a river and then the movie starts in L.A. with a cop being shot by a criminal and then his wife and her friend visit an antique shop and then the mom sees the green rock of Rumpelstiltskin and then buys it but then the creature comes alive and then wants her baby and then she runs off with her baby and then the creature follows her and then the fun starts. The movie is basically a rip-off of Leprechaun but instead of a creature wanting a pot of gold the the creature wants a baby. The low-budget is lower than Leprechaun and the special effects by Kevin Yagher(Child's Play 2,Phantom of the Opera(1989),976-EVIL)are decent for a low-budget,the acting was mediocre and the only good acting was by Max Grodenchik who played Rumpelstiltskin. The movie is out-of-print but if you do find it rent it.
Pros:
Good Special Effects/Makeup
Some funny scenes
Cons:
Some bad acting
plot is sometimes poorly written
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