- Directed by William Lustig
- Written by Larry Cohen
- Stars William Smith, David “Shark” Fralick, Christopher Ogden
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
- Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Sometimes the dead come back to life because reasons. This one is a little unclear on that point. That aside, it’s decent. A little light on the onscreen kills, but the effects, acting, story are okay overall. Watchable and entertaining shy of greatness.
Synopsis
We begin in Kuwait, on June 14th. The Major appears at the crash site. Can they identify anyone from their tags? The plane crashed three years ago and they just now found the body. The sergeant says it looks like friendly fire, but the Major “don’t want to hear that crap!” The body is Master Sergeant Sam Harper. Sam comes back to life and shoots both the sergeant and the major. “Don’t be afraid, it’s only friendly fire,” he moans. Credits roll.
In Twin Rivers, back in the USA, on July 1st, we see normal-looking neighborhood. We see young Jody asleep next to a photo of his uncle, Sam. He had a dream about Uncle Sam, and he wasn’t dead in the dream. Jody loves his uncle, but his mother Sally doesn’t see to think too much of her dead brother.
Louise gets out of her boyfriend Deputy Phil Burke’s car and finds Sgt. Twining waiting for her. The men in the desert have finally identified the body in the desert; they have verification of his death now. He’s been missing for three years. He hands over Sam’s dog tags.
Sgt. Jed Crowley complains that he was the only one who made it home, and he wishes he hadn’t. He was a war hero, and he helped influence Sam back in the day.
Louise tells Sally about them finding the body, and it’s clear that they’re both glad he’s definitely not coming back; they were terrified of him.
Jody takes his uncle’s medals to school with him. His teacher, Mr Crandall, was a war protester during Vietnam; he was a draft dodger. Sam Harper’s body arrives back in town, and they wheel his coffin into the family’s living room.
Sgt. Twining’s a bit of a creeper; he tends to hit on all the grieving wives and seems to do pretty well taking advantage of the situation. Betty is dating Ralph, a lawyer, and she tells him the story about her abusive ex. Ralph brags about how he got a bunch of tax evaders let off in court.
That night, Jody sneaks downstairs and opens Uncle Sam’s coffin, and we see movement inside. Jed comes to the funeral, and Jody asks lots of questions about his wooden leg that he lost to a land mine. Jed is very much against the idea of Jody joining the military. Jed says that Sam liked killing.
Late that night, out at the cemetery a bunch of college kids are burning the flag, and Sam wakes up. He puts his medals on and gets to work. Sam hunts down one of those twenty-foot tall Uncle Sam stilt walkers and kills him. He takes his clothes and puts together an Uncle Sam costume. Sam comes across one of the flag-burners and buries him alive. Another gets strung up the flagpole.
It’s the Fourth of July, and the big celebration is about to begin. Mr. Crandall goes looking for George Washington’s hatchet for the parade. Sam gives him the hatchet… in the head. A young guy messes up the National Anthem, and Sam doesn’t like that. Ralph, on the other hand, thinks it’s hilarious. Sam kills the kid with a meat cleaver.
There’s a little blind boy, Barry, in a wheelchair who was hurt with fireworks by his friends, and Sam comes to him and offers to get revenge for him. A crooked congressman arrives to give a speech. Jed runs into Uncle Sam, and he’s creeped out, but all right afterwards.
Deputy Phil makes the move on Louise, who doesn’t appreciate it. He thinks that Louise is *still * afraid of Sam even though he’s been dead for years. Ralph is killed, and Jody says it was because he was a crook.
Sally and Louise get sick of hearing Jody hero worship Sam, and they explain what an abuser he was. Jody thinks she’s making it all up.
Night falls, and the congressman is tied to the fireworks display. Boom! Deputy Phil gets impaled on a flagpole.
Blind Barry can’t see what’s happening, but he’s not afraid. Barry tells Jody that Uncle Sam is really his Uncle, Sam. The two boys tell Jed who did it all. The trio goes to Jody’s house, and they see that the coffin holds Sgt. Twining’s body, not Sam.
Jed runs into Sam again, and they argue. Louise and Jody finally see Sam without his mask on. Louise empties her pistol into him without much effect. Jody tells Jed to get his cannon.
Jody keeps Sam busy while Jed goes back to town and brings the big cannon. Jed blasts him, but of course, that’s not enough. Jed blasts him a second time, and this time the whole house explodes around him.
The next morning, Jody burns all his soldier toys.
Commentary
It’s well shot and looks really good. The acting is fair to decent, except for Jody, but it’s all super predictable throughout. The killings are fairly uninspired, and the gore is pretty limited, with most killings happening offscreen.
The actual story here is pretty good. Not all of the people who were killed had it coming, which was a weak point; this kind of film is better when they all deserve it. The deputy and the teenage cook didn’t do anything wrong.
There’s no obvious connection between Sam and Barry, and Barry wasn’t even introduced until halfway though the film. It’s not clear to me why the story needed him, as it adds a whole layer of unnecessary things that aren’t explained.