There's nothing wrong with a depressing horror film. A lot of really good ones are, but when you're as unappealing and downbeat as Star Time is, it becomes a real chore to get through.
The surprising part is that this movie doesn't look like some long lost, crummy straight to video production. It looks fairly glossy with some striking shots and good production design. The acting isn't awful either, but there's nothing very gripping about it and the film never allows us to develop any major feelings for its characters.
You have a wannabe star who is convinced by an agent to start killing people to make himself famous, which sounds like an interesting enough concept, but it's hard to care what happens when the lead character is neither intimidating enough to scare us or pathetic and well developed enough for us to be on his side.
Star Time
1992
Action / Crime / Drama / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Star Time
1992
Action / Crime / Drama / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
When his favorite television show is canceled, Henry Pinkle is driven over the edge and decides to commit suicide. Then he meets Sam Bones, a mysterious agent who promises happiness and stardom - if he follows his instructions, engulfing him in an increasingly downward spiral of brutality and murder...
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
June 14, 2019 at 02:21 PM
Director
Top cast
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720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Bland and Depressing
I just don't know what to spoil.
This movie, while superbly written, and acted in by top notch thespians, is kind of like The Twilight Zone on crack/cocaine. Alexander Cassini wrote and directed a masterpiece here. Easy as top notch, as TCM or Pyscho. Some aspects can't help but be repeated through-out the ages as there are 100's of suspense horror movies, but as everyone else typed, John P. Ryan is an excellent Devil/inner dark id. Brilliantly written accounts acted by St. Gerard as a scared and screwed up "psycho killer". The end is amazing too. Very much like The Twilight Zone or Tales From The Crypt. Repetition isn't always bad. The roles acted even with a lesser extent Teefy's character is awesome. They have this title on Amazon as of this writing. If you can't rent it, buy it. If you think it sucks sell it to me. I like it. I watch ten copies of it. This movie though is trippy. It almost drives you cooky as he is going to said place, in the beginning. The first thirty minutes of this movie is worth the watch. I agree with people before me. Hidden gem...
Henry just wants to be a star
Sadsack Henry Pinkle (an excellent and credible performance by Michael St. Gerard) sinks into a suicidal depression after his favorite TV show gets canceled. Sinister and mysterious agent Sam Bones (marvelously played with lip-smacking wicked relish by John P. Ryan) encourages Henry to follow his advice to becoming a star on the news by assuming the lethal persona of a psycho called "The Baby Face Killer."
Writer/director Alexander Cassini's offbeat and intriguing film not only serves as an intelligent and provocative meditation on American culture's obsession with celebrity, how the oversaturation of the media in the modern world can easily blur the fine line between fantasy and reality, and the basic human need to amount to something, but also makes a chilling central point on how loneliness and alienation can make someone dangerously unstable. Gerard and Ryan both do sterling work in their roles. Maureen Teefy lends sturdy support as concerned social worker Wendy. The handsome cinematography by Fernando Arguelles offers a wealth of striking surreal images. Blake Leyh's quirky score adds to the overall oddball mood. Recommended viewing for fans of idiosyncratic indie horror fare.