Director: William Friedkin Starring: Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, Nicholas Campbell, Deborah Van Valkenburgh Certificate: 18 (UK), R (USA)
"In Modern America, the Boy Next Door isn't what he appears to be."
Plot
A liberal district attorney seeks the death penalty for a serial killer who disembowels and drinks the blood of his innocent victims. The killer's defence pleads insanity.
SPOILERS AHEAD...
William Friedkin, the acclaimed director of arguably the greatest horror movie of all time, The Exorcist, made two movies with Michael Biehn. One was good; the other was Jade. Thankfully I get to discuss the good one today.
I'll set the mood early by explaining that Rampage is one of my favourite Biehn movies; it certainly makes my top five. I'm not sure others would be so generous. Still, I find it thought-provoking and haunting, accompanied by Ennio Morricone's score, which is chilling and beautiful. Trust me, this is a movie that stays in your mind way beyond its closing credits. Sadly, not many people have seen Rampage due to DEG, the distributer, going bankrupt shortly before its intended release. As a result, Rampage was released only in Europe in 1987 and sat on a shelf gathering dust for five years until it found its way into a select few American movie theatres minus ten minutes of footage and a whole new ending. More about that later though.
Rampage tells the story of Charles Reece (Alex McArthur), a young, good looking man who appears charming and affable. Regardless, one Christmas, Reece commits a series of murders by casually strolling into houses and slaughtering his victims in the most gruesome fashion. He later declares that drinking their blood keeps him alive. Reece is captured and placed in custody, where district attorney Tony Fraser (Michael Biehn looking like Hicks arrived back on Earth and popped on a suit) is bought in to prosecute. After visiting the crime scenes and speaking with the family of the victims, Tony, a devout catholic who has recently lost his daughter to pneumonia, decides to pursue the death penalty for the first time in his career. Tony is concerned that should the defence have Reece declared legally insane, he could one day be freed and potentially kill again.
As grim as that all sounds, we don't see a vast amount of violence; much of that is left to the imagination and some nasty looking crime scenes. On that basis, I've always thought the movie title Rampage wasn't particularly fitting. I mean, Rampage sounds more like a movie starring The Rock featuring crazed CGI animals running riot through Chicago... Oh wait, hang on a second...
Anyway, I'd say Rampage is predominantly a courtroom drama rather than a thriller or horror. Much of the movie wrangles with the debate of the basic fundamental human right – that is, the right to life. As someone who is staunchly anti-death penalty, I found how the movie raises its argument both intelligent and contemplative, though I didn't necessarily agree with some of the reasoning.
I was surprised to see Alex McArthur hasn't had a more prominent career. He is captivating in this. Deceptively good looking and utterly terrifying in equal measure, there were also moments where he seemed to have a childlike innocence that made him likeable. Maybe it was my own human psyche being tested?
I enjoyed seeing Michael Biehn in a dialogue-heavy role rather than the running and gunning Hicks and Kyle Reese. He has some awfully long dialogue to get through, particularly during the courtroom scenes and he nails it. That said, a little bit of me was sad that Michael wasn't playing the role of Reece instead as there are some definite elements of Douglas Breen and Charles Raynor in there.
As mentioned earlier, there are two versions of Rampage, neither of which have ever found their way onto DVD. Until recently, I'd only seen the original release, which I had acquired a while back through unscrupulous means sailing the pirate seas. However, I noticed a couple of months ago that you can now buy Rampage digitally on Amazon Prime in the UK. I paid my £6.99 and was intrigued to find it was the re-edited 1992 version.
Having now watched both, I firmly prefer the original. The '92 version comes in ten minutes shorter. It loses much of the footage showing us Tony's home life and ensuing strain on his marriage as he is drawn deeper into the case. The original also emphasises Tony's struggles coming to terms with his young daughter's death, which allows the audience to question his true motives when deciding to pursue the death penalty. Is he simply guilty that he was unable to save his daughter?
The most significant difference is the ending which results in two completely different outcomes for Reece. The 1987 version is more evocative and affecting. We lose scenes in which Tony starts to question his decision to pursue the death penalty, as well as Reece's passionate plea to be saved in order to make up for his crimes. Thankfully both versions keep the scene in which we flashback to the death of Tony's daughter. As Tony relives the terrible ordeal in his mind, Michael's acting means no dialogue is necessary.
Rampage deserves so much more attention, though over thirty years later, that doesn't look like that's about to happen any time soon. If there are any distributors out there that can get the rights to this movie and release it on DVD with both versions present, you have one guaranteed buyer right here.
Conclusion
I like Rampage a lot - I would typically recommend renting it on Amazon if you are in the UK, but I'm a little hesitant on this occasion as I think you're missing out on too much of what makes this movie worth watching. Those lost ten minutes and alternative ending change this from a must-see movie to an alright movie. Why only have a slice of cheesecake when you can eat the whole thing?
Rampage is available to rent and purchase for streaming in the UK via Amazon Prime. Apart from that, it's basically impossible to track down unless you find an old VHS copy on eBay or an active torrent.
IMDB: 6.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes: Critics = 44%, Audience = 51% (As of October 2021)
Dies? / Villain?
ALIVE! For once, there is no threat to Biehn's character. / Not a villain, he's a guy trying to do the right thing and finding himself in the centre of a moral dilemma.
What Does Michael Say?
"Rampage is a movie that I am proud to be in, it's a really good film. Unfortunately, because of the bankruptcy, it's a very good film that got overlooked." Fangoria Rampage Retrospective April 2021
What Did This Movie Teach Me?
It doesn't matter how clever we become with technology; we'll never be any closer to solving the conflicts of life and death.
Anything Else?
Due to its delayed release, rumours built up (Pre-Internet days) suggesting Rampage had been banned due to being too violent; that was simply not true of course.
William Friedkin states that his reasons for editing the ending on the 1992 version was due to his own feelings about the death penalty changing in the intervening years.
If you are unsure of where you might recognise Alex McArthur from, he is the baby daddy from Madonna's Papa Don't Preach video.
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