The Mean Season (1985)

The main reason why I wanted to see this movie was an opinion of one IMDb user that this is "Zodiac" of the 80's. I couldn't ask for better recommendation. Unfortunately , "Mean season" turned out to be a disappointment. The fact that it has a decent (6.1) rating is beyond me. Considering the quality of the movie it should 4.5 or something.I had quite high expectations , but I doubt that anyone with at least half of brain won't be angry at "MS". The story is very thin and predictable. There was only one real twist in the movie. There is no real interesting investigation here. The screenplay barely throws us any clues to work with. In David Fincher's "zodiac" there was quite a lot of possibilities and potential clues that made viewer's brain work.There is awfully lot cliché scary tactics here. Unless you're 5 years old, you shouldn't be scared. The scenes of violence lack tension. The movie tries to be psychological , but fails. The red herring at the end was pathetic.The acting is OK. Kurt Russell tries hard to put some life in a rather bland character. Andy Garcia is wasted here. Muriel Hemingway was rather annoying. The guy who plays a villain has a nice scary voice. Too bad his physical appearance is unimpressive.There is one nice chase scene and twist. One scary voice. It's too little to make this dull movie worth watching. I give it 1/10.

The premise of this film is okay and all the actors are very good. The late Mr. Jordan is especially effective, being able to play anything from a top-level executive to a war-torn, mentally disabled veteran. But. Evidently the producers couldn't make up their minds whether this was adult drama or a teen-age horror flick. How many times have we seen the scary scene that turns out to be nothing but the cat coming through the window? Okay, no cats here, but that basic scene played over and over throughout the film. Just when you think we're getting somewhere, it turns out to be another false alarm. The other unforgivable aspect was that the reporter is obviously an intelligent person. He sees early on that he's dealing with a real psycho and he realizes early on that the psycho knows a great deal about him; his home phone, his address, and the fact that he has a live-in girlfriend. It was practically announced that the crazy was going to snatch the reporter's girlfriend before this went its course, and of course he did. Why oh why, I asked myself, did this intelligent, educated and well-informed man allow his girlfriend to stay in a flimsy house that has a front door that barely stays closed with this guy on the loose and always looking for a closer connection to the reporter. And of course they couldn't resist the final scene. Like all teen-age horror films, this one had to have that inevitable final snapper. Considering the rest of the film, this too was so predictable that by the end of the film I knew they couldn't pass it up — and they didn't.

I liked this film very much. I thought the plot was unique. When a newspaper reporter (Russell) gets such a break - a killer calling him with just enough information to make them both famous, one has to understand the writer's following up and getting involved. Maybe it wasn't one of Kurt Russell's best films, to put it mildly, but he didn't hold back. He was understanding when the script called for it, romantic, when the script called for it and frightened when the script called for it. Muriel Hemingway was good, too, and her chemistry with Russell was interesting. The music was compelling and location (Miami) colorful. Don't underrate this film. Watch it with an open mind and enjoy yourself. The other star in this film is the hurricane (mean season) and if you've ever lived in Florida, you know how the tension builds when a storm is coming. Richard Jordan is an added attraction. I've never seen him before, but as the murderer, he was scary and convincing.

I think that The Mean Season is an under-appreciated, tightly crafted suspense thriller that, in spite of what other reviews have claimed, does not pander to too many cliché's--this film is old enough to have helped establish those very same tropes that have since become clichés. Remember, this was made before Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, 15 Minutes, etc etc...and was one of the first films to deal with the whole notion of fame/celebrity/serial killers and the lack of ethics displayed by journalists. The film benefits from excellent performances from Kurt Russell and Richard Jordan. As the two leads they carry the film and Richard Masur,as Russell's editor, sells every line of his character's dialog with complete conviction. Andy Garcia makes a very strong impression and he is perfectly paired with Richard Bradford, who reminds me so much of my 1st step-father (an ex Marine Corps drill instructor turned cop)that i have absolutely no trouble believing him in the role of a burned out, bitter homicide detective. Mariel Hemingway is awful, as always. A truly terrible actress.The direction by Philip Borsos is very tight. His framing and cutting remind of Hitchcock, there is a certain stylish elegance to the images (each of the killings is filmed with a minimum of blood but to maximum stylistic effect) and all in all the plot hurtles forward at just the right level of intensity. I will admit that there are 2 examples of ridiculous false scares in the film which were apparently studio-mandated(no surprise, really)and I guess I should deduct points for that and Lalo Shifrin's sometimes bombastic score--but I am not going to... because after 21 years of mostly pale imitators, The Mean Season is looking better and better with age.