Ghost Rock (2004)

...so, it's generally agreed that this is an awful movie...my first glimpse (on TV) involved a short scene of a reverend digging a fresh grave in a cemetery: did anyone happen to notice the over-sized weathered headstone with '1886', and yet the movie is supposed to be set in 1882? If the mistakes were just in continuity, at least it would be fun to watch. As it happened, we were either bored or slightly less bored in the action scenes - had to turn to a different station 20 minutes in. The question remains: Why waste the celluloid? My advice is to not bother wasting the brain space, because there are so many other westerns that incorporate ghosts/martial arts/retribution in a much more palatable package. Too bad - I was looking for a Gary Busey movie that was more than his standard "bad guy" persona. Oh, well,,,

A white Kung Fu bounty hunter Michael Worth returns to his hometown of Ghost Rock to find it controlled by a group of sleazy villains led by mayor Gary Busy (in an amusing performance) who revel in terrorizing an innocent Chinese family.Despite some moments of extreme corniness, like the beautiful blonde aping Sharon Stone in The Quick And The Dead (in turn aping Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter) and the dance hall girl who invents the lap-dance, it's all pretty unpretentious fun with lots of familiar faces like Adrienne Barbeau, Rance Howard, James Hong, and Jeff Fahey hanging around.A snappy pace, decent photography, a bit of gratuitous nudity, and some spirited dialog help make this a watchable if not inspired B-flick.

Michael Worth stars as a gun-runner who goes up against the local mobster (Gary Busey) who wiped out Worth's friends and family years ago, however a mysterious blonde has returned and is killing of Busey's gang one by one, also on hand is Jeff Fahey who is fairly useless to the High Plains Drifter rip off storyline. When I think westerns I don't think of dynamic martial artistry combining with six-shooters. There is a problem of tone and due to this the movie never gels and we are left to flounder in the silliness of watching a hybrid of two genres that never mix that well. The best of these hybrids was Lone Wolf McQuade but the movie this reminds me was the Olvier Gruner starred dud The Fighter. Which also combined kickboxing with western antics, the western ripped off there was Shane, where as this one rips off High Plains Drifter, even down to the "twist" at the end. This is of course a very silly effort but Dustin Rikert is not much of an action director and for this the movie is fairly dull.*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

Alright, the movie might have been poorly scripted... and directed... and acted... and, um, edited... not to mention poor sound production with regards to dialogue synching and Foley (when someone falls through a solid wood hitching post it does make a sound)... BUT it features Adrian Barbeau.Well, she alone might not make up for all of the problems this movie features. I believe it was a conscious decision to cast her so that when the movie bombed she might catch the attention of her fans and push the movie into cult status (She did make Swamp Thing).If you don't want read spoilers, don't go any further. Not that it matters much with this movie, but I like to be polite.First of all, straight razor slash cuts bleed... a lot.Secondly, if you want us to understand that a character dies, show that character die. I had no idea if the little girl in the beginning of the movie was dead or alive. Maybe Johnny should have visited her grave when he returned to town? Speaking of Johnny, when we see him in the first scene, he is a thirteen-year old boy hiding in a barn to avoid the bad guys. Years later, how are we supposed to know he was the boy hiding in the barn? Throw in a sequence where he dreams about the incident? Yes, it's cliché, but it would have helped.Speaking of clichés, STOP! At least they make note of the fact in the dialogue that "Everyone is talking in riddles."In a magical world where ghosts not only interact with other characters and take baths, apparently they also grow older. How is your audience supposed to know that this woman is the little girl from your youth? As a matter of fact, how did Johnny know? He didn't recognize her, it isn't possible.Maybe, if you had shown Johnny and Savannah exchange gifts (a necklace or something) then you could have used that item to identify them later. I realize this would have taken more time to develop, so drop the scene where the preacher is frightened by the bad guys in the middle of nowhere. The slaughter of the Marshals should be enough to convey their arrival.Speaking of the arrival of the Marshals, since when do they ride in the engine of the train? Well, we see the remains of a train later in the fight scene, so apparently it was wrecked years ago and just the locomotive is in operation? Having been to the studios where they made this movie I can answer that one, all they have is a locomotive.In conclusion, get the word out to Cult Movie fans, see this movie. It has potential to be the next great cult classic!