Fleshburn (1984)

Here's a great premise for a film, that sadly wastes a bunch of bloody good actors in what is one hell of a disappointing and short changed result. I had seen this movie on the video shelves in the 80's and pictured a different story and made Kanaly as the star lead, another disappointment, as I really wanted to see this good actor strut more of his stuff. On the flipside, in what must be his first and only lead, is the underrated Indian actor, Sonny Landham, and I was quite taken aback by this cast placement. Who's, Sonny Landham, may you ask? You'll know if you watched a lot of Walter Hill, or Arnie movies, etc, in the 80's. He really turns in a good, if fine performance, but also he's a character we kind of sympathize with, someone unfairly institutionalized kind of his religious beliefs, marking him as a looney. Taking revenge, he escapes, the first scene, heralding a much exciting show to follow. But like the arid, hot bitch of a desert, he dumps these four psychiatrists off, responsible, for his incarceration, the movie becomes an arid watch and adventure, a game of wits to overthrow their nemesis, who seems to be one step ahead, and not far out of reach, the suspense factor takes an actual dump, like other things. There is a beautiful panoramic, if quite mesmerizing, bewitching, five second shot, just as the four are dropped and the camera does one of those now, childish slow zooms in. The story does work to a very realistic, 'What you would do scenario?", but the movie is just one long arid bore, with little violence,and a little of anything else in it. The ending sucks, and you'll see why, relieved, nut unfulfilled. Film's only worth is in it's honest and good performances. Karen Carlson is good in anything too. Your might feel your flesh burn in this movie, but your anger and anger and patience may boil. The writer of this film. deserves to be dropped off in the hot stinking desert.

This one of the most boring movies i have ever seen!. Nothing happens, until the final 15 to 20 minutes!, it's basically just people wandering around, screaming and arguing, there is hardly any action, just lots of boring dialog, with unlikable characters, and a pretty uninteresting main villain.I got this on a 8 horror movie 2 disc set. I don't really have anything more to say, about this, god awful film. The Direction is terrible!. George Gage, does a terrible job here, with a boring location, terrible camera work and most importantly the pace is extremely boring!. There is a tiny bit of blood, a few bloody gunshot wounds, bloody stabbing, gory bird attack. The Acting is not good at all. Sonny Landham, is bad here, he is uninteresting, and seemed bored, i like the guy, but his performance here was terrible. Steve Kanaly, is okay but nothing great as the main hero,and was the best of the lot. Karen Carlson, is annoying, here, and very unlikable.Same goes Macon McCalman Overall Avoid like the plague! BOMB out of 5

I saw Fleshburn on video. The picture on the video cover suggests that the film is some kind of post-apocalyptic B-movie, but in actual fact it's nothing of the sort. As it happens, Fleshburn is based on a novel by Brian (Death Wish) Garfield, and is an outdoor thriller akin to Deliverance, The Most Dangerous Game and Open Season (1974).Navajo Indian and ex-Vietnam vet Clavin Duggai (Sonny Landham) has spent several years in a mental institution, having left a bunch of Indians to die in the desert over an argument about witchcraft (!) He escapes from the institution and sets about finding and kidnapping the four psychiatrists who recommended that he be sent there in the first place. First on his list is unhappily married couple Shirley (Karen Carlson) and Jay (Robert Chimento), followed by resourceful Sam (Steve Kanaly) and homosexual Earl (Macon McCalman). Having rounded up his victims, Duggai drives them off into the middle of the desert, where he abandons them. From a safe distance he watches as his four victims weaken physically and mentally in the unforgiving desert environment.Fleshburn falls between two stools. It isn't quite fully-blown trash, nor yet is it a serious psychological study. Landham as the despicable Duggai isn't much of an actor, though his weak performance is counter-balanced by Kanaly's excellent work as the most gutsy of the victims (wonder why he was never a bigger star?) The film is interesting throughout, if never truly engrossing, and director George Gage manages to tell his story competently. The ending tries to be clever - a compromise rather than a confrontation - but it feels oddly unsatisfactory. All in all, Fleshburn is a passable film, never quite as good as it wants to be yet never so bad that it taxes one's patience.

The title and cover try to promote this as some sort of horror thriller, but don't be fooled; it's really a revenge/survival story. It's meant to be about man's primal instincts, which surface under extreme circumstances, but it's so unconvincingly done that the four protagonists never seem to be more than an hour's walk away from civilization. Completely boring, filled with scenes of people just walking or driving around, it also resorts to all the usual stereotypes about paranoid Vietnam vets and evil, witchcraft-practicing Indians, having as a villain a man who is both of the above! In short, I'd rather be stranded in the middle of the desert than having to see this film again. 0 out 4.