Delta Heat (1992)

Anthony Edwards comes to New Orleans from LA to investigate his partner's gruesome death down there. The killing matches the m.o. of a serial killer who seems to have died in an explosion years earlier but no body was ever found--dun dun dun.... Edwards is referred to the retired (and hook handed) detective who was chasing down said killer played by Lance Henriksen--does Lance want another chance to nail down that killer (who took his hand in the explosion that was supposed to have killed him???) What do you think??? A little humor here goes a long way towards making this one watchable. There's the usual cultures clashing stuff (Edwards being a slick LA cop complete with flashy clothes and coiffed hairstyle vs. Henriksen's swamp rat complete with a rat tail hair style to match--he lives on an abandoned property surrounded by swamp and alligators--he's very content being left alone til Edwards comes sniffing around) But Henriksen gets in some very choice one liners, and even the fisticuffs that break out between the two partners is well staged (because what's a good mismatched buddy cop movie if the two partners don't get into a giant fistfight at one point?) Its overall a very solid watch, with a somewhat decent-ish twist ending that the movie does a pretty good job of trying to trick you with (i had suspicions, but i was fine with it) Its too bad it didn't spawn a sequel because i absolutely would've watched another movie with these two teaming up for another crime.

(Some Spoilers) When LAPD Detective Bill Keegen, John P. Feritta, tracked down who's really pushing this heavy heavy sh*t, designer drug, into L.A from New Orleans that he ended up brutally and ritualistically,Voodoo style with his heart cut out, murdered. That's when Det.Keegen got a bit too close in finding out who's the person or persons behind all this drug trafficking in town.Showing up to finish the job that his partner Det. Keegen started is LAPD Detective Mike Bishop, Anthony Edwards, and he immediately runs into a road block in nobody wanting to talk about the dangerous drugs, a cross between Crack & Ice, out on the street and the person behind them the late psycho killer and former city drug kingpin Antoine Forbes. In fact Forbes has disappeared into the Bayou some three years ago during a police shootout where NOPD-New Orleans Police Department- undercover officer Jackson Rivers, Lance Henriksen,ended up with his left hand getting chewed off by an hungry alligator when he, after Forbes blew up his drug factory, fell into the swamp!It's in fact Rivers old boss Capain "Scarface" Crawford, Rod Masterson,who suggests that Bishop team up with the now retired and hermit-like Rivers in that he knows both the city and swamps,where Det. Keegen's murderer is suspected to comes from, better then anyone Old Captain "Scarface" can think off. Meanwhile Rivers who since he lost his left hand had developed, by working out at the gym, the most devastating left hook since Sonny "The Big Ugly Bear" Liston and "Smokin Joe" Frazier had in their heydays. It's with that explosive and lethal and wicked left hook that Rivers does far more damage to the bad guys then anything he could come up with in the arsenal he has stored in his shack deep in the Bayou. It takes a while and a number of dead bodies for both the now good old cop buddy boys Bishop & Rivers to figure out who's behind not only this new drug being spread all across country, from New Orleans to L.A, but who in fact murdered Bishop's partner Detective Keegen. And as we and Bishop & Rivers soon find out those responsible were there with them all the time right under their noses but they were too blind, by looking in other directions, to notice them. And with that the two cop's lives are now in danger of being snuffed out just like Detective Keegen and anyone else who came too close to uncover their, the drug pushers, operation!***MAJOR SPOILER*** The real big surprise in the film wasn't who was behind all this murdering and drug pushing in New Orleans but the whereabouts of the what at first seemed to be deceased drug kingpin Antoine Forbes. We soon find out with the help of Forbes daughter Vicky, Besty Russell, that he's in fact alive but not quite well living, if you can call it that, in a private sanitarium outside the New Orleans city limits. We get the see what looks like a mummified Antoine Forbes as he's slowly turned around and placed in front of the camera which has the same effect on the shocked and terrified movie audience as the famous turnaround scene scene in the movie "Psycho" when we finally get to see Norman Bates mummified mother! The difference is that in the case of Forbes he's, or at least he supposed to be,alive and Moma Bates was quite dead!

Yes, charismatic cult actor Lance Henriksen was basically the one and only reason I decided to watch "Delta Heat". Luckily he plays one of the leading roles - with verve, as always - and he even has a hook for a hand! Well, more like a tool, really, as he still has his hand but it's severely traumatized due to a drug-bust gone bad which had him landing in a river, after an explosion sent him off flying, where his arm got munched on by a crocodile. A strangely edited flash-back scene in slow-motion that was! But yeah, whatever.Was this movie any good? Yes and no. Parts of it play out like a cop-buddy kind of film, with Anthony Edwards & Lance Henriksen teaming up to find out who killed Edwards' partner and what all is going on with the alleged drug trafficking in the swamps. They both had okay chemistry together, so I didn't mind that. The kind of mystery plot wasn't too bad either; you basically have to figure out who the bad guys are along with the puzzling enigma surrounding the character of Forbes, the supposedly dead & crazy drug-lord. The 'guess what's going on' aspect was fairly good constructed as well. But what absolutely didn't work, was the humorous approach to numerous events. A hook-joke here, a witty line there, Edwards getting all his suits messed up, etc. And to make it worse, the musical score tried too hard to make it obvious that we're supposed to find this funny.One thing that did freak me out rather immensely though... I have to be careful how I put this or I might give away too much plot info... Let's just say at one point we get to see a severely deformed human being. The dude freaked me out completely. And while trying to wrap my head around the fact how they managed to pull off his looks with conventional make-up sfx, I completely overlooked the obvious... That was a latex dummy? I guess the image on my VHS tape was a bit blurry, because I got fooled over this one. I guess it had to be a dummy, or otherwise they must have found some seriously messed up extra out there in the Louisiana swamps...But in general, this is just the okay film to watch on a cold & rainy, Sunday afternoon. Luckily, I might add, the sensual & sexy Betsy Russel was a welcome apparition and sure heated up some scenes. I just figured out she's also starring in the last five "Saw" films or so (together with Shawnee Smith - there's another beauty from the past), so I guess that's as good as any reason to finally check them all out.

Any Lance Henriksen movie is worth a look, and there are quite a few to look at. Some are unwatchable like "Sasquatch Mountain", then there are the overlooked gems like "Delta Heat". Sure it's another mismatched buddy cop film, but the humor is there, the plot is acceptable with a twist ending, Lance Henriksen plays a colorful swamp rat perfectly, and the film has definite entertainment value. If a movie entertains, then the mediocre acting, humongous plot holes, and low budget really don't matter. Another plus here is the great Louisiana location filming, and an appropriate soundtrack. "Delta Heat" is a winner in the "B'movie sweepstakes. - MERK