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| Year: 1989 Rating: ***1/2 |
In the mid-1980's, starting out with famously low-budget Cannon Films in MAKING THE GRADE before breaking into Universal stardom for THE BREAKFAST CLUB, by 1989, Judd Nelson was back in the little leagues...
Getting first-billed in exploitation drive-in maestro William Lustig's RELENTLESS, a kind of revamp of WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS involving Nelson as a man-child serial killer, motivated by the media's goading perception of his ultra-violent actions based on lonely loser motivations...
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Judd Nelson in RELENTLESS
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That's until later... as most of the story's an equal trading-off of two genres and characters: a horror/thriller where Nelson's offbeat weirdo stalks and kills various victims (like he's a resilient Michael Myers), and a police-procedural involving third-billed but actual central star Leo Rossi, a New York cop turned LA detective, partnered with experienced, world-weary Robert Loggia...
Their scenes feel like something from an hour-long episodic TV-series, including Rossi's home-life with Meg Foster, sharing about the constant bickering against his veteran partner: not wanting to work very hard to stop a killer who can't be stopped...
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| Robert Loggia and Leo Rossi in RELENTLESS |
Yet director Lustig's more at home with Nelson's side, ultimately targeting three victims and, a combination of his MANIAC and MANIAC COP body-count vehicles, these are the most suspenseful scenes... each murder with its own beginning, middle and end...
As Rossi, who would headline two straight-to-video sequels... making RELENTLESS one of those franchises no one asked for... is always a surprisingly effective in-your-face actor despite his usual c-movie billings, while Judd Nelson... who's more than effectively pulled-off hyperactive scoundrels with THE BREAKFAST CLUB or slowburn ant-heroes like in BLUE CITY... could have been played by anyone.
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| From RELENTLESS |
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| Harriet Hall in RELENTLESS |
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| Judd Nelson in RELENTLESS |
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| Elizabeth Lambert in RELENTLESS |
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| Mindy Seeger in RELENTLESS |
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| Judd Nelson in RELENTLESS |
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| Meg Foster in RELENTLESS |
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| Leo Rossi in RELENTLESS |
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| Eddie Bunker in RELENTLESS |
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| Judd Nelson in RELENTLESS |
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| Frank Pesce and Leo Rossi in RELENTLESS |
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