American TV series or program
Full Eclipse
is a
1993
science fiction
crime film
directed by
Anthony Hickox
. Starring
Mario Van Peebles
and
Bruce Payne
, the story is set in
Los Angeles
where the police department has assembled a unique squad of officers who possess the ability to turn into
werewolves
. The tagline of the film was: There's a new police force on the streets... and they only come out at night.
Plot
[
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]
Max Dire is a
Los Angeles
detective who is feeling the strain that his profession entails when his wife of two years, Liza, accuses him of bringing his work home. Max's partner, Jim Sheldon, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. Realising that Max is experiencing problems, Adam Garou, a high-ranking officer, distinguished by his success in reducing crime in other big cities, invites Max to join him at his apartment for a weekly meeting with other police officers who are experiencing difficulties. Adam advises Max that since he is a good detective and he should try to solve his problems rather than quitting the force. Although Max is sceptical as to whether he will derive any benefit from the meeting, as he and his wife had already attended counselling sessions without success, he reluctantly attends the meeting where he meets other police officers such as Casey Spencer and Ramon Perez. Everyone who Max meets at the meeting praises the impact that Garou's influence has had on their fortunes. Max soon realizes that the activities of the group also entail embarking on vigilante missions to clean the streets of criminals. Max notices that each of the group members injects themselves with a strange chemical, which he learns has been produced by Garou. After they have injected this chemical, Garou and his team become more powerful and seemingly impervious to injury. The next day Max attempts to advise his incredulous boss of the strange goings on, but to no avail. Max eventually begins taking the chemical and participating in the vigilante missions. However, he meets a deformed ex-police officer, who used to work with Garou, in a holding cell. The ex-officer warns Max that after the streets are cleaned of crime, all of the officers who work with Garou are killed (though he had escaped). He also explained that his deformity was caused by overuse of the chemical. Max subsequently finds Garou extracting the chemical from his own brain with a syringe and realizes that he is a werewolf.
Cast
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Reception
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]
The film has received mixed to positive reviews. Kim Newman, who reviewed the film for
Empire
magazine, described it as "harebrained fun with lotsa guns and lotsa cool lines".
[1]
Joseph Savitski, who reviewed the film for
Beyond Hollywood
, stated that although the film is 'slick and entertaining, it’s too bad
Full Eclipse
is never able to live up to its innovative concept and become a superior werewolf movie'.
[2]
Savitski also commented that "
Payne
is masterful as Detective Garou, a seductive and evil villain with arrogance and confidence to spare. When he's on-screen, Payne demands the attention of the audience, and you're hard pressed to resist his performance. Payne is also the perfect adversary, the kind you're supposed to hate, but who has the charisma to draw you in nonetheless".
[2]
The script writer
Richard Christian Matheson
stated that "most monsters have a sort of grudge against humanity, but I don't think Garou does: he simply dislikes crime. That makes him interesting, and Bruce really brings all of these nuances out. He's a wonderful actor and a very bright man".
[3]
Matty Budrewicz of
UK Horror Scene
stated that Payne's performance was 'completely electric..., unleashing a turn of magnetic and seductive evil'.
[4]
Bryan Kristopowitz stated that
Full Eclipse
'is a very cool movie and a terrific concept'.
[5]
Kristopowitz commented that '
Mario Van Peebles
does a good job as Max Dire', '
Patsy Kensit
does a fine job as Casey' and that
Bruce Payne
is terrific as Garou as 'he just oozes malice and sleaze before you even know what Garou is all about, and then Payne somehow manages to amp up all of Garou’s horrible qualities'.
[5]
Another reviewer stated that
Full Eclipse
'is an epic action/horror hybrid with enough twists and turns to keep every viewer engaged'.
[6]
Gary Collinson stated that 'what
Full Eclipse
lacks in logic (and humour) it makes up for in
John Woo
-esque action sequences and a reasonable budget to unleash a decent amount of destruction'.
[7]
Another reviewer described the film as 'like an early 90's
John Woo
flick, only with werewolves' and stated that 'while
Mario Van Peebles
was excellent as the lead, special attention must be made to the lead villain here, played by none other than resident bad guy
Bruce Payne
, and oh my word is he just amazing here'.
[8]
In Dan Lopez's view although
Full Eclipse
'is initially exciting and interesting, it decays into an overly simplistic, badly orchestrated horror film about midway through'.
[9]
Garrett Collins stated that the film was a 'pretty pleasurable hour and a half, which is also infused with a real listenable, almost
John Carpenter
-ish score by
Gary Chang
' and that '
Peebles
is watchable enough, and
Payne
(
Passenger 57
) is a slimy bad guy'.
[10]
Scott Weinberg described the film as a 'so-so amalgam of cop procedural and werewolf mayhem'.
[11]
Ryan Turek noted the influence of the
X-Men
comics on the film and stated that it was 'awesome' and 'overlooked'.
[12]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Newman, Kim.
"Full Eclipse"
.
Empire
. Retrieved
30 May
2011
.
- ^
a
b
Savitski, Joseph (5 September 2004).
"Full Eclipse (1993) Movie Review"
.
BeyondHollywood.com
. Archived from
the original
on 1 October 2012
. Retrieved
8 May
2011
.
- ^
Matheson, Richard Christian.
"Full Eclipse: Full Moon Fever: Police Lycanthropy"
.
Fangoria
. Archived from
the original
on 1 October 2012
. Retrieved
29 August
2011
.
- ^
Budrewicz, Matty (26 April 2014).
"COPS AND WEREWOLVES: A FULL ECLIPSE retrospective with director Anthony Hickox"
.
UK Horror Scene
. Retrieved
29 April
2014
.
- ^
a
b
Kristopowitz, Bryan (21 October 2020).
"The Gratuitous B-Movie Column: Full Eclipse"
.
411mania.com
. Retrieved
26 October
2020
.
- ^
"WEREWOLF COPS RUN AMOK IN LA IN FULL ECLIPSE (1993)"
.
ultimateactionmovies.com
. 29 April 2018
. Retrieved
27 October
2020
.
- ^
Collinson, Gary (3 August 2014).
"The Dusty VHS Corner: Anthony Hickox, from Sundown to Full Eclipse"
.
flickeringmyth.com
. Retrieved
26 October
2020
.
- ^
"90s Action Attack!: Full Eclipse"
.
robotgeekscultcinema.com
. 5 September 2015
. Retrieved
26 October
2020
.
- ^
Lopez, Dan (5 October 2001).
"Full Eclipse (1993)"
.
digitallyobsessed.com
. Retrieved
26 October
2020
.
- ^
Collins, Garrett (18 November 2011).
"[Rewind] Full Eclipse (1993) by Garrett Collins"
.
supermarcey.com
. Retrieved
26 October
2020
.
- ^
Weinberg, Scott (28 September 2004).
"Full Eclipse"
.
eFilmCritic.com
. Retrieved
26 October
2020
.
- ^
Turek, Ryan (1 September 2014).
"A Look Back at Full Eclipse: When Early-'90s Action, Werewolves & X-Men Influences Collide"
.
comingsoon.net
. Retrieved
27 October
2020
.
External links
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