Rampage

2023'de #IzlediğimFilmler ; 148. Rampage (1987) Büyük üstat #WilliamFriedkin den yine "underrated" gerilim. Daha sonra "konu" ile ilgili fikrini değiştirip farklı bir son çekmiş olması da tam onluk bir hareket. 7/10

I read somewhere that William Friedkin employed the same technique he used in The Exorcist where he had a refrigerated set, this time for the courtroom. This time it wasn't to capture the actors freezing breath but instead to just make the courtroom setting as frigid as possible. None of this true but there is an almost disinterest in the presentation of the case that surprised me even more harshly after watching Sorcerer again.

This is not a movie about murder so much as a movie about madness, as it pertains to murder in present-day American criminal courts. Friedkin plays both ends and conspires with and against both.

56.500

58.500

Rampage is not just a thriller about a mass murderer, it is primarily a legal drama meant to make you think. As such, its core problem is that it presents the viewers with a false dilemma between the death penalty and an insanity plea that allegedly allows any killer to walk free. The possibility of a moral in-between isn't even raised, which is sad because the subject is interesting. The script is also plagued by other more local implausibilities. Friedkin has done better.

This rating is for Friedkin's recut of the film with the more disturbing ending. The courtroom was really weirdly lit, the spectators were not lit at all at the beginning of the trial which made the opening seem like it was some ghoulish stage play, but the next time we're in there the courtroom is actually lit properly. Stupid thing to talk about but EHN, the movie was really good but you know what would've made this so much better? William Petersen instead of Michael Biehn. Kiss my ass.

Lesser-known Friedkin thriller.

Not a masterpiece or anything, but it *is* a mean, nasty, effective horror film. This didn't get a real theatrical release until the early '90s (it fell through the cracks when DEG went bankrupt), but, when it, did most contemporary horror movies were suffering badly from Kruegeritis; therefore, it was more welcome than usual