Movie Review: Adrenalin - Fear the Rush

Before we had Uwe Boll we had Albert Pyun as a fine purveyor of low rent genre films. As a matter of fact, he is still active making such films for the direct to video crowd, although I do not recall the last time I actually sat through one. When watching a Pyun movie, and I have seen a few over the years, I often wonder what his creative process is like. I often suspect he sees a cool location and tailors a tale to it rather than crafting a story first. However, I will not lie, I have enjoyed the occasional piece of Pyun output.



The movie at hand is an odd little ditty saddled with a woeful title. It is called Adrenalin: Fear the Rush. Yes, rather unwieldy and misspelled to boot. The spelling is likely due to its production being in, I believe, Slovakia. In any case, it is a post apocalyptic action movie that is perhaps a few steps above a Full Moon Entertainment release. As a matter of fact, the music reminds me of that of Richard Band.

The movie stars cult/B-movie star Christopher Lambert and model turned actress Natasha Henstridge, hot off her debut role in Species. So, going by those two, you should not expect much in the acting category. There is one recognizable face in the supporting cast, that being Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster) as a government spook.

The movie begins with stock footage and voice over telling of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the mistaken release of a chemical warfare agent called virulent microphage, which I believe just means bad germ. It created a wave of death across Europe scattering refugees to the corners of the world. This story is set in a refugee town near Boston in 2017 (although I have seen it written as 2007, I wonder if there are different years on different cuts?). You see, the US will not let in the potentially diseased, but won't turn them away either. They have created their own cities and governments in rundown towns.

This is all just window dressing to get is to the location with some sort of set up. It has no bearing on the plot, well, what plot there is, and wants us to believe this is Boston, I presume to allow better sales in the States (we all know how well foreign set films sell here). The problem is that most of the characters have Eastern European accents, the buildings look suspiciously like bombed out former Soviet block. and the police uniforms and cars are labeled "POLICIA." Hmmm.

Well, the movie opens with a group of thugs hanging out in the rubble strewn streets. One goes around the corner sees somebody, gets to close, and is promptly gutted. His pals hear a scream, get too close and are gutted, save one. He gets away, finds some dudes in hazmat suits and tells of a mean monster killing people. Now Henstridge is a rookie cop (names don't mean much in this movie) and is sent with her partner to track the monster thing. So, off they go and for most of the movie we have a chase. Yes, this is a chase movie.

Stuff happens, back up is called for and two more cops come, including Lambert. They chase the bad guy through sewers, grimy hallways, air ducts, and through an old prison. I would describe plot, but there is not much to say. The characters run around, shout, don't say much, get attacked, get shot multiple times and miraculously keep moving. There is a brief interlude where a couple of spooks tell us that the mutant guy is carrying some super nasty malaria. Well, they reveal that to be a cover and head in after the cops.

I just thought of something, this is making the movie seem more exciting than it really is. There is thin story, zero character development, and a lot of boredom and screaming. However, I will give it some points for setting. The look is really good. There is a lot to be said to the crumbling buildings, dirty hallways and shadowy passages. Pyun may not be a very good director, but he gets the most out of the setting. Now that is probably the best thing going for it, well that and the fact it is only 75-minutes long.

Not Recommended.