Follow-up formula lacks impact

Press, 1 March 1982, Page 13

Follow-up formula lacks impact

*Eihem3*

hans petrovic

KNIGHTRIDERS Directed and written by George A. Romero FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART 2 Directed by Steve Miner Wriften by Ron Kurz The post-summer holiday doldrums usually bring to town a number of small, rather peculiar films which prove of interest to certain cineastes, although usually lacking any other redeeming feature. Two such movies are “Knightriders” (Odeon) and “Friday the 13th, Part 2” (Carlton). Purely the fact that “Knightriders” (about bikies) made it to Christchurch is of some interest, while another intriguing element is that this is George A. Romero’s (“Night of the Living” and “Zombies: Dawn of the Dead”) latest effort. This time, however, Romero has turned from his literally “blood and guts” spectaculars to a supposedly more high-minded form of entertainment.

“Let it all hang out,” seemed to be Romero’s motto for his earlier, visceral . vehicles, while “Knightriders” presents a bunch of “nice" bikies who get their kicks from touring the countryside with their canvas and cardboard

Camelot, presenting a mod-ern-day version of Arthuriantype jousting — the main difference being that a motor-cycle becomes the rusted instead of trusted steed.

The beginning is idyllic enough, with today’s selfappointed Arthur, known as Billy the King, bathing and birching himself at a lakeside setting, donning his knightie (flimsy armour), mounting his charger (bike) and thundering off to the next fray in the form of slam-bam entertainment for small-town groups who are willing to pay about as much to see this show as you may be.

Billy does have his own principles. For instance, he does not want to be associated with the dreaded Evel Knievel, who does his act purely for money and publicity.

No, Billy wants to bring back and embody the ideals of an earlier Golden Age with the trusting assistance of his travelling court. There is trouble in the camp, however, with Morgan (the Black Knight) wanting to leave and set up a more practical troupe. The two groups are reunited by the end, while most of the film is taken up by motor-cycles revving and crashing with little time left for such incidentals as character development. Mercifully, the New Zealand version of “Knightriders” lasts only about two hours instead of the original’s 145 minutes, thus sparing us much of the sweat and carbon monoxide which this film seems to exude. This is one movie which the motor-cycle fraternity should love but. instead, give me the two parts of “Mad Max” which have not been seen here yet. Speaking of films which have their sequels, the original “Friday the 13th” was an obvious candidate for a follow-up. It was nice and gory, with plenty of thrilling surprises falling out of wardrobes or dangling from ceilings. “Part 2” follows exactly the same formula but lacks the orginal impact simply because if

already has been done to death.' The first time round, we have a series of gruesome and mysterious murders at a lakeside youth camp after one of the boys, Jason, drowned there. The culprit turned out to be his demented mother, seeking revenge. That movie ended with an overtone of the supernatural when Jason rose again from the lake — — auguring a sequel. The second time, there is not much difficulty in guessing who the fiend is — Jason is back to revenge the death of his mother. The orginal was the brain child of Sean Cunningham who certainly reaped the rewards from that inexpen-sively-made film. “Part 2” is the work of Steve Miner and Ron Kurz who seem to lack the knack to cash in.

Ah. sequels to “Friday,” “Terror Train” or “Prom Night,” where art thy sting?