By Geno McGahee
“You’re a breeder cow.” – Laurence Dvorak (Bruce Davison)
I’m a huge sucker for horror DVD sets and when I see one for five bucks and with 20 movies that I have not seen, I’m sold. I found this one 20 pack of horror from Echo Bridge Entertainment and the majority appear to be Made for TV flicks and not really horror films. What do you expect for 5 dollars? I’m not complaining.
LIVE! FROM DEATH ROW concerns TV newswoman, Alana Powers (Joanna Cassidy) as she does a live interview with serial killer, Laurence Dvorak (Bruce Davison). Powers is ambitious and sensationalistic, doing anything she can to succeed, which prompts her cameraman, Joel (Jason Tomlins), to quit. He elects to do this one last interview, but he’s done after that. He doesn’t appreciate her approach to the craft. I didn’t appreciate his shirt. I don’t know what costume designer they had for this shoot, but Joel is wearing a shirt with a pattern that is just a bunch of other shirts. His shirt has images of other shirts…hundreds of them. I guess he could say “I’m wearing a hundred shirts bitches,” but he never did and he was in prison where many of the inmates are called “bitches.” It would have fit the story perfectly.
Dvorak is charming at first but, with the help of other death row inmates, takes the news crew hostage and some guards as well. Dvorak’s plan is to execute all of the inmates, including himself, on live TV…or at least that’s what he claims. The hard ass guard, Lockart (Art Lafleur), I felt bad for. He got beaten up constantly and then put in the electric chair. For some reason, he screamed for Dvorak to pull the switch. On live TV, Dvorak explained why the tough cop wanted death. During a prior riot, Lockart was the sex slave of the prisoners for 17 days, as the police negotiated his release. 17 days? I think that is a little bit much. Then, they allow him to return to his job and he wants to? Poor Lockart should have found another line of work where the chances of prison rape are lessened.
Death row inmate, Lorraine (Kathleen Wilhoite), was a strange addition to the group. I didn’t think that there was a mix of females and males on death row. Perhaps this is only a case of movie magic. This was a very different role for Wilhoite. I’m very used to her playing the eccentric and strange sort of character, but here, she comes off as very sincere and likable. As much as I enjoyed her performances in MURPHY’S LAW and WITCHBOARD, I think she was far better in this role.
The movie really lives and dies with the performance of Bruce Davison as the serial killer. Davison is a very good actor and capable, but this role wasn’t right for him. I think that they were going for a Ted Bundy sort of approach and he just didn’t come off as scary or intimidating. Davison may only be part of the problem. The role itself needed work. I didn’t have any interest in the character at all and he wasn’t believable. The other characters were pretty interesting and well played, but Dvorak is where this movie should have soared and the character is forgettable.
The movie moves along at a snail’s pace, but it’s written well enough to keep the interest. I loved the look of it. It reminded me of the 1980’s SOV films like VIDEO VIOLENCE, but the punch that it should have had wasn’t there. However, the ending was fun and the (spoiler) death of Dvorak was pretty funny. It was the moment that Davison elected to play the role really over the top. I wonder if the director was holding him back in this. I think the role would have been much better played out if he wasn’t so calm all of the time.
LIVE! FROM DEATH ROW is a decent made for TV movie. It’s not a must see, but if you’re bored and have 90 minutes to spare, it’s worth a watch. It is worth a watch if you are compelled by people that wear shirts with patterns of other shirts on them. Damn, that was an interesting shirt.
Rating: 5/10
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