By Geno McGahee
In 1993, LEPRECHAUN was a hit and it paved the way for the 1995 horror flick RUMPELSTILTSKIN . I’ve heard that this film was a rip off of LEPRECHAUN, but Mark Jones wrote and directed both films. Jones has the right to rip off his own work if he wants to and this film isn’t really a rip off. It has many similarities but it’s different enough to stand out and proved that Jones can write about creepy little people infinitely and make it fresh.
Shelley Stewart (Kim Johnston Ulrich) has a great life. She has a baby on the way and a great police officer for a husband. Russell (Jay Pickett), the loving husband, is not a fan of rap music but he’s a damn good cop. Unfortunately, he gets shot multiple times in the line of duty and dies, but not before he gets a shot off and blows the head off the thug. Poor Shelley now has to raise the child alone and sincerely misses her man. She has a great image of him standing in his police uniform, proudly. This should be a lesson to those cop haters. There are some good cops out there.
Out on the town with her friend, Shelley stumbles upon a piece of art at an antique store. She buys it but it holds a terrible secret. It’s not really a piece of art. It’s an evil being that has been trapped but can be released with a tearful wish. Shelley’s friend, Hildy (Allyce Beasley), is the first to wish and she wishes for a hot boyfriend, but there is no tear and so it doesn’t happen. When she leaves, Shelley wishes for the return of her dead husband and then sheds a tear as she remembers her man. The next morning she wakes up next to Russell and thing are back to normal…for now.
She hears Russell taking a shower but when she opens the door and sees a hideous monster known as Rumpelstiltskin (Max Grodenchik). Rumpelstiltskin has granted her wish and now wants her to complete the deal and give him the baby. Shelley refuses and fights back and shoves a broomstick down his throat. It’s a very disturbing sight to see Rumpelstiltskin deep throat a broomstick.
The chase is now on as Shelley makes a run for it. Amazingly, Rumpelstiltskin knows how to ride a Harley and tractor/trailer as well. It’s sort of strange that he immediately knows how to control these vehicles, but it probably has to do with him being magical. The fact that he elects to wear sunglasses at night was odd, but maybe he was alert during that time he was trapped in that statue and kept up on what’s cool. Who knows? Perhaps this is not a film that should be analyzed.
On the road, Shelley teams up with shock jock, Max Bergman (Tommy Blaze). Max is a rude jerk, but he does the right thing and tries to help Shelley and her child. He goes head to head against Rumpelstiltskin and nearly kills him when he runs him off the road. Rumpelstiltskin proves hard to kill and that battle goes on, leading to one final battle.
Overall, RUMPELSTILTSKIN isn’t a bad film. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and just presents a fun factor. Sometimes, the humor is too forced, primarily with the Max character, but the comments from Rumpelstiltskin were funny at times. Tommy Blaze did a good job as the shock jock, despite the not so funny humor he had to work with at time. He did well as the unlikely hero.
I recommend RUMPELSTILTSKIN. If you’re looking for just a silly horror film, it’s worth a watch.
Rating: 6/10