Much as I adore Lance Henriksen as an actor, having seen all of his recent films, I'm beginning to wonder if the man even refuses turn-down service at hotels — because he sure doesn't turn down anything else! (However, his name emblazoned across the front of this DVD is misleading… he shows up, wheelchair bound, about half way through the film to deliver a few cheesy lines, then goes away.) Clearly undiscerning as he is, I am still shocked he'd lend his name to such an absolutely, unequivocally, no-holds-barred baddie.
Dying God not even a stealth baddie — right off the bat it looks like it was shot on a 7-11 surveillance video camera, and it only goes downhill from there. The actors try (especially leading man James Horan, who plays a corrupt cop reluctantly on the trail of a vicious villain), but not even the Christ channeling Meisner could rise above all this. From the shaky cinematography, to an illiterate script, to mix-n-match editing, dodgy direction, nails-on-chalkboard music, and non-existent production and set design… there is absolutely nothing to recommend Dying God.
As it turns out, the serial killer is of the supernatural kind — he's an overly-endowed, oversexed South American deity called a "Kurupi" and he's in search of a mate who can take all three-feet of the love he has to give — but because the mothers-to-be he chooses are hookers, and because Detective Fallon is so reviled and friendless, the crimes go unsolved for far too long. Like, for 85 minutes.
Some of the special effects are not altogether awful; while most of the violence takes place off-screen, the corpses in gory aftermath help qualify Dying God as a horror film. But mostly, it wants to be a science fiction noir, painting Fallon as hard-driving Hammer'esque tough guy and setting the story mostly as mystery (though the only true mystery is how this turkey ever got out).
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson