The Blue Hotel

Description

Seen on PBS

Written by: Teleplay writer Henry M. Patrakis, adapted from the Stephen Crane classic

Stars: David Warner, James Keach

Director: Jan Kadar (Academy Award - "The Shop on Main Street")

Description: Nebraska in the 1880's…bleak, lonely, and far from what you'd expect The Wild West to be. But for a naïve Swedish immigrant, the frontier parlor of "THE BLUE HOTEL" represents the quintessential western fantasy.

No one can convince The Swede that his dime-store notions about The West are foolish. He sees murderous intentions all around him…and in his terror he turns everybody against him.

Inevitably the Swede attracts tragedy. However, who is responsible? The negative Swede? Or the cliquish hotel guests? Academy Award-winner Jan Kadar ("The Shop on Main Street") directs this timely story of how society punishes outsiders for being different.

Description

This pulse-pounding action-adventure stars dynamic screen hero Christopher Lambert (HIGHLANDER I, II, & III) as a hard-edged police officer locked in a desperate do-or-die race against time! Teamed with a rookie cop (sexy Natasha Henstridge -- SPECIES, MAXIMUM RISK), he must quickly track down a savage murderer who threatens the world. But when the chase leads inside the killer's dungeon, the hunters find they have become the hunted! Suddenly, they are forced to save themselves -- and the rest of humanity -- in the ultimate confrontation!

Customer Reviews:

What the heck did Adrenalin (sp) refer to?.......2005-06-29

Was this pre-Species? Anyhow, I don't get it, what was the point of the monster..., an army experiment gone awry, a plague treatment gone awry, a CIA experiment gone awry? We're given no explanation. An Adrenalin(e) experiment gone awry? Adrenalin (sp) refers to ??? the bloodshot eyes?

This was Boston? Maybe the Boston in the Czech Republic. Our police chief did not have a Boston accent.

Interesting point- the monster uses a gun!

It was unexpected!

Can you imagine the Alien shooting at Ripley with a hand gun? It adds a strange dimension to the 'demon in the dark' sense of danger that your usual horror film goes for. That just ain't right.

Did the DVD have any extras on it- like a director commentary as to what the heck he was thinking?

Christopher Lambert Strikes Again.......2004-08-20

For anyone who thinks this is a good movie, or for anyone considering watching it, let me describe to you a little something that happens herein: one of the characters is killed in the middle of the movie, but he appears at the end unscathed -- with absolutely no explanation of what happened. And, as Dave Barry often writes, we are not making this up.

Anyway, for most of the interminable duration of "Adrenalin," Christopher Lambert, Natasha Henstridge, and some other actors I've never heard of star as cops chasing after some psycho in post-apocalyptic Boston. If that premise doesn't sound dumb enough, here are some other bad or just absurdly stupid things in this movie:

* It stars Christopher Lambert.

* It is set after an apocalypse. It was made in the 1990s. It takes place in 2008.

* There was a massive plague in Europe that caused many Europeans to come to Boston. But apparently, they brought their stucco red-roofed buildings and their police cars, which say "Policia" on the side. May I remind you again that this takes place in Boston.

* Much of the movie takes place in a dungeon (see final sentence of last point).

* The villian is really lame (if you want to call him villain, that is -- he's actually infected with an evil virus, presumably the same one that wiped out Europe). He looks like an old man dying of cancer and limps around whenever the camera is on him, but he seems to have super-powers whenever he is off-screen -- a common characteristic of villians in bad horror movies. Whenver he appears, there is also a very silly loud shriek that is often accompanied by a shot of his blood-drenched teeth. Finally, his two weapons are a curved blade and a pistol. If you have the misfortune of seeing this movie, you'll realize how dumb it looks.

* Boston has been quarrantined, and the only way to get out is with a passport. But using a fake one is punishable by death. Natasha Henstridge's character gets such a counterfeit passport for her kid to escape Boston, but it is not clear how she expects for it to fool the authorities because when she drops it at one point in the movie, Lambert exclaims: "A fake passport!"

* We do not get to see Henstridge with her shirt off. They could have at least put that in as a consolation. After all, if half way through this movie Henstridge suddendly declared that it was awfully hot and muggy in the dungeon and that she wanted to remove her clothing in order to gain some relief, it would not have made this movie any worse artistically.

* The correct spelling of the word is "adrenaline."

One final word of caution: Although the things I have listed above may make "Adrenalin" seem so bad that it's good, beware! Much of it is very boring, consisting of the cops crawling through sewars and dungeons with very little action. What little action takes place is incredibly bad, mostly consisting of Lambert getting shot in the arms and shoulders and then writhing in pain. If you want to see one of the worst movies made in the last decade, be my guest. But don't complain when you are unable to erase the hideous memory of this movie from your brain.

horrible from beginnning to end.......2003-10-17

one of Lamberts sucky films with him and Henstridge going after a man with a virus that can speard and they have to kill him before its to late. begins corny with its lame intro to the killer and its god awful few seconds late suspense music, though theres the part where Lambert gets shot up a bunch of times. strikly for nobrainers

a different kind of movie.......2002-04-06

If you're looking for a good story, performances and dialogue look somewhere else. Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (love that name!), deliberately avoids all three, preferring to concentrate on non-stop action, and low-budget action is what Albert Pyun (directer) does best.
While this doesn't appeal to many, if you get into the action you will find Adrenalin a tense and exciting journey, and never boring.

Adrenalin was a good movie.......2002-03-30

A lot of people are being harsh towards Adrenalin: Fear the Rush, when it was actually a pretty good movie. The only problem with the movie is the setting. Otherwise the plot and characters were actually pretty good. It had suspense and a few thrills. If you like science fiction type movies, atleast give this movie a chance.

Average customer rating:

Future Fear
Starring: Jeff Wincott , Maria Ford , Stacy Keach , Shawn Thompson (IV) , and Kristie Ropiejko
Director: Lewis Baumander
Manufacturer: New Concorde
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001KNHMM
Release Date: 2004-05-25

Average customer rating:

An excellent intelligent movie
Good time travel movie with a twist.
Grand Tour
The Church Bells Toll
underrated and almost forgotten

Grand Tour: Disaster in Time
Starring: Jeff Daniels , Ariana Richards , Emilia Crow , Jim Haynie , and Marilyn Lightstone
Director: David Twohy
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008G8N8
Release Date: 1999-06-29

Customer Reviews:

An excellent intelligent movie.......2007-09-07

I first saw this film on tv back in the 90's, it had been retitled 'Timescape'.
Although a low budget sci-fi movie it relies on a clever story and good acting to carry it off. The special effects add to the story, not support it as with some of the higher budget movies.
I had been searching for the film on DVD for some time and eventually found it on DVD under the Timescape name, but the quality of the image on that version is poor in contrast to this release under the 'Grand Tour' name.

Good time travel movie with a twist........2007-09-06

The ending is a little predictable. I like all the movies that deal with time travel.

Grand Tour.......2007-08-24

This is a little different. It will surprise you if you have never heard anything about it. I enjoyed it, and wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. I have been waiting for it to come out in DVD since I lost my VHS tape years ago. You will enjoy it if you like light sci fi. Not grusome, but has its scary parts.

The Church Bells Toll.......2007-08-20

Imagine a group of travellers comes to your Bed and Breakfast at the little town in the country where you live. At first only their persistence to stay seems odd since much of your home is still not painted and sawdust is all over the floors. You wern't planning to open for at least another week. When they pull out stacks of bills saying name your price it is hard to resist. But then you also note one of the visitors is obviously not in tune with his surroundings. Truly a duck out of water. When he is almost killed and his passport reveals some unusual dates it becomes obvious the visitors aren't only time travellers but very morbid ones at that. For it is disasters they want to see. Afterall there is no disease, crime, or war where they come from. So people practically live forever and want for nothing except something exciting. Well written screenplay and good acting from Jeff Daniels make this a winner. Not to much in the way of SciFi as much as life philosophies are important to the storyline. My wife and I recommend it as a rental first. Be sure to catch Jeff Daniels in "Bloodwork" and "Speed".

underrated and almost forgotten.......2007-05-24

This is a fine Sci Fi movie and the roles are well casted. And Hey! I know the man who was one of the set carpenters, so I have a dfferent feel for it I suppose!

DVD:

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