Uncle Sam (1996)

best movie i've ever seen.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Uncle Sam: Directed by William Lustig and written by Larry CohenOh man I have been waiting for ages to see this movie. I'm a big fan of the great Larry Cohen and the last time these two teamed up was the Maniac Cop series. I love the Maniac Cop films. They are fun, creepy, gory and crazy pants along with beautiful filmmaking all at the same time. I wanted this movie to be the same. I know, I know. I preach the expectations gospel and I turned around and succumbed to it myself. I wanted this movie to be like Maniac Cop. It does briefly. It has some of the kills that reflect the theme of the uber American. He uses the flag, the uniform and the traditions of 4th of July to his sick advantage over flag burners, crappy politicians and various other un American types. This sadly is but a brief moment in the film's story and runtime. I really wanted to like this movie. We needed a cheesy fun horror film for the holiday but I can't in good conscience go with this one. Some of the characters show up randomly half way through the movie. I'm scratching my head and wondering what for. Isaac Hayes is delivering a performance way outside of what this movie requires. He brings so much more to it than he might be expected to. He helps make this movie than it's incredibly, awesome poster. I stayed for Chef and he carried the movie even through the BS.This is an easy watch. It meanders a bit in the beginning to get the story going. It doesn't need to. It could launched right into the crazy American stereotypes killing but it doesn't. It tries to give characters to it's victims but it doesn't work. They are the lambs, let's just lead them to the slaughter already!?!I give this movie a C. It had good elements and bad. I can't recommend it but I didn't hate it.

I have not seen this movie in such a long time, back when Hollywood Video was still in business by my house. I noticed that it had a picture of Uncle Sam and then when you turned the cover it would reform into a skeleton version of him with his skin falling off. This movie is brought to you buy the director of Maniac (William Lustig) and the writer of It's Alive (Larry Cohen), which were both very good horror movies with a great subtext entwined into it. This film would probably fit under my Guilty Pleasures of the horror genre next to C.H.U.D., The Rats and Sleepaway Camp. The first time that I saw this movie I laughed but the more and more look back on it, the more I have a certain respect for it. Sure the plot is thin and the acting is so-so but there is something about this movie that captures my eyes. Maybe it's the fact that it is a satire or maybe because it incorporated all the basic fundamentals of b-movies of the 80's and 90's. Either way, this movie was pretty okay, and put an emphasis on "okay." I will also give a big handshake to whoever thought up the way to approach the opening credits.I would recommend this movie, not as a key buy at Blockbuster or Wal-Mart, but as a DVD or VHS rental. This movie would especially satisfy the taste that so many B-movie connoisseurs want to quench. I found myself liking this movie to a point and I think that I always will.

Uncle Sam represents the only non-Maniac Cop collaboration between Larry Cohen and William Lustig, which is a shame. Aside from just making a derivative psycho killer film, it seems obvious that writer Larry Cohen wanted Uncle Sam to have some brains too, which is shown by the attempt to inject a message into the proceedings. Larry Cohen is definitely a huge talent when it comes to entertaining horror movies - films like The Stuff, It's Alive and, of course, Maniac Cop are camp classics if you ask me; but he really should stick to entertainment, as this screenplay is a mess and the 'message' is so jumbled up that I have little idea what exactly it's preaching. The plot follows a young boy who believes that his uncle, who is coincidentally called Sam, is a hero. Uncle Sam was a patriotic, lunatic soldier killed by friendly fire whilst fighting for his country. His body is brought to his sister's place, coincidentally around the time of the Fourth of July celebrations. It's not long before his fellow Americans are abusing their privileges, and Uncle Sam decides to get up and do something about it.It's hard to take a movie about a war veteran zombie seriously, and this is something that Cohen should have taken into account when putting pen to paper. The clear message on show is that war is bad, and there appears to be a backhanded comment about the way America handles people who don't submit to their 'way of life'. However, American politicians can rest easy because the central figure here is murdering people pretty much at random; which saps any weight out of the theme. In my opinion, Cohen should have decided what it is he wanted to write; a slasher, or a film with substance. However, even as a horror film, Uncle Sam falls short. We've got some nice gore scenes on display, but much of the running time is spent on building up the plot with the kid and his admiration for Uncle Sam, and to say the least; it isn't very interesting. The film is very slow to start, with practically nothing happening in the first half of the film. Good sequences are few and far between, but I've got to say I liked the one that saw a stilt-wearing pervert prying into a girl's bedroom and the one that saw someone falling down a hill in a sack race. Neither of those grab you? This film won't either. Uncle Sam fails on every level.

The director of "Maniac" teams up (again) with Larry Cohen, the infamous writer of "It's Alive", "The Ambulance", "The Stuff", "Q - The Winged Serpent", "Bestseller" and a s***load of other genre pics, The result is... rubbish. How could Bill Lustig go so wrong" A dead war vet returns to America, rises from the dead, and goes on a hacking spree. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, the film has no style, no class, no good murders, and it's as funny as AIDS. It is sad to see the man who brought us "Maniac Cop", "Vigilante" and "Relentless" drowning in mediocrity of his own making. The ad art promised a dark, smart horror pic. The movie delivered a cinematically challenged pile of vapidity.