Director/producer James Glickenhaus made some of my favorite
films in the 80s. I loved THE EXTERMINATOR, THE SOLDIER, THE PROTECTOR and
SHAKEDOWN. They were action films that grabbed you by the throat and held you
there. So when I heard Severin was releasing Glickenhaus’ first film, one I
wasn’t familiar with, I was excited to say the least. What I ended up watching
was something different than the rest.
THE ASTROLOGER follows an organization known as the Interzod
Organization. Funded over centuries by various groups they’re currently part of
the US government. What the organization does is determine people’s “zodiacal
potential” to determine if they will be good or bad and act accordingly. Their
current head is Alexei Abernal (Bob Byrd) who has determined that the second
coming is about to happen. The only problem is whether or not the child will be
born to a good or evil father.
While all of this is going on Alexie’s wife Kate (Monica
Tidwell) has seen a fortune teller who is concerned about what her future
holds. Somehow the woman could tell when she gave her date of birth it wasn’t
correct. Kate is also having issues with Alexei since even though they’ve been
married several years he still hasn’t had sex with her. Could it be there is a
connection between her and the birth being predicted?
Add to this a mysterious stranger, the leader of a suicide
cult who has appeared in Kate’s dreams. Kajerste (Mark Buntzman) is a mystic
from India who plays a part in what is transpiring as well. But just what part
he will play isn’t known until the end.
So is the movie any good? Well yes and no. It has a truly
interesting story based on the book by John Cameron (Glickenhaus’
father-in-law) and plenty of story on hand. Perhaps that’s the biggest problem
though, it feels like it has too much story. The convoluted plot is drawn out
in lengthy back and forth dialogue filled moments without a lot of other things
taking place. This gives us a slow paced film that suffers slightly because of it.
In spite of that the movie is interesting and holds your interest.
Made on a shoestring budget and Glickenhaus first feature
film he even notes that the movie provided him the opportunity to learn from
the experience, the biggest lesson being films need more visual actions to hold
an audience’s attention. Watching this film compared to his others you can see
he learned the lesson well. The film does show promise for a young first time
director though.
The acting here isn’t the worst in the world but it is very
dry. Byrd plays the role as well as can be but still has difficulty putting any
emotion into the part. That he has no other credits to his name isn’t
surprising. Perhaps the only cast member to appear in more films is Tidwell who
parlayed her appearance as a Playboy centerfold into this film and 5 more. She
shows potential here but it went unused as most of her films offer less acting
and more of her displaying her charms.
For fans of Glickenhaus and those who long to have a
complete collection of the director’s films this is a treat though. Severin has
gone out of their way to make this a quality offering beginning with a 4k scan
of the original negative from the director’s personal answer print. While the
film stock isn’t great you won’t get a better picture. In addition to that they
have a number of extras that make picking this up worthwhile. They include
“Sign of the Times” an interview with Glickenhaus discussing the film, “Monica
Tidwell Remembers THE ASTROLOGER” an interview with Tidwell, “Tales from the
Set” interviews with filmmakers Brendan Faulkner and Frank M. Farsel, “Zodiacal
Locations” a look at the various locations used in the film today and a
reversible cover using the other name the film was released under, SUICIDE
CULT.
I’ve praised Severin before as I have Arrow Video and will
continue to do so. Why? Because they are rescuing forgotten films that fans
have sought out over the years and been forced to own multi-generational
bootleg copies of. Their respect to these films and their handling of them
needs to be encouraged and applauded. So if you’re a fan of Glickenhaus or this
film, this is the copy you need to own.
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