HALLOWEEN may have come and gone, but its spirit lives on in Night Trap (1993, Guild Home Video, 90 minutes) which sees Michael Ironside play an 800-year-old dude looking for humans to victimise.
His playground is New Orleans and his playtime is Mardi Gras, when the townsfolk dress up in strange costumes and dance the night away. This time he chooses embittered cop Robert Davi to torment - leaving a trail of dead bodies.
Night Trap does not dwell on the occult aspects of its plot too much, preferring to go for action and gore. Both Davi and Ironside are as solid, the only weak spot is the film's slow pace.
Now, if you picked up a film called Hexed (1993, Era, 89 minutes) and its synopsis named the lead character as Hexina, you would naturally assume you were going to see a film in which witchcraft featured, yes? No. Claudia Christian is supermodel Hexina, but apart from an advertising billboard in which her eyes light up a luminous green, she has no connection with the netherworld.
Our heroine has a penchant for killing people who annoy her, like the chap from the mental hospital trying to blackmail her, or the hotel manager intent on seducing her. Caught in the middle is front desk clerk Ayre Gross, who has long harboured fantasies about her.
This is a bizarre black comedy, and Christian cuts loose so completely she does appear to be genuinely possessed at times, while Gross is as colourless as always.
