Crime Zone Movie Review

Title: Crime Zone

Format: DVD 

Year: 1989

Label: Warner Bros

A dystopian future. A controlled society. A police state at war with a rival nation. This movie borrows heavily from George Orwell's 1984 - but lets be honest, every futuristic movie on the planet borrows from 1984.

The story revolves around a subgrade ( lowest class of society ) who loses his job as a security officer. I can't remember his name. It's not important. He dreams of upgrading so that he can have a wife and family - this is not permitted in the subgrade zone.

Our hero meets a prostitute who works at the house of pleasure, the only place for subgrades to legally have sex. They fall in love very quickly while playing pool. They are aproached by David Carradine who offers them a job which could lead to their freedom. But not all is as it seems.

The story is pretty good and the characters are well defined. The acting is not too bad. The direction is pretty solid and the sets are excellent.

The script is ok. I'm not sure if it's the direction, acting, script or most likely the editing, but there are a few places where it feels slow, even in parts with dialogue. The neon tubing everywhere is a little overkill, but on the whole the colours and general late 80s feel sit well with the story. I found the movie entertaining and the DVD release from warner brothers is definitely deserved. The picture and audio quality is good.

It reminds me of a lot of the mid 80s Rutger Hauer films which were riding on the back of Bladerunner. Falling short but standing alone in their own subgrade worlds. All in all I would say that this film is worth a watch if you are a b-movie sci-fi fan. It's not a hidden gem, but it is memorable and worth adding to your collection. It is only available on dutch import DVD at the time of writing this review.

UK Films Rating: 5.5/10
Release Rating: 7/10 - Good picture and sound.
Did James like it? Yes