Flicks of Shame: what's a nice actor like you doing in a movie like this?

Mind Ripper (1995)

You’d think by now that everyone would know shady military experiments to create the ultimate soldier always – yes, always – result in the creation of psychotics, monsters and, quite often, psychotic monsters.

So if your dad was involved in such shady military experiments, would you go with him as he interrupted your family camping trip to investigate strange calls for help from within the secret military outpost hosting said experiments? And what if your dad was played by Lance Henriksen, a man who has been menaced by Aliens, Predators and Terminators (plus Pumpkinhead and sundry other monsters) in his long and illustrious genre career?

If you’ve got a braincell in your head, the answer is clearly “no”. If you’re Giovanni Ribisi, making your movie debut, the answer has to be “yes”.
And so the perpetually sulking Giovanni tags along (albeit reluctantly) on this fateful diversion – together with his sister and her impossibly stupid boyfriend. Luckily, entry to this top secret installation is through a small unguarded door in a quarry so there’s no problem with daddy’s decision to bring the kids to work.

What waits for them inside? A psychotic monster gone insane, that’s what. Pumped full of vaguely scientific sounding chemicals, this poor human guinea pig starts to devolve into a bald lunatic with no ears and a craving for human pineal glands – which he devours via a penile proboscis which pops out of his mutated mouth. And to add to his multitude of self-esteem issues, they’ve called him Thor.

In typical monster movie fashion Thor makes short work of the adults, and almost gets to chow down on the grey matter of Lance Henriksen himself, but – wouldn’t you know it - petulant but plucky Giovanni discovers that the monster is mysteriously attracted to the heavy metal spewing from his Walkman and, together with his equally resourceful sister, manages to save the day by luring Thor into a trap, hacking off his brain-slurping mouth-cock. He even conveniently recalls his childhood flying lessons to scoot the family unit to safety in the nick of time, learning to love his dad along the way. Which is quite sweet when you think about it – though it’s a shame so many people had to die painfully just to shake him out of his angsty teen angst rebellion.

So, yes, Giovanni survives his encounter with the brain-sucking terror of Thor – and his career somehow survived his appearance in this ploddingly gruesome slasher. Mind Ripper marked his first feature film appearance outside of TV movies, but within three years he was working with the likes of Richard Linklater, David Lynch and Steven Spielberg. Not bad going.

Need to know: Mind Ripper was the first movie to be released under the dubious auspices of the Wes Craven Presents banner - not because it’s a great movie (it really isn’t) but possibly because it was co-written by one Jonathan Craven, son of the famous Elm Street director.

Availability: Mind Ripper can be found on budget DVD in the UK and US.

		Mind Ripper (1995) You’d think by now that everyone would know shady military experiments to create the ultimate soldier always – yes, always – result in the creation of psychotics, monsters and, quite often, psychotic monsters. So if your dad was involved in such shady military experiments, would you go with him as he interrupted your family camping trip to investigate strange calls for help from within the secret military outpost hosting said experiments? And what if your dad was played by Lance Henriksen, a man who has been menaced by Aliens, Predators and Terminators (plus Pumpkinhead and sundry other monsters) in his long and illustrious genre career? If you’ve got a braincell in your head, the answer is clearly “no”. If you’re Giovanni Ribisi, making your movie debut, the answer has to be “yes”. And so the perpetually sulking Giovanni tags along (albeit reluctantly) on this fateful diversion – together with his sister and her impossibly stupid boyfriend. Luckily, entry to this top secret installation is through a small unguarded door in a quarry so there’s no problem with daddy’s decision to bring the kids to work. What waits for them inside? A psychotic monster gone insane, that’s what. Pumped full of vaguely scientific sounding chemicals, this poor human guinea pig starts to devolve into a bald lunatic with no ears and a craving for human pineal glands – which he devours via a penile proboscis which pops out of his mutated mouth. And to add to his multitude of self-esteem issues, they’ve called him Thor. In typical monster movie fashion Thor makes short work of the adults, and almost gets to chow down on the grey matter of Lance Henriksen himself, but – wouldn’t you know it - petulant but plucky Giovanni discovers that the monster is mysteriously attracted to the heavy metal spewing from his Walkman and, together with his equally resourceful sister, manages to save the day by luring Thor into a trap, hacking off his brain-slurping mouth-cock. He even conveniently recalls his childhood flying lessons to scoot the family unit to safety in the nick of time, learning to love his dad along the way. Which is quite sweet when you think about it – though it’s a shame so many people had to die painfully just to shake him out of his angsty teen angst rebellion. So, yes, Giovanni survives his encounter with the brain-sucking terror of Thor – and his career somehow survived his appearance in this ploddingly gruesome slasher. Mind Ripper marked his first feature film appearance outside of TV movies, but within three years he was working with the likes of Richard Linklater, David Lynch and Steven Spielberg. Not bad going. Need to know: Mind Ripper was the first movie to be released under the dubious auspices of the Wes Craven Presents banner - not because it’s a great movie (it really isn’t) but possibly because it was co-written by one Jonathan Craven, son of the famous Elm Street director. Availability: Mind Ripper can be found on budget DVD in the UK and US.
Text © 2008 Dan Whitehead. No cut and paste, y'hear? All images remain the property of the offending studios and their reproduction is covered by Fair Use law.