''Crime Zone'' (also known as ''Calles Peligrossas'' in
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
) is a 1989 American-
Peruvian
Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century; Peruvian p ...
science fiction action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
Luis Llosa
Luis Llosa Urquidi (born 1951) is a Peruvian film director. He is best known for ''Sniper'', '' The Specialist'', and ''Anaconda''.
Career
Luis Llosa was originally a film critic. He is known for his early Peruvian work, English-language exp ...
, written by
Daryl Haney
Daryl Haney (born June 21, 1963 in Charlottesville, Virginia), also known by the pen names Duke Haney and D. R. Haney, is an American actor, screenwriter, novelist, and essayist.
Film career
Born to a Virginia farming family, Haney relocated ...
and starring
David Carradine
David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series ''Kung Fu'', playi ...
,
Peter Nelson,
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn (born Sheryl Ann Fenn; February 1, 1965) is an American actress and author. She came to attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) for which she was nominated for a Go ...
, and Michael Shaner. Carradine plays a mysterious stranger who recruits young lovers in an illicit romance (Nelson and Fenn) to commit a crime spree in a futuristic
police state
A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the exe ...
, while promising them an avenue for escape. The film was executive produced by
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...
, who came up with the original concept.
Due to a perceived lack of Peruvian qualities, it was better received by American than Peruvian critics. Corman's
New Concorde
New Concorde (NC) is an American Los Angeles, California based film distribution company founded by Roger Corman. NC got its start in 1983 when Corman formed the production and distribution Concorde-New Horizons (CNH) as one of the first product ...
co-produced and distributed it. After its Los Angeles premiere, it was released on VHS by
MGM/UA.
Plot
In the fictional country Soleil, a brutal police state at war with Frodan, the government sets up a criminal, Hector, who walks into a police trap. Hector is captured alive at the behest of the police chief and is executed live on television after a brief show trial. Bone, who has recently lost his job at a cryogenics facility for not showing the proper respect to authority, meets Helen, a woman forced into prostitution at the government-sanctioned whorehouse. They are immediately attracted to each other and begin an illegal romance despite several close calls with the police. Bone's friend Creon becomes jealous of their relationship and demands that Bone share Helen with him; disgusted, Bone refuses, and they eventually come to blows over Creon's behavior.
After he observes Bone and Helen engage in petty theft, a mysterious man named Jason offers them passage to Frodan if they will steal records from a secure facility disguised as a hospital. Although suspicious, they accept and successfully deliver the information to Jason, who attempts to delay their reward and talk them into further criminal acts. Frustrated and needing money, Bone and Helen rob a bank, quickly becoming the most wanted criminals in Soleil. Creon attempts to blackmail Helen, but she dismisses his threats; before Creon can attack her, Bone saves her and tells Creon that he would kill him if he weren't leaving Soleil so soon. After losing faith in Jason's promises, Bone and Helen recruit J.D. and Alexi to help them escape.
On the run, Helen and Bone hide out in the plague zone, where they encounter Jason, who is revealed to be a government agent. Jason explains that the government long ago ended any major crime in Soleil, and it is his job to recruit citizens to go on government-sponsored crime sprees that validate the powers of the police state. Helen and Bone briefly take Jason hostage, then flee to a safer location, where they discuss plans to rob upper class citizens stored in the cryogenics facility and hijack military helicopters that Alexi can pilot to Frodan. Creon bullies J.D. into betraying Bone and Helen to the police, with whom he has made a deal. Bone kills his former boss at the facility, and Creon tries to take Helen hostage. However, the police arrive and betray Creon, as Helen warned him they would. Creon takes J.D. and Alexi hostage; when J.D. mocks him, Creon murders J.D.
At the military base, Helen and Bone, who escaped the facility, free Alexi and use Creon as a distraction as they hijack a helicopter. Creon begs to be taken with them, but they leave him behind for Jason to kill. Alexi flies Helen and Bone to Frodan, where they triumphantly land and celebrate their freedom. However, Frodan appears deserted, and Jason is waiting for them at the airfield. Jason casually murders Alexi and a police witness, then thanks Bone for making his plans possible. Jason reveals that everything has been a lie: Frodan is a radioactive wasteland, and the war ended twenty years ago; the "plague zone" is actually radiation that has drifted to Soleil. Jason knows too much for his position to be secure, and the information that Bone retrieved for him is his insurance. Jason allows Bone and Helen to escape, telling them that their continued threat justifies Soleil's military expenditures. Jason goes back to Soleil, while Helen and Bone start roaming and walking Frodan's land, searching for a new hope.
Cast
*
David Carradine
David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series ''Kung Fu'', playi ...
as Jason
*
Peter Nelson as 'Bone'
*
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn (born Sheryl Ann Fenn; February 1, 1965) is an American actress and author. She came to attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) for which she was nominated for a Go ...
as Helen
* Michael Shaner as Creon
* Orlando Sacha as Alexi
* Don Manor as J.D.
* Jorge Bustamante as Hector Beeko
* Diana Quijano as Sex Police
Production
Executive producer
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...
, who came up with the film's concept, recruited Peruvian director
Luis Llosa
Luis Llosa Urquidi (born 1951) is a Peruvian film director. He is best known for ''Sniper'', '' The Specialist'', and ''Anaconda''.
Career
Luis Llosa was originally a film critic. He is known for his early Peruvian work, English-language exp ...
to make a futuristic thriller; Jeffrey Middents recounts what he calls an apocryphal story in which Corman signed a deal with Llosa while Corman was briefly delayed in a stopover in Peru. The film was shot in Peru and used
postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture is a style or movement which emerged in the 1960s as a reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of modern architecture, particularly in the international style advocated by Philip Johnson and Henry- ...
to affect a futuristic style. The extras were students and instructors from
The American School of Lima. Llosa said he focused more on art direction than dialogue, and he shot at night to disguise the low budget. The film was a co-production between Corman's New Concorde and Llosa's Iguana Films.
Release
''Crime Zone'' was released in the United States by
New Concorde
New Concorde (NC) is an American Los Angeles, California based film distribution company founded by Roger Corman. NC got its start in 1983 when Corman formed the production and distribution Concorde-New Horizons (CNH) as one of the first product ...
in March 1989.
MGM/UA released it on home video in May 1989. It was included in "Corman's Drive In", a subscription
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel, in 2013.
Reception
Academic Jeffrey Middents wrote that ''Crime Zone'' was better received in the United States than in its native Peru, whose critics rejected it as a
Peruvian film. Middents states that the film was not rejected for being a genre film but instead because it did not have any uniquely Peruvian aspects, especially with its cast of American actors.
[ Michael Wilmington of the '']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' criticized the film as humorless and grim, but he wrote that it rises above its low budget roots to become a competent ''Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'' clone. Drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs
John Irving Bloom (born January 27, 1953), known by the stage name Joe Bob Briggs, is an American syndicated film critic, writer, actor, and comic performer. He is known for having hosted ''Joe Bob's Drive-in Theater'' on The Movie Channel fro ...
wrote, "Sure, we've all seen this story before, but have we seen it with 1,000 Peruvian extras in shiny silver space suits? I think not."
References
External links
*
*
{{Luis Llosa
1989 films
1980s science fiction action films
Peruvian drama films
Peruvian science fiction films
Peruvian action films
American science fiction action films
English-language Peruvian films
American dystopian films
American post-apocalyptic films
Films set in a fictional country
Films shot in Peru
Films directed by Luis Llosa
Films with screenplays by Daryl Haney
1980s dystopian films
1980s English-language films
1980s Peruvian films
1980s American films