Destroyer
Destroyer
R | 01 April 1988 (USA)
Destroyer Trailers

A prison riot breaks out at the moment of a serial murderer's execution by electrocution, and his fate becomes indeterminate when the prison is shut down. 18 months later, a team of filmmakers converge on the prison to film a women-in-prison exploitation flick, but find that a certain somebody is disrupting their shooting schedule...

Reviews
Interesteg What makes it different from others?
Supelice Dreadfully Boring
BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.
Sandcooler For some reason every slasher from the late 80s has to have a quirky, wise-cracking killer, even though a mindless killing machine is usually a whole lot scarier. Our Freddie Krueger rip-off du jour (played by steroid-enhanced NFL star Lyle Alzado) ends every sentence with "bitch", laughs maniacally at his own non-jokes ("I just want to talk you...hahahahaha", did he forget the punchline?) and worst of all is on screen far too long. That whole trope with the villain trying to be funny works when there's actually some decent writing involved and the finale doesn't last forever ("Scream" would be an obvious example of doing it right). In this one the killer plays cat and mouse with the final girl for almost half an hour, the pacing of this movie is very weird. You have a very slow build-up, a somehow even slower third act, and somewhere in between everybody dies (mostly off-screen at that) in a span of ten minutes or so. There's one scene though that almost redeems the film, not too surprisingly it's the one scene that has an on-screen kill. It's the only scene that really warrants the coveted so bad it's good label, and I was hoping to see more of that. Unfortunately, the rest is just stale and generic.
Coventry Totally obscure slasher/action "thingie" from the late 80's that really doesn't have such a bad basic premise, actually. It's just suffering slightly from an overall clumsy execution, like pitiably written dialogs, lousy acting performances and not enough usage of great set pieces. "Destroyer" opens with the pretty awesome electrocution of a beefcake serial killer Ivan Moser, whose last wish was to watch an episode of Wheel of Fortune. It's a bit of a weird sight, but later it becomes clarified that the show's hostess was one of the killer's last victims. The first attempt to barbecue Ivan fails, and then riots break out in prison and the killer mysteriously vanishes. Years later, the abandoned prison is used as the setting for a sleazy and so-called "women-in-prison" flick; although the writer is convinced his film is a drama based on true events. Mr. Beefcake killer comes back to life and apparently one of the film's crew member, stunt woman and girlfriend of writer Susan Malone – has a psychic link with him. "Destroyer" is a very uneven horror effort. The film starts off very slow with a few extended and gradually build up towards murder sequences, and then suddenly shifts in high gear with multiple off-screen killings. The few on screen kills are disappointing and the giant jackhammer illustrated on the VHS cover hardly makes an appearance. Thanks to the film-within-film structure, however, there are some very welcome gratuitous nude sequences to enjoy. There isn't any real tension to detect in "Destroyer" and the beefcake dude, regardless of how ugly, isn't menacing at all. The guy, Lyle Alzado, apparently was a famous American Football player during the 70's and 80's. Hey, I'm European so I never heard about him before. To me, he's just a lousy wannabe actor who looks like the bodybuilder version of Luciano Pavarotti or maybe even Dom DeLuise on a really bad day. There's also a miserable little supportive role for washed up superstar Anthony Perkins as the director of the sleazy WIP-flick. At times, you can actually see him think back about the glorious days of "Psycho".
hop21711999 Yeah i love this movie, lots of people will say its terrible but those are also the same people who try to take this movie seriously which you can not. Its funny as hell, now was it meant to be funny? Yes and no i think, i am thinking they were looking for some laughs but not nearly as many as you will get from watching it. My favorite part is where Lyle is dressed as a cop or security guard, something along those lines and this guy comes up to him and asks him about the outfit and Lyle says "its a disguise" and the guy says "disguise from what?" and Lyle says "From You!!" and i think thats the part where this real big jackhammer comes out. Real funny stuff there, also there was a cool part with Anthony Perkins in the electric chair trying to get out before the current cameup to get him. Great stuff, now if only i could find this somewhere to buy since its getting very hard to find now.
Jtalledo At first glance, Destroyer looks like a very promising film for horror fans on paper. In an era where the slasher flick was in its prime, it looks as if this film sets itself apart from the rest. It features a human enemy who seems to be more of a genetic freak than an indestructible demon who does not target teenagers, as the bad guy usually does in recent entries of the genre. However, all the positive points end there and what we're left with is another excessively gratuitous gorefest that most horror fans won't take seriously.Beyond Anthony Perkins, there are no seriously notable names in the movie. It's too bad that such the horror icon did not have a notable body of work after his defining performance in "Psycho", making several mediocre "Psycho" sequels and b-movies like this. Nevertheless, he plays his role as skin flick director to a T. Other than the two heroes, everyone else in the movie is either there to get killed or say a few lines. And the heroes aren't even of note either. The only difference they have with everyone else in the movie and in the number of lines they have. There is never any development of their characters, so you don't know what special qualities they possess that make them the good guys in the end other than mere coincidence and serendipity.If there's one thing the movie has going for it, it's the way some of the characters get dispensed. There's a nice scene with a blowtorch and the movie's best part, involving a huge drilling device (as seen on the video box). However, as the movie goes on, the scenes become a little less graphic though we are treated to some body parts strewn around and some wax-museum quality bodies. Credit must be given to Lyle Alzado, who looks VERY menacing as the main bad guy. He shows a bit of acting ability in this movie. Throughout his brief career acting after football, which was cut short after he sadly succumbed to brain cancer, he was thoroughly underused as a main villain in movies.In short, the Destroyer is a decent weekend b-movie. Its partly refreshing perspective on the slasher genre and its almost humorously over-gory scenes make it a fun movie to watch and laugh at with a few friends. Look for some nice (if inadvertent) homages to horror classics the Shining (with the blood on the wall sequence) and Friday the 13th (with the gotcha! end of the movie). Finally, be sure to sit through the credits for a very weird name for one of the movie's songs. The laughs are definitely worth a cheap rental.