Big city girl Jennifer (Meg Tilly, "Psycho II"), a dancer by profession, goes back to her small hometown with her boyfriend Stuart (Tim Matheson, "National Lampoons' Animal House"), a surgical resident, in tow. Jennifers' mother (Lorinne Vozoff, "Heart and Souls") had snapped and attempted suicide, and when Jennifer & Stuart get back, they find that the local populace ALL seem to have lost their minds. They're all giving in to their basest impulses, having no more moral filter. And very few characters in this thriller seem to be immune to this epidemic of madness.
"Impulse" is a solid, entertaining 80s example of the "small town going mad" genre populated by films like George Romeros' "The Crazies" and its remake. While it really lacks the style and social comment of a filmmaker of Romeros' caliber, it's properly intense and disturbing, in its best moments. It does get the viewer thinking about how ugly things could get in any burg if we all started doing any bad things of which we could conceive. A highlight sequence has Jennifer trapped inside a burning garage. All in all, the tone is commendably grim, and the cast give very effective performances. The location shooting in Northern California gives it great atmosphere, and the score by Paul Chihara ("Death Race 2000") is first-rate.
The cast also includes the wonderful Hume Cronyn ("Cocoon") as the local doctor, John Karlen ('Dark Shadows') as Jennifers' father (a dairy farmer), Bill Paxton ("Aliens") as her brother, Amy Stryker ("The Long Riders") as her good friend, Claude Earl Jones ('Dark Night of the Scarecrow') as the Sheriff, Robert Wightman ("Stepfather III") as Howard, and the great character actor Peter Jason ("They Live") as a mysterious government man.
Violent without being particularly gory, "Impulse" knows how to reel you in with its opening sequence, and rarely offers a let-up until its rather downbeat conclusion. Incidentally, I would disagree with the notion that this is too slowly paced; I think its pace is just right, and appreciate the fact that the filmmakers don't try to rush through this story.
Written by Nicholas Kazan ("Reversal of Fortune") and Don Carlos Dunaway ("Cujo"), and directed by 80s genre specialist Graham Baker ("Alien Nation", "The Final Conflict").
Seven out of 10.
"Impulse" is a solid, entertaining 80s example of the "small town going mad" genre populated by films like George Romeros' "The Crazies" and its remake. While it really lacks the style and social comment of a filmmaker of Romeros' caliber, it's properly intense and disturbing, in its best moments. It does get the viewer thinking about how ugly things could get in any burg if we all started doing any bad things of which we could conceive. A highlight sequence has Jennifer trapped inside a burning garage. All in all, the tone is commendably grim, and the cast give very effective performances. The location shooting in Northern California gives it great atmosphere, and the score by Paul Chihara ("Death Race 2000") is first-rate.
The cast also includes the wonderful Hume Cronyn ("Cocoon") as the local doctor, John Karlen ('Dark Shadows') as Jennifers' father (a dairy farmer), Bill Paxton ("Aliens") as her brother, Amy Stryker ("The Long Riders") as her good friend, Claude Earl Jones ('Dark Night of the Scarecrow') as the Sheriff, Robert Wightman ("Stepfather III") as Howard, and the great character actor Peter Jason ("They Live") as a mysterious government man.
Violent without being particularly gory, "Impulse" knows how to reel you in with its opening sequence, and rarely offers a let-up until its rather downbeat conclusion. Incidentally, I would disagree with the notion that this is too slowly paced; I think its pace is just right, and appreciate the fact that the filmmakers don't try to rush through this story.
Written by Nicholas Kazan ("Reversal of Fortune") and Don Carlos Dunaway ("Cujo"), and directed by 80s genre specialist Graham Baker ("Alien Nation", "The Final Conflict").
Seven out of 10.