Down Twisted (1987) Poster

(1987)

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6/10
Chased by a VW thing?
duggies7016 July 2022
I started watching this for the soundtrack, who doesn't love a little Oingo Boingo. I have also been a fan of the beautiful and charming Carey Lowell. I always thought she and Linda Kerridge would have has bigger careers.

A nice little mystery adventure in the mold of "Romancing the Stone," with a better looking cast.

The moral of the story is thieves and liars think everyone else is a thief and a liar. Great twist at the end.
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5/10
At least the soundtrack was good!
kbtoys10022 March 2021
Cannons take on Miami Vice mixed with Romancing the Stone and James Bond

The film starts off with a fun chase sequence set to Oingo Boingo's Dead Mans Party. We then meet our main heroin in a series of scenes almost barely different from our introduction to Sarah Connor in Terminator before she gets involved with a drug deal gone bad where her roommate is killed and she finds herself hi-jacked en route to San Lucas with a seemingly bumbling insurance salesman. But all is not as it seems...

Seeing the cannon logo and Albert Pyun's name you'd think the rest would be a cheesy action thriller. But Down Twisted aka Treasure of San Lucas has almost zero action scenes after its opening bit. Instead we get a lot of plot twists set to a fun theme. Thom Matthew's has a fun role as a hitman who leaves too soon. I'd really only recommend this film to cannon aficionados as there's not a whole lot here for the casual viewer. The music is easily the best part, and it ends with a very long cover of Suspicious Minds by Fine Young Cannibals that plays over a character montage that was 100% meant to have each actors name on screen during their part but somebody forgot to add the titles(!)
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6/10
"Just give them the key."
lost-in-limbo16 March 2012
Prolific film-maker of low-grade cheapies Albert Pyun provides the audience with a tolerably haywire, if blotchy little action adventure escapade with "Down Twisted" aka "Treasure of San Lucas". A billionaire art collector hires some international thieves to steal a religious artifact the crucible of San Lucas where they would switch it with a replica and fly the real one back to Los Angeles. However they find themselves being double crossed. Suddenly a waitress finds herself caught in the middle and being abducted when her roommate confesses that she and her boyfriend have gotten themselves mixed with these smugglers. This grungy low-rent Cannon fodder by Golan Globus might be remembered for Courtney Cox's debut performance, where she gets a bit of screen time in a throwaway part. But outside of that distraction, this is an agreeable outing with flavoured Mexican locations and amusingly fine performances by some Pyun regulars. Charles Rocket plays it suave as ever, still with a clumsy edge with the amount times his character gets knocked out. You know, for comedy purposes. Thom Mathews sticks out as the bleached blonde thief with a killer instinct and so does Linda Kerridge as a fellow partner in crime. Carry Lowell's unlucky waitress character Maxine who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time might have gotten on my nerves at times with her constant wailing, but no wonder with the amount of times she asked about the key that she doesn't have. Also showing up is Norbert Weisser and Nicholas Guest. Pyun's style is not fancy, but sturdily achieved with some hip touches as the eventful story's framework is a twisty chase formula with a contemporary noir quality and a snappy soundtrack back it up.

"Oh, the deal's going down... but it's going down twisted."
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"This deal is going down Reno, but not like we planned. It's going down twisted."
vilennon17 April 1999
Great 80's verité (like Miami Vice). A low-budget but likeable caper movie.

A wealthy industrialist hires six thieves to steal a valuable relic from the fictional country of San Lucas just before the annual parade celebrating the relic. He gets double crossed by his own team of thieves, most notably Charles Rocket (SNL, Earth Girls Are Easy). Carey Lowell (Law & Order, Sleepless in Seattle), the baddest Bond Girl. is an innocent bystander dragged into the plot.

Keep an eye out for Courteney Cox at the beginning of the movie.
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4/10
Get "Down" with your bad self and watch this classic tonight!
tarbosh2200014 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
"The deal is going down…But it is going DOWN TWISTED!" Perhaps this quote from the movie will help to explain the confusing title.

From the title onwards, things get more and more muddled. The plot involves Maxine, a waitress with big dreams (Lowell-star of "Dangerously Close") who inadvertently gets mixed up with a gang of smugglers who are trying to get their hands on a stolen artifact called "The Crucible Of San Lucas". They almost get it in the beginning of the movie, but are double-crossed by an associate of Michelle, Maxine's roommate.

The baddies believe Maxine has a key to a locker which contains the artifact. She's drugged and kidnapped and placed on a boat to San Lucas with a guy named Reno Mars (Rocket). During a scuffle they fall in the ocean and escape their captors.

Now they must dodge the baddies, the military group in red berets that run the island, and other pitfalls. Plus Maxine has a job interview to get to and she has no passport to get home. Who is double-crossing who? The allegiances are constantly changing.

"Twisted" tries to be peppy but it is actually sluggish. The banter between Maxine and Reno isn't that funny and the main problem is the over-reliance on cutesy humor. For example, during Carnival, Maxine dresses up as a chicken and Reno dresses up as a woman. The intention here was probably to drum up some "laffs" but sadly none are forthcoming.

The main bad guy is named Deltoid…..yes, Deltoid. All characters say the name with a straight face. Unfortunately, the rest of his gang (featuring Thom Matthews of "Dangerously Close" fame-See review) are not named after muscles in the human body. This could've been a pre-"Reservoir Dogs" situation: Instead of Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink, or Mr. Orange, there could have been Mr. Deltoid, Mr. Hamstring, and Mr. Tricep. Sadly, this was a missed opportunity, one of many, with "Down Twisted".

Hawaiian Albert Pyun has a long and varied career which such gems as Cyborg , Dollman, Captain America, The Charles Sheen vehicle Postmortem, Crazy Six with Rob Lowe and Burt Reynolds, The Nemesis series, Urban Menace and The Wrecking Crew with Snoop D-O double G and the punch-fighter Bloodmatch (an upcoming review) and "Ticker" among many, many others.

Get "Down" with your bad self and watch this classic tonight!

Comeuppance Review by: Ty & Brett

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
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3/10
Oh well
BandSAboutMovies23 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Maxine (Carey Lowell) is the kind of person who will do anything for her friends, including her roommate Michelle, who gets her involved in all sorts of hijinks over a stolen religious idol, The Crucible Of San Luca, which ends up getting her kidnapped and meeting a mercenary named Reno Mars (Charles Rocket).

Sure, it's another trip through Romancing the Stone. The difference is that it's directed by Albert Pyun, who also made Dangerously Close, Vicious Lips, Radioactive Dreams, Cyborg, Dollman and many more. That means that it works hard to not be fully normal.

There's also a cast that genre fans will enjoy spotting, like Thom Matthews (Tommy Jarvis!), Linda Kerridge from Fade to Black, Norbert Weisser (who is in several Pyun movies), Nicholas Guest (Todd, the put-up next door neighbor in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation), Galyn Görg (Cain's lover in RoboCop 2) and even Courtney Cox.
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1/10
Throwdown
fmarkland3211 October 2006
Charles Rocket and Carey Lowell star as a bickering couple who must fight off the usual villains sent by a stonecutters-like underground who want a priceless artifact and are willing to kidnap and kill for. Lowell is the damsel in distress and Rocket is the knight in shining armor and the audience is bored with all of it. Keep in mind I haven't seen all of Pyun's works but I highly doubt any movie is as bad as this, watching infomercials provide more entertainment than this thing. In fact the movie is just tough to sit through, Down Twisted is so padded and uninspired you sense that nobody was interested in the material. In fact it's played so by the numbers and in neutral that one can't believe this is an adventure. Whatever this debacle is supposed to be, it's definitely not interesting and it's a must not-see!

1/2* out of 4-(Awful)
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7/10
Not great but a fun movie
stephen-g-thomas-6422 May 2012
OK, so you probably already know it's not on the leader board for best movies of the decade. But, really, it is a fun movie. If you like campy comedies you will really like this one. Sure its a bit predictable, sure it doesn't have a-list stars, sure it requires willing suspense of disbelief, but come on, if you look at the cast and director, what more can you expect. Charles Rocket does a fine job as the bumbling hero and everyone else fills in the necessary protagonist and antagonist roles. Give it a chance. You remember Evil Dead? Stakeout? Big Trouble in Little China? As long as your expectations aren't too high you won't be disappointed.
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1/10
Surely amongst Pyun's worst.
BA_Harrison9 February 2019
Waitress Maxine (Carey Lowell) unwittingly becomes involved with international criminals who are trying to get their hands on the Crucible of San Lucas, a valuable South American religious relic.

With its beautiful female protagonist thrust into an adventure in a banana republic, accompanied by an untrustworthy stranger with his own agenda, Down Twisted reminded me a bit of Romancing the Stone (1984). But where that film had class, wit, and engaging performances to spare, this effort from director Albert Pyun has none. It's a mess of a movie from start to finish: the plot is all over the place, the direction is sloppy, the editing is choppy, and the acting is terrible. The only reason I stayed the course was because of lovely Carey Lowell (my favourite Bond woman), who is very easy on the eyes, although she spends the entire film dressed in completely unflattering clobber (even donning a Mexican parrot costume for one scene!).

I've only scratched the surface of Pyun's filmography, but this must surely rank as one of his worst.

1/10 - Possibly worth a look for avid Courtney Cox fans, the actress making her movie debut. Oh, and the Oingo Boingo song on the soundtrack is a good choice (although the same tune is put to better use in the far superior Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2).
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6/10
Pyun
j_fernandes-315-40115423 November 2021
For years, the only way to see Down Twisted was to catch it late at night on Cinemax. The movie was not available on VHS (except for $100 rental store copies), and isn't currently available on DVD, so you'll have to beg AMC to broadcast it.
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5/10
Took everyone doing their job but mostly, it took me.
moviebuff72-223-2655244 July 2023
DownTwisted is not a good movie but Charles Rocket made it bearable. Carey Lowel was so pretty but she wasn't the real star of this average crime thriller .

It's too bad Charles Rocket killed himself. He was a really good actor, he just wasn't in movies that gave him the ability to really shine. Downtwisted gave him a chance to show us that he really is a good actor. Carey Lowel did a Bond picture a few years after this. It's not a stupid movie but it isn't something I'd want to watch with a date. Well, maybe it is a good date movie. If you make-out during the film it's not like you really will miss out on anything good. Watch it but I don't recommend it.
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10/10
Great Thief Movie
munsonn12 July 2004
One of the best art theft genre movies ever made. Lots of back stabbings with double-crossings, triple-crossings, and quadruple-crossings galore.

However, it's a very 1980's movie, and didn't age well, which probably accounts for it's contemporary unpopularity. A remake would be immensely popular.

For years, the only way to see Down Twisted was to catch it late at night on Cinemax. The movie was not available on VHS (except for $100 rental store copies), and isn't currently available on DVD, so you'll have to beg AMC to broadcast it.

If you can find it, it's well worth the viewing.
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1/10
Terrible film
touser200429 October 2021
Thought it might be interesting to watch an early Carey Lowell performance. Total waste of time .The script was so bad that no actor could come close to a decent performance.
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It's an Albert Pyun movie - what do you expect?
Wizard-822 April 2002
Well, you expect it to be bad, and this particular Pyun movie is no exception. About the best that can be said about it is that the photography is somewhat improved, and you can occasionally see signs that SOME money was spent. Though it was clearly still an economic shoot, considering the number of close-ups and scenes that seem to have been very quickly set up.

The rest of the movie is a dull slog through the ugliest Mexican locations Pyun could find, and a story that's particularly incoherent. In his defense, there are signs that the movie was cut up from a longer version, since some stuff that occurs in the movie seems to come out of nowhere.

"Down Twisted" was apparently geared as a major release, but it seems that Cannon dumped this directly to video (or, at the very most, gave it a release in one or two cities.) For one thing, about THREE YEARS passed between the year it was made and the year it appeared on video.

Albert Pyun.... Please, please, PLEASE stop making movies! You can't direct! You're an awful director (and screenwriter)! You're the Ed Wood of the 21st Century. Well, I'll take back that last remark, because as bad as Wood's movies were, he at least made them entertaining and easy to sit through!
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