Empire of Ash (1989)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Folks looking for Empire of Ash I should be aware that E of A II is not a higher gloss remake of the first, like The Evil Dead II. This movie actually IS E of A One, with a different title on the VHS box. As methods for cutting down the cost of a sequel, that one has to take first prize.Anyway, Empire of Ash II played frequently on Canadian pay TV channels back in the 80s, as it qualified as local content thanks to being shot on location here. On a story concept level, it actually has some intriguing conceits. Two opposing groups have arisen from the flames of our dead civilization: a group led by scientists who are using captives to create a treatment for those stricken by radiation sickness, and a group of religious fundamentalists led by a loony preacher. Into this world stumble two sisters, and one is taken captive. The older sister, who just happens to have kick butt combat skills, enlists the aid of a couple of free living survivalists to retrieve her sibling. The result is a series of gun battles with both groups of crazies. For an 80s era shoot 'em up, this is not a bad foundation upon which to build. Moreover, the technical level of the movie is no worse than is typical for an exercise of this budget range. Lighting, video and sound recording were at least adequate to follow the action.Unfortunately, the movie's execution falls far short of its ambitions. The story plays out in a hatchet-chopped fashion, with the action sequences lacking sharp form and dovetailing poorly one with the next. The dialogue is terrible and often makes little sense and the performances are all over the place. This tells me that either the script was being rewritten on the fly, or the creators had no idea how to shape a film, or more likely both. When working with a nothing budget and semi-pro actors, a sure directorial hand, good pre-production planning and effective rehearsals are essential and none of this is in evidence. The action scenes themselves, the point of the movie in other words, are also of very inconsistent quality, and range downward from not bad to will-somebody-tell-me- wth-is-going-on? In certain scenes, the viewer is required to expend more energy trying to keep straight who is doing what and where than is justified by the underwhelming thrills. The lead actress, Melanie Kilgour, tries hard to keep the viewer watching, but frankly deserved better. The only reason to watch this backyard movie making mess is to set up the more watchable sequel, E of Ash III.

In a post-apocalyptic future, a virus has destroyed much of the population. In New Idaho, commander Baalca leads her group in kidnapping and collecting fertile young healthy women. The Shepherd leads the ruthless campaign to kill non-believers. Danielle convinces drifter Orion to help her rescue her younger sister from these marauders.This is low-budget amateurish effort. The acting is horrible. The lead actress' best move may be taking her top off. There are lots of fun badly-filmed stunts. The dialog is badly written when they actually have any. The editing and directions are probably the weakest part of the movie. There are some good campy aspects to this movie. They put in lots of guns, trucks, crashes and stunts. It's low grade Mad Max wannabe. The effort is there but it's a bit of a mess.

Empire of has a lot going for it at first glance. Plenty of action, lots of guns, lots of armour clad vehicles, topless girls, rock soundtrack and plenty of extras. The direction is decent for the most part too in a TV movie style.The main problem is that the story is disjointed at best, completely absent for the most part. It feels like at some parts, the film makers actually forgot what the plot was, so they through in a few minutes of topless girls to distract the viewer long enough to pick up wherever they liked. The acting is atrocious for the most part. It's unclear who the lead characters are and the dialogue makes no sense. None of these things would usually put me off, but this one is just too difficult to actually be convinced at any level.There are some excellent action scenes mixed in with some ridiculously poor action which is a real shame.There seems to be two lead female characters both of whom get their kit off which seems sensible. Then there are a number of other characters who's characters are not really developed enough to really get a grasp of. There is a religious element thrown in which really is very vague and half hearted.It has a similar vibe to Death Run which I reviewed a few months back for UKfilms net. But where Death Run succeeded on a pocket money budget, Empire of Ash fails. The production value of Empire of Ash is miles better than Death Run, the make-up is not dissimilar but its clear that there was a costume designer involved in this one.To sum it up I would have to say that it looks good, the sets, costumes and props are good. The leafy locations are not so great and the lack of any decent plot let it down massively.

In your typical post-apocalyptic drama, we have mutated survivors and men dressed in rags sparring off against each other. They drive around in big trucks, swear a lot and take orders from scantly clad ladies with massive fringes. If anybody is captured, they have the white blood cells and bone marrow literally sucked out of them to preserve the lives of the people at the top. The heroine is a young woman who goes on a journey to save her sister from this terrible fate. She is a bit handy with a gun, and picks up a mysterious hunk on the way, with whom she shares an obligatory sex scene (after the obligatory shower scene, of course). There is lots of bullets flying around, some very unconvincing explosions, plenty of incoherent dialogue and a mad preacher guy who baptizes, then kills you. Viewer gets bored around the hour mark, removes cassette from VCR and throws it across the room. Want to know the end? Waste your own time.. 2/10