Junior (2002)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Two young women who embark on a road trip find themselves in considerable jeopardy from a vicious mentally challenged mutant killer and his equally ferocious father after their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Director Marc Ickx, who also co-wrote the hackneyed and uninspired script with Liam Bradley, relates the derivative and grindingly predictable meandering narrative at a painfully sluggish pace, hurts the viewer's ears with plenty of rusty tin-eared dialogue (sample line: "Is this the road trip from hell or what?"), and, worst of all, fails to generate any much-needed suspense or creepy atmosphere. The cruddy dubbing, an excruciatingly drawn-out and uneventful first forty minutes, and the fact that the main character of Rebecca comes across as an insufferably shrill, whiny, and thoroughly unappealing bitch certainly doesn't help matters any. The acting virtually without exception is pretty bad, although Bob Dougherty tries hard as the psycho's angry pop and Marcel Romeijn makes for a fairly grotesque subhuman fiend. Things perk up a tad in the second half, with some nice'n'nasty gore and a reasonably cool geekoid wackjob, but that's still not enough to compensate for the general tedium, hopelessly shopworn and threadbare screenplay, and crippling dearth of originality. A real clunker.

Well...let's see. A lesbian couple have engine trouble and end up being stalked by a crazy retard named Junior (well...I guess he's got a real name, ah whatever). There's plenty bad and a bit good about this movie.What sucks:1) Slow pace. We have a bit too much of this scene where one girl's alone and her car's shaking. It's supposed to be suspenseful, and it does make ya wonder. But then it loses its monentum by going on too long.2) Apparently, they're supposed to be in Europe since the money is Euros, and they seem to have some kind of accent. But the gas station workers are clearly American. WTF?! And the girls go in and out of their accents. And the car ain't European, the steering wheel's on the right side. WHERE ARE THEY?!?! 3) Junior's daddy's acting wanes in some spots. He goes a bit over the top.4) Junior doesn't look quite as inhuman as the cover suggests.5) It's from 2002, but the quality seems aged, like 80s or something. I guess that's not really bad, but it suggests cheap budget.6) Ending kinda sucks.What rocks: 1) Cool setting. Plenty of outta the way areas with abandoned buildings in the background. Def. adds to it.2) Junior's weapon of choice is this cool blade. Some kidna scythe.3) Once the girl gets taken to Junior's humble abode, things get a little more interesting. It's all crazy and disturbing and crap.It's alright for some mediocre horror. If ya like slashers, it'll give ya some fun. But it ain't no classic.

Perhaps I'm a little biased because I live in Belgium myself (and this movie was entirely financed here) but I honestly don't think that "Engine Trouble" is half as awful as all my fellow commentators claim it is. Sure, the story is something you've already seen a thousand times before and, yes, the dialogues are so poorly written they make your ears ache, but then still there are really decent elements to enjoy, like a fair amount of tension and a couple of raw shock effects. Especially the first hour is surprisingly entertaining as the screenplay blends simple suspense with some cheerful horror-clichés. Two beautiful (lesbian?) girls go on a road trip and their rusty car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. One girl mysteriously disappears when she leaves to get help and the other finds herself stalked by a horribly deformed killer. The second half of the film is overlong and mainly boring, also because the plot becomes too déjà-vu and repetitive. It goes without saying that the 'monster' is only an underdeveloped being and it are, in fact, his guardians who are the real maniacs. The low-budget production aspects are fairly well camouflaged by using simple tricks, like deserted filming locations, monotonous camera-work and vaguely shot scenery. The make-up on the killer is very cool, though, and he carries around a gleaming sharp sickle! "Engine Trouble" isn't as gross as it looks, especially not since producer James Desert is mostly known for his downright sick movies like "Rabid Grannies" and "Lucker – the Necrophagous". Gorehounds will mostly likely cheer for the nauseating decapitation sequence, though! The acting performances are overall very bad, but that's hardly an obstacle anymore if you're used to seeing trash-horror flicks like this. "Engine Trouble" is fun to watch and definitely worth a rental whenever you feel like seeing a simplistic slasher.

Just rented this fine Belgian film last night from "Blockbuster" and i refuse to return it back to them ;)... I love low budget movies especially masterpieces like this one. so here it goes... 2 " belgian" girls go out for a week of work free with a borrowed Jaguar from the 80's, gossip free vacation,then get stuck up in the middle of nowhere which is apparently two blocks away from their starting point. There they are introduced to the perfect family made of Junior ( also reffered to as "The Beast" or "The creature" ), his loving dad Robert and the maid ( old, always complaing b***h ). One of the girl friends ends with her head being chopped off by Junior's favorite toy, his sickle. Speaking of his "toy", dont let the cover of the DVD ( distributed in U.S. by ever great Artisan---oh thank you guys!!! ) fool you. Junior is NOT using the coal mining showel but the sickle given to him by the only person who ever felt for Creature's condition, his concerning dad. Since Robert is so full of care for his son he wants to make him a special birthday present - his mom, in shape of the surving girl. What follows is a brilliant display of fine acting, led by Bob Dougherty ( Robert ) who has a few memorable lines, especially explaining his son's doomed condition. The one we will surely never forget is when he gets irritated by one of the girls screams in the basement ( Junior's playground) : "Shut your trap"...."Shuuuuut up"...."I said shuuuut up"..."SHUT THE F******* UP". Oh, I can't leave out memorable lines as : "go on boy", "finish her boy", "that's a good boy", "my boy"!!!. Pay extra attention to how much emotion Bob brings into his scenes. Members of the Accademy surely missed on him two years ago, otherwise he would have an Oscar statue on his shelf already. Well let's hope we get to see more of him in the future so the voters won't be able to keep their eyes closed anymore. Another gleaming point is Cecilia Bergqvist whose name is printed on the Blockbuster's cover, right next to the film title ( Junior, Cecilia Bergqvist 2002. ), just like a star she surely is. Too bad the majority of us never heard of her before. Her acting brings that overwhelming feeling of happiness to each scene she is in. When she finally accepts the role of creature's mom her talent shines in all of it's magnificent light. Unfotunately she dies at the end...by Robert's hand who has taken his "boy"'s place after Cecilia tricked him and killed him. Actually I felt kinda bad for him, he just wanted to play. There's nothing wrong with that, right? All boys play, just with diff. toys :). So in short BUY the movie...u wont regret it