Sci-Fighters (1996) in some smaller releases known as Contagion 2009
A healthy looking Roddy Piper with a haircut that makes him look like Richard Dead Anderson is a cop walking off the beaten path who has to run down an old enemy that he thought was dead.
I watched this today because the villain is the recently passed Billy Drago who plays insane killer and mysterious disease career Adrian Dunn. Adrian died in prison on the moon but when an alien virus reanimated him he ended up wandering around Earth infecting people while on a day trip of raping and killing. What makes things worse is Roddy Piper was the cop that put him away when Dunn killed his wife. So obviously Roddy Piper wants a shot at him again. What also makes things worse is the smoggy Earth in the future of 2009 is in a full year of darkness due to volcanoes and pollution. So when a dying melting virus fueled man is walking around no one could tell the difference anyways cause no one looks all that healthy. This movie is almost Split Second meets the Incredible Melting Man. Shot as good and polish in an ugly future like Split Second but with as illogical a threat and dumb a concept as the Incredible Melting man.
Dr Kirbie Younger is trying to figure out a cure for the disease that has hit the streets when she gets mixed up with Roddy Pipers manhunt. Now this all seems to pretty regular small action sci fi film fodder , if you take in to context that this is future 2009 in Boston but is obviously filmed in Canada. As the movie goes on though you seem to think this sick old melty man could easily be taken out and maybe Roddy Piper's character is just a little over dramatic. We get many excuses for Dr Kirbie to unbutton her shirt and show her sweaty cleavage. Not that I have a problem with that but the cheap reasons to make it “pop out” seem very forced and almost funny in a movie that is not that badly shot and run with decent dialog for such a cheesy concept. I also need to point out a pointless piece of trivia, the actress that plays Dr Kirbie is Jayne Heitmeyer she was in two episodes of Degrassi as a character called Toni Stark... just felt the need to share that.
Look at this artsy shot of the doctor talking to Piper as Piper is reflected on a plastic sheet around the sick patients/victims of Billy Drago.
Billy Drago always looked a little melting but impressively they make him look worse.
In the end when Drago and Piper final face out it takes place in an unfinished building that feels reminiscent to the end of Runaway (the Tom Selleck robot movie). Piper suits up with heavy weaponry that seems really unnecessary. You feel like Dr Kirbie could have taken Drago out herself but they needed the two guys stand off. While Sicky skeleton face Drago is shouting out the more sickly he gets the more he sounds like Tommy Wiseau. So seriously just imagine drunk Tommy Wiseau fighting Roddy Piper with a Richard Dean Anderson hair cut on scaffolding. Do you have the time to get through every thing in the middle of this movie? That is up to you. I will say the opening scene does start with two convicts in a buzzsaw fight but that is just the beginning.. that its a lot of Billy Dragon drooling and puking. So will you survive the middle of this movie? Again thats up to you. A few months ago I reviewed CyberZone and if you liked that you will like this. RIP Piper and Drago but you know what they say gold polish on a turd is a still a turd.... or something like that.
