Outlaw Prophet |
USA • 2001 • 90m •
  • Directed by: David Heavener. • Starring: David Heavener, Rebecca Holden, Ric White, Davita Sharone, Aimee Tenaglia, DJ Perry, Robert Malone. • Music by: Russ Long, Steve Yeaman.   Jon 141 is known throughout the Milky Way as its highest-rated reality TV star. Battling week in and week out for his life, Jon soon discovers a secret plot of the network to garner higher ratings -- the destruction of both himself and the Earth. Partnering up with a curvaceous robot and an orphan, Jon 141 blasts his way through evil henchman and bureaucratic corruption in a last-ditch effort to take down the entertainment organization that threatens all human life in the name of ratings.
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Review:
We're big David Heavener fans. We think he's talented and underrated, and we appreciate how all of his movies are labors of love where he stars, writes, directs, does the music and probably does the catering and is the Best Boy and Key Grip. We're always looking out for his movies. If someone not accustomed to low-budget films found Outlaw Prophet and popped it in their DVD player, they would probably groan and say, in one way or another, how they can't tolerate such "badness". True, the early CD-ROM-style computer graphics are quite bargain basement and thus funny - and even mesmerizing - but in this case you have to look beneath the surface.
Basically going it alone, David Heavener fashioned this tale of religious awakening in his own inimitable way. While, to be honest, it does become a bit too much of a wacky sci-fi slog for its own good, try to imagine some sort of cross between Abraxas (1990) (with which this movie shares an interesting amount of similarities), Death Drug (1978) and the dreaded Shredder Orpheus (1990). While this movie "shreds" Shredder Orpheus, the cheap, day-glo-soaked set design and lack of coherence reminded us of that film.
And while the vibe of the movie might remind you of something the people behind Hell House (2001) might make, you've got to admire Heavener for trying to inject deep theological questions amidst cheesy laser effects, some sort of talking brain called "McBride", and stock footage from other Heavener movies (including a tantalizing few seconds of some Robert Z'Dar movie), all while wearing tights. TIGHTS! I guess that means he's from the future. Or space. Or something...
While not the first movie you should see if you're turning on to David Heavener, Outlaw Prophet remains a unique - if flawed - production.
Review by Comeuppance Reviews from the Internet Movie Database.
Movie Database