Claudia Christian

  • Clean and Sober (1988)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, April 2022) Michael Keaton spent most of the 1980s working as a comic actor, so it was really clever for him to use Clean and Sober as his breakout dramatic role. The genius of it was picking a dramatic role that relied a lot on the instincts he developed as a comedian: his easily likable demeanour, fast-talking patter, and comic timing all come into play in the role of a real estate agent with an addiction issue who thinks he can trick the judicial system by faking his way through a recovery program. The protagonist has no intention of committing to the process – he just wants people to think he does, and he’ll use his charm to fool others. It’s a good plan, even one with good comic potential – but Clean and Sober is written from the trenches of addiction recovery, and both the script and its characters are there to remind us that it’s not an easy process and that it’s designed to take into account those who don’t really want to get sober. There are many interesting names in the case, from Morgan Freeman (already old in his earliest roles!) as a tough addiction counsellor, M. Emmet Walsh as an impossibly wise ex-addict mentor, and Claudia Christian in a small but striking role as a fellow addict. The film, like many of the 1980s best dramas, feels lived in with credible performances yet packed with compelling narrative hooks. Directed transparently by Ron Howard, Clean and Sober implausibly crams a year’s worth of events into a mere month, and does reach for a sombre finale on the way to the protagonist’s recovery –capping a superfluous romantic subplot that is increasingly at odds with the main theme of the film. Still, it marks an enjoyable turning point in Keaton’s career. (Word on the street was that this is the film that led to him getting the lead in Batman, with the rest of his career being subsequent history.)  It’s surprisingly compelling even in dealing with such downbeat themes, and it makes for an engrossing viewing even if you think you’re familiar with what the film has to say about addiction and recovery.

  • Maniac Cop 2 (1990)

    Maniac Cop 2 (1990)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, August 2020) Considering my low opinion of slashers, it’s a bit surprising that I ended up moderately enjoying Maniac Cop 2. Interestingly enough, it’s a sequel that assumes the best parts of its predecessor, and strategically maximizes a few elements in order to get even larger audiences. For one thing, it takes as granted the supernatural nature of its titular Maniac Cop brought back from the dead. For another, it frequently trades gore for action with more stunts than the previous film. The iconography of the killer cop is also maximized, which is nearly always a good thing in creating great visuals. (There is one great fire-stunt shot that’s so good I’m wondering why it hasn’t been stolen by later generations of filmmakers.) Best of all, though, is how writer Larry Cohen and director William Lustig stick to their B-movie guns: Maniac Cop 2 is wall-to-wall entertainment, clearly dedicated to being a pure thrill machine. Claudia Christian has a starring role, and Bruce Campbell is back for a brief encore. This being said, this does remain a B-movie bordering on slasher exploitation—keep your expectations in check.

  • Strays aka Killer Cats (1991)

    Strays aka Killer Cats (1991)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, July 2020) While Strays is very much an undistinguished made-for-TV horror-lite movie featuring a pack of killer cats, it occasionally lurches into so-bad-it’s-fun territory. The trouble begins when a prototypical family moves into an isolated house previously owned by a cat lady and the grieving cats start plotting a progressive campaign of terror against the clearly substandard new humans. It’s rather fun once the filmmakers turn desperate in showing menacing cats and throwing them on the actors as they shriek more loudly than the felines. Alas, this is no camp classic—Babylon 5’s Claudia Christian shows up in a substantial role, but disappears from the film too soon. Furthermore, the film suffers from severe padding issues, with much of the first hour just marking time for the last act, and raising a number of subplots that are not just stupid, but also useless. On the other hand, if you watch Strays’ first five minutes and skip ahead to its last half-hour, you just may get some entertainment out of it.

  • The Hidden (1987)

    The Hidden (1987)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On VHS, November 2000) Say what you want about “great movies” and “cinematographic art”, but what you want, often, is simply a good old B-movie. The Hidden brings to mind The Terminator as another low-budget, technically-competent, no-fat science-fiction B-movie. It’s not art, but it’s damn good entertainment from the gripping opening sequence to the satisfying end. The plot’s been done elsewhere (a parasitic alien goes from body to body as cops try to chase it down) but this time is done with the proper amount of action and cleverness. The film also has some heart, which is more than you can say for the rest of the contenders to the B-movie crown. An underrated gem, well worth another viewing.

    (Second Viewing, In French, On Cable TV, February 2021) I hadn’t seen The Hidden in twenty years, but enough of it stuck that I knew I was going to have a good time. The terrific opening sequence sets the tone, what with the fast pacing, rock music, comfortable use of genre elements and a much-faster-than-expected slide from action thriller to horror/science fiction. The story, with its shape-shifting alien wreaking an unexplainable rampage through Los Angeles, is an excuse for a series of action scenes and an unusual buddy-cop relationship. Kyle MacLachlan is quite good as this otherworldly cop having trouble fitting in but sharing traits with the creature he’s pursuing. (Meanwhile, as a forever Babylon-5 fan, this will remain for me the movie where Claudia Christian plays a stripper.)   Future superstars Danny Trejo and Lin Shaye even have small roles. Director Jack Sholder keeps things hopping, although the film never does match its go-for-broke opening sequence and first-act revelations. The Hidden doesn’t qualify as a great movie — it’s a bit disconnected, loses steam along the way and doesn’t make as much sense as it thinks it should (while it makes a huge deal of a malevolent alien becoming a presidential candidate, it also portrays the alien as being fundamentally unable to control their impulses — who bets that it wouldn’t have been able to keep it together for the next eighteen hours, let alone the following eighteen months?)  But it’s a solid, energetic B-grade genre film that understands what it tries to be. It’s really worth a look if you have any interest in underappreciated 1980s genre pictures — the period feel is top-notch, and the use of genre elements holds up even today.

    (Third Viewing, Streaming, May 2025) Wow, this thing cooks. The Hidden is what most B-movies aspire to be — wall-to-wall entertainment, from a compelling first scene to an ingenious climax. It’s not original, but it’s very competently made thanks to director Jack Sholder — it’s lean filmmaking and it just rewards viewers all the way through. This is one of the best B-movies of the 1980s, and that decade had some significant competition.