‘Pray for them. They have unleashed…’
The Power is a 1984 American supernatural horror film directed by Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow (Bram Stoker’s Legend of the Mummy; The Servants of Twilight; The Kindred; The Dorm That Dripped Blood) from a screenplay co-written with John Hopkins and John Penny.
Main cast:
Suzy Stokey (Deep Space; Prison Ship; The Tomb), Warren Lincoln (Torment), Lisa Erickson, Chad Christian, Ben Gilbert and Chris Morrill.
Plot:
An Aztec demon called Destacatyl, who is believed to be able to control human souls is trapped in a small Aztec figure. However, a young man named Jerry becomes possessed and causes mayhem to anyone he comes across, especially a group of high school students…
Reviews:
“Derivative, confusing, but entertaining demon flick about an Aztec idol that looks like a Bug Out Bob Stress Reliever taking control of its owners, making them kill and do convincing Mercedes McCambridge impersonations. Slow in spots, if not for Chris Young’s fantastic score and a few squishy FX sequences, it wouldn’t register as a blip on the obscurity radar of early 80s horror.” Cool Ass Cinema
“One thing about the movie is the lack of a body count. There are like 5 kids in “the group” and our guy never actually kills any of them. There’s an impalement early on (on a flagpole!), and a dude melts at the end, but otherwise, I’m not even sure what the R rating is for. This was post PG-13!” Brian W Collins, Horror Movie a Day
“Not an original idea in this low-budget hunkajunk … They even had the audacity to drop the original title of Evil Passage and blatantly steal the title of Frank Robinson’s sci-fi classic. Shameful.” John Stanley, Creature Features
Cast and characters:
- Suzy Stokey as Sandy [credited as Susan Stokey]
- Warren Lincoln as Jerry
- Lisa Erickson as Julie
- Chad Christian as Tommy
- Ben Gilbert as Matt
- Chris Morrill as Ron Prince
- Rod Mays as Lee McKennah
- J. Dinan Myrtetus as Francis Lott
- Jay Fisher as Raphael
- Costy Basile as Jorge
- Juan del Valle as Jeep Driver
- Alice Champlin as Roxanne
- Gabe Cohen as Marty
- Milton Robinson as Jack
- Steve Nagle as Driver
- Barbara Murray as Tommy’s Mother
- Joseph Scott as Doctor
- Richard Cowgill as Cemetery Guard
Release:
US: The Power had a very limited release on January 20, 1984 by Artists Releasing Corporation and was later released on VHS by Vestron Video, the same year and during the 1980’s. It also seems to have been released on VHS by Gemstone Entertainment.
In 2003, Lionsgate Home Entertainment released the film on DVD for the first time, and was followed by another DVD release on January 7, 2014 by Scorpion Releasing.
UK: The film was released on VHS by Entertainment in Video.
Image credits: Cool Ass Cinema
