Scarab

1984 "Evil, plotted by a mad sorcerer... bizarre beyond imagination."
3.8| 1h32m| en| More Info
Released: 22 June 1984 Released
Producted By: Tesauro
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Dr. Wilfred Manz performs a magical experiment on a beetle-shaped amulet. His patience exhausted, he smashes his fist into some bottles and a few drops of blood fall onto the scarab. His laboratory is rocked by an explosion, the god Khepera appears and Manz is transformed into a demi-god magician. Thirty years later, Manz has assumed the name Khepera and lives in mysterious castle. Using his magical powers, he is killing heads of government and causing the collapse of major financial institutions. Jack Murphy, an American correspondent, witnesses the pandemonium following the suicide of the Spanish prime minister and notices an attractive nurse, Elena, take a small scarab which has fallen from the prime minister's lapel. Later, he visits an occult shop where the scarab is identified as being associated with the Egyptian god, Khepera. Murphy is captured and Elena — who was tricked into sacrificing her brother when they were children — once more takes up the sacrificial dagger...

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Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Interesteg What makes it different from others?
ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.
PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Vomitron_G SCARAB handles some form of plot in which Rip Torn gets possessed by the spirit of an ancient evil Egyptian sorcerer and Robert Ginty, as a reporter with unorthodox ways, sets out to unravel the mystery. Exactly, who in his right mind would not give this movie a go? So let this count as a warning: Do not give in to the temptation to watch this film. You're mental health might never recover from it. I mean, look at me: I'm rating this grotesque, imbecilic, deranged, illogical, senseless, utterly unpredictable and completely incomprehensible drivel 8/10. But I'm doing better already, because I initially wanted to grant it 10/10 scarabs!I seriously doubt that anybody involved in the making of this film – especially the director – had any clue about what they were even trying to accomplish. SCARAB's ways are totally unfathomable, and that – in my humble opinion – defines its uniqueness in the field of film-making at its worst. So, Rip Torn – actually Khepera reincarnated – lives in some castle ruins up some mountain. His indoors day job seems to be going for world domination, using his inexplicable, magical ways, by sending out cursed scarabs to several political figures holding key-positions in the land who ultimately end up all committing suicide, because they simply go berserk. In his spare time Khepera seems to enjoy random surreal madness: Dancing around naked girls, holding sacrifices, toying with snakes, orchestrating mind-boggling special effects and – best of all – preparing to have sex with gorgeous Euro-babes who suddenly turn into some hideous female mermaid-pig monstrosity because some old ghostly hag (appearing on the right side of the screen for no apparent reason) has the power to do so. Then Rip"Khepera"Torn gets angry and spits white, foamy vomit at the old witch's face and... it's back to world domination for him the next day. Or at least that's what you think he's out for. But wait until you learn about his real motives, or more specifically: The one actual reason why he's making a complete mess of this movie. Of course it involves very fun things like incest, sacrificial slaying, naked dancing and whatnot's.Half of the fun comes from the things people say and do, like taking illogical actions or mumbling stupendous dialogues that don't make a lick of sense. So can you imagine how irrational some of the content and imagery of this film will be then? This is where the other half of the fun comes in. We got an old dude popping up on the streets at random moments, pointing his finger at Robert Ginty and then things just explode, catch fire, cars crash or bullets start flying around people's ears. There's a nun who turns out to be a witch – a good warlock actually, and if you don't believe that, I'll tell you something else – who teams up with Robert Ginty and turns out to be Rip Torn's daughter (that's where the incest comes in later on, folks). There's a rotating hotel door suddenly bursting into ghostly flames for no reason whatsoever with nobody around to see it happen. There's Robert Ginty driving his motorcycle straight into a train, only to go hang out at the bar with the mysterious witch/nun and deliver us some of the most horrendous acting of his entire career. And best of all, an entire ghost town gets introduced with dead people lying all over the main street and we have absolutely no idea how all of that suddenly happened... and then it's onto the next scene in which nun/witch goes to her mommy, introduces her to her new-found boyfriend Ginty, and they decide to get all drunk on Schnaps liquor, the three of them very much knowing that a demented Rip Torn is up there in his castle, somehow turning this world into some sort of demonic inferno. I mean, seriously, just merely try to imagine that. And the next day (What? No sex-scene? Oh right, Ginty was too drunk to *beep*), two of Khepera's minions turn up, shooting fiery arrows, mommy dearest bites the dust, we get a moronic display of good vs. evil magic and the whole place goes up in flames. Seeing is believing, I tell you. Go watch SCARAB.The climax – set in the castle ruins atop the mountain – includes Ginty strangling a demoniacally possessed female with evil eyes hanging upside down, a ridiculously staged bloody sword-fight between two guardians, incestuous insinuations between Rip Torn and his nun/witch daughter (both of them wearing hilariously cool make-up), Ginty in a coffin, some sacrificial ceremony with dazzling effects and... Christ, I can't go on with this anymore. This movie is insane. I need some time to recover. Ask me about it again next week, and hopefully it'll be down to 2 out of 10 scarabs for this one.
Coventry I would really like to enlighten you about the content and significance of the cheap early 80's Spanish/American horror movie "Scarab", but the truth is that I have no idea what the hell it was about or why it even exists. We've all seen numerous bad movies already, especially horror ones, but "Scarab" truly is the cherry on the cake. This film is imbecilic, dull, overlong, incomprehensible, nonsensical, incoherent, tacky and just plain downright pointless. Rip Torn, Agent Zed from "Men in Black", depicts some sort of deranged scientist who becomes obsessed with an Egyptian deity and reincarnates as him after an out-of-control scientific experiment. The plot description here indicates that Torn's character is a former Nazi, but I've seen no elements whatsoever hinting at that. As Khepara, the Egyptian God, he somehow manages that prominent and influential politicians from all over the world publicly commit suicide, but Khepara's main intentions are never clarified. Meanwhile, there's the dorky and wannabe irresistible reporter Murphy (Robert Ginty from B-trash flicks "The Exterminator", "White Fire" and "Warrior of the Wasteland") investigating the deaths and discovering a connection between the Scarab-murders and a beautiful blond girl who works as a voluntary nurse in a catholic clinic. She turns out to be the daughter of the lunatic scientist and teams with Murphy – after many embarrassing attempts to seduce her – to put an end to the horror. The painful thing about "Scarab" is having to admit that the basic plot and particularly the Egyptian gimmicks actually hold some potential. Director Steven- Charles Jaffe must have wanted to bring an adventurous Indiana Jones rip-off, with loads of archaeological scenery and palaver about ancient Gods, but the abominable script and inferior production values turned it into the umpteenth laughable and atrocious B-flick of the early 80's. The amount of "What the hell?!?" moments in this film is unfathomable. There's an old guy who points at stuff and subsequently they explode, numerous erotic Egyptian in which topless girls turn into hairy monsters and random images of a village where the inhabitants lay dead in the streets. Robert Ginty has probably always been an incredibly awful actor, but it was never as obvious as here since he's trying to play a heroic and eloquent leading character. "Scarab" doesn't contain any gore, sleaze or excitement that is worth mentioning. It's a retarded film that should remain as obscure as it is now, because not even mind- broadening drugs can make this enjoyable.
Paul Andrews Escarabajos Asesinos, or Scarab to English speaking audiences, begins with some silly scrolling text which reads, "long, long ago when there was neither earth nor sky, nothing but a dark, watery mass, there lived a spirit possessing magical powers. One day the spirit took counsel with it's heart and was moved to speak it's own name, brought into being a grand, majestic. This figure-the God, Khepera, whose symbol was the Scarab" grammatical errors aside this piece of text means nothing. We then cut to the laboratory of Wilfred Manz (Rip Torn) P.H.D. Physics. Manz is conducting some sort of experiment on an Egyptian artifact that is in the shape of a Scarab. After reciting some silly dialogue nothing happens so Manz punches some glass beakers in frustration and cuts himself. His blood drips onto the Scarab and a shadowy figure rises from a swirl of smoke & bad neon lighting. Jack Murphy (Robert Ginty) is an American reporter working in the Spanish capital Madrid, after getting into bed with the wrong woman his editor Raleigh (Sam Chew Jr.) says he is going to give him one more chance & sends Murphy to cover a boring press conference by the Spanish Prime Minister (Hector Alterio) on 'new morality'. Half way through his speech the Minister grabs a security officers gun and commits suicide. Murphy notices a Spanish nurse named Elena (Cristina Sanchez Pascual) take a small Scarab which had fallen from the Minister's lapel. Sensing a story Murphy follows Elena. After various inane plot devices & coincidences it turns out that Elena is Manz's daughter & that Manz is now the leader of an Egyptian cult (since it's set in Spain shouldn't it be a Spanish cult?) who apparently wants to save the world by bringing back the Dark Ages before mankind destroys itself with an Atom Bomb, makes sense yeah? Manz & his followers plan on doing this by assassinating heads of state & men in power. I said it was bad, don't blame me. Elena feels she has to stop him, Murphy does too. But in reality Manz has plans for both Murphy & his daughter Elena. Oh, & for some unexplained reason Manz steals some money from a banker named Harrington (Donald Pickering) by blowing the Bank of England up. So, in an incredibly lame climax it's Manz & his worshippers against Murphy & Elena in a fight to the death! First off I should apologise if I've made Escarabajos Asesinos sound exciting or interesting because, frankly, it's as dull as dishwater & about as much fun. Co-written & directed by Steven-Charles Jaffe I absolutely hated this film. I find it incredibly hard to comprehend that it took four people, Jaffe, Robert Jaffe, Ned Miller & Jim Block to write this crap. Four people? Maybe everyone had their own ideas & that's why it turned into the mess that it did. Maybe there were creative differences, or maybe these four people have no talent & just didn't know how to write a decent horror/thriller. You decide! Escarabajos Asesinos is extremely slow & uninvolving. I never felt that anyone or anything was in danger, I mean taking over the world by assassinating government figures? There are only two assassinations throughout the entire film, & then the film tries to surprise us by saying this plan was a front for something else even less exciting and even more boring if that's possible. I hate this film, I almost fell asleep watching it. Ginty has all the personality & acting ability of a peeled Bannana & his falling in love with Elena was hardly a surprise, I mean just once can't the leading man and woman hate each other & resist the temptation to get into bed with each other after less than half a day of meeting each other? Forget about any blood or gore as there isn't any apart from a so brief it's almost subliminal cut chest & stomach. There is however plenty of nudity as not only does Manz have a collection of worshippers, he has a collection of young female almost totally naked dancing worshippers, who say things like "don't you want any of us!?"! Manz's lair is totally ridiculous, foam rocks and no walls, just a totally black background that looks like a school stage play with big black curtains hanging down. And there is dry ice swirling around all the time, some stupid looking trees without leaves and some ancient artifacts that glow in the dark! The costumes look cheap as does the children's face paint they all wear, Rip Torn looks very fetching with silver eye shadow! There is no atmosphere, gore or excitement during the overly long 90 minute running time. The only good thing I can say about Escarabajos Asesinos is that it is made with a fair amount of competence throughout, bad sets aside that is! Please do your best to avoid this film as it hurts me to think some other poor soul may have to sit through it, if I can just stop one single person having to endure this piece of crap then this review has been worth it. Avoid at all costs!
Kerozene Some illuminated scientist awakens an Egyptian entity. The scientist becomes the evil guru of a sect of killer fanatics who's goal is to eliminate the most powerful men in the world.Robert Ginty is a reporter. He finds out that the victims all have a little scarab-shaped amulet on them. The scarab turns out to be the symbol of some Egyptian cult....Pretty bad movie. Badly directed and badly played. The only cool thing about this movie is the Egyptian rituals with lots of half naked babes dancing like crazy among an extremely fake looking set. Oh, and there is this guy, who shoots bullet with his finger. Nonsense.

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