TERMINUS: Campy Chaos

TERMINUS (Blu-ray)

1987 / 115 & 85 min (2 versions)

MVD Rewind Collection

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😼

Though I practically lived at my local video store back in the ‘80s, I don’t recall ever coming across this title on the shelves. Maybe it was there and I never noticed, or maybe it just happened to be rented out whenever I popped in. But based on the cover art, suggesting yet another Road Warrior rip-off, Terminus is something I probably would have rented.

Not that I would’ve expected a good movie (in the traditional sense, anyway). Countless low budget Road Warrior ripoffs were cranked out back then (a lot of ‘em hailing from Europe…mostly Italy) and none of them were ever mistaken for good. However, “good” is not always synonymous with entertaining. Some of these films were great fun, often at their own expense.

True to form, Terminus isn’t a good movie either, but does boast a WTF quality that's kind of a kick (again, at its own expense). This one's a French-German co-production that, unlike the stuff oozing from Italy, looks like there’s actually a sizeable budget behind it. However, the kitchen sink story is so all-over-the-place that it's often baffling, sometimes amusingly so. 

Terminus has its own Mad Max in Stump, played by hunky French rock star Johnny Hallyday. He drives an AI-powered truck called Monster in a game developed by a child genius who turns out to be a clone of another genius known as “Doctor” (Jürgen Prochnow, playing three different roles, including one where he’s costumed like a drag queen). The object of the game is to reach a place called Terminus while dodging violent attacks by “The Greys,” who pursue him in tanks but mostly end up crashing & burning (sort of making them the vehicular version of Imperial Stormtroopers).

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Karen Allen shows up for awhile as Monster’s initial driver and Stump’s hilariously brief love interest, but her role is superfluous. Things get complicated when the AI (depicted as a disembodied mouth on the truck’s dashboard) malfunctions and begins to feel bad about itself. Oh…and did I mention the dreaded Ghost Truck, lurking in the periphery and driven by another character played by Prochnow? 

There’s goofy action here and there, some of it looking rather expensive, though most of the movie’s camp appeal lies in the batshit story and an overall aesthetic that practically screams 1980s (including your standard issue synth score and a central control room that resembles a nightclub). Terminus is junk, but can be entertaining junk if one is in the right frame of mind (or tripping on shrooms).

Of all the Road Warrior ripoffs glutting shelves in the ‘80s, Terminus is definitely one of the weirder ones. A fitting addition to the MVD Rewind Collection, this disc includes two versions of the movie, the U.S. version and the European director’s cut, which runs a half-hour longer. There are significant story and tonal differences between them, though the latter is arguably the best cut since it tends to be a little more comprehensible. It also comes with a decent selection of bonus features (outlined below). 

EXTRA KIBBLES

EUROPEAN & U.S. VERSIONS

WE ALL DESCEND: THE MAKING OF TERMINUS is a 50-minute retrospective doc featuring interviews with director Pierre-William Glenn, as well as his son and daughter, the latter of whom had a major role in Terminus as a child. This is a surprisingly revealing feature.

INTERVIEW WITH JÜRGEN PROCHNOW - The actor discusses his career, particularly following Das Boot and leading up to this film.

PHOTO GALLERY

REVERSIBLE COVER

MINI POSTER

TRAILER