Great Film overall

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Ziggy (Gallo) is a man who sends his wife Misty (Dixon) out to "meet" other men but continually maintains he's not a pimp. Dino (Martino) is a painter, health nut and real nut who's obsessed with the loss of his wife Rachel (MacDonald). Together the two men make money by killing people they're assigned to kill. When Misty is kidnapped, it forces the men, especially Ziggy, to reassess their lives. Ziggy's dream is to move away from L.A. and resettle in Alaska. Will they escape the seedy underbelly of the city? Mayhem is one of the earliest City Lights titles we've seen to date. It has all the names we've come to recognize: Pepin, Merhi, Driver, Munchkin, Gonzales and more. Most people would probably dismiss movies like this, writing them off as mere crud. But for us, there's something intriguing about the City Lights universe. They have a particular style that is unusual. Yes, it's not to everyone's taste, but we're willing to not just give them a chance, in an odd sort of way, we really like these movies. Perhaps you can see that they're made by a group of people who were really trying to make it in the movie business. Effort goes a long way here. There are so many DTV efforts that seem like they just don't care. City Lights movies are the antidote to that, despite their flaws.Even though Mayhem is mercifully only 78 minutes, there is a ton of filler, as characters walk around L.A. But we do get to see a movie marquee showing Top Gun, an unknown arcade game, and that gas was 72 cents a gallon back then. Ziggy and Dino sit around having "shirtless discussions" that are not at all gay (don't you do that with your friends/partners in crime?), while Robert Gallo looks like a cross between Scott Baio and Joe Mantegna, and Raymond Martino looks like a cross between Richard Grieco and Curtis Armstrong. A lot of dialogue has that silly, overdubbed ADR feel to it, and if you've seen other City Lights movies, you know what to expect in the cinematography (videography?) department.Technical issues aside, one of the main problems with Mayhem is that the two leads are unlikable. If you cared more about them, it would have gone a long way. Plus the structure of the plot is a mess, with constant flashbacks, all topped off by the aforementioned filler.If you're curious about City Lights titles like we are, you'll get into Mayhem. It may take you back to the golden 80's as you fantasize about seeing this in a video store back then. Others may want to exercise more caution. But if you see it somewhere, we say pick it up.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

What is this? I think they didn't have a script when they began shooting this film - they just made it up as they went along. It certainly feels that way, since the movie doesn't really seem to follow the normal structure of one event leading to another, but rather shows us endless footage of Dino and Ziggy eating in like nine different restaurants and occasionally killing some people or arguing about health habits.And then come the flashbacks... Oh my God, Dino's flashbacks... That soft lens and generic flashback music did its job, because otherwise, with such inept segues, I wouldn't have known what was going on at all. Meanwhile, the sequences themselves are rather nauseating tradeoffs between "romantic" interplay (Dino looks like a caveman and his wife looks like a hooker) and horrible acts of violence. Then, uh, the flashbacks kind of turn into fantasies and they mix together. It's weird.And then comes the pointlessness, which is about 90% of the movie. I'd say throughout the course of it, there's at least a solid 10 minutes of simply watching Dino walk around in his house, shave, read, PAINT (he's a sensitive hit-man, who PAINTS), then wander around downtown L.A. and sit in alleyways. Then we watch Ziggy do similar things... at least a good 10 minutes of him going to nudie bars and porno movies and playing arcade games.And then comes the ridiculous violence, which is way overdone.And then comes the hurting. It was a pleasant surprise when my friend rescued this from a local bargain bin that we regularly scour for schlock. It's maybe the worst movie to come out of the 80's. Wow.

as if the tag line weren't confusing enough,the plot left me completely nonplused.At first its a story about a guy who is sort of a pimp,but not a pimp,who is friends with a guy who is a killer with morals.Then it becomes a rescue film.Then it becomes a wanted,misunderstood couple on the run film(but I never figured out who exactly they were running from).Also the gratuitous scenes of dino and his pal going to and fro in their car,for no particular reason,and dino's weird flashbacks cum fantasys cum artistic doodlings,left me feeling a complete lack of gestalt.And last but certainly not least,the horrendously brainless ending left me retching with disbelief.I still find it hard to fathom anyone putting good money up to even buy the film to make such a useless trifling waste of time.unless you are like me,a fan of the totally worthless,plotless,submoronic,genre of moviedom,then stay away at all costs.this film(i wouldn't dare put it in the category of movie)will suck out your will to live!!!!! thank,rp

I found this one sitting in the horror section of the video store. I should have left it there. There's some decent death sequences, but once you've seen one of them you've pretty much seen them all. Awful acting and a non-existent plot make this movie a dud.