Exploitation Retrospect | The Journal of Junk Culture and Fringe Media
Voodoo (1995)
A-Pix Home Video | Review by Dan Taylor

Superman has kryptonite. I have three words that reduce me to a quivering mass: "Starring Corey Feldman." Eeyah! I gets the shivahs just a talkin' 'bout it!

Surprisingly, Feldman's latest straight-to-video resume entry fares far better than putrid dreck like DREAM A LITTLE DREAM, TOO (what a clever title!) and NATIONAL LAMPOON'S SCUBA SCHOOL. Maybe leaving Corey Haim back in the crackhouse has its benefits.

Sporting an awful Ramones dye-job and groovy Danzig Jr. sideburns, Feldman plays Andy Chadway -- a baby-faced "writer" who unexpectedly shows up at his girlfriend's college. She seems upset at first -- though this plotline is largely unexplored and almost instantly dropped -- and only shows affection/interest when Andy pledges the "weird" fraternity on campus.

Could it be that they're not a fraternity at all, but a voodoo cult with a wicked grip on the whole town? Well, that's the story fed Andy by Jack Nance (recently-departed star of ERASERHEAD), father of a cult victim. Hell, I'm a sucker for this paranoia schtick, and Feldman will forever be "The Jarvis Kid" in my book -- thanks to his performance in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 4: THE FINAL CHAPTER. Toss in a remark that Lazenby is his favorite Bond and the Feldster's got my support (even if he does have "CHUMP" written on his forehead in permanent marker).

Pity poor Sarah Douglas, though. Stunning as a leather-clad villainess in SUPERMAN II, she obviously knows she's slummin' in this cable fodder. All while Terence Stamp plays the art houses and Christopher Reeve gets oodles of work and invited to the Oscars! She's probably wishin' she was thrown from that horse...at least the quality of the jobs would improve!

Strangely watchable (maybe I was under a spell!), VOODOO also benefits from Joel Edwards' turn as Casion March, head of Gamma Sigma Voodoo. His Ken-as-a-voodoo-doll scene is a beer-flick howler.

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