Cardiac Arrest

This has to go down as one of the cheesiest police thrillers ever.Let me just say the acting is pathetic in a laughable way.Though good san francisco scenery.If you know where the maxwell hotel is in san francisco then youll know what I'm talking about.Some of the movie is filmed inside the lobby and even on the staircase to the 2nd floor.

Erroneously advertised as a horror movie, this is in fact a DETECTIVE DRAMA; it might solicit praise from "Monk" or "Columbo" fans not simply because its paced as a TV movie or an extended teleplay, but because a lot of time is spent on the development of humane characters with real fallibility. The mystery takes time to unravel, and it does so in a reasonably realistic and tasteful manner. In an ocean of conflated stereotypes, stilted scripts and nerve-wracking formulas, watching a subdued, 70s-style drama like this one can be quite pleasant. Moreover, however slow or lacking in suspense, no one will say that this story bores with its predictability.

I used to love afternoon detective shows. Columbo, Quincy, Ironside, even the newer crop like Diagnosis Murder and Monk. Murder mysteries, kooky maverick investigators and everything wrapped up in a speedy blast of low key suspense and twists. Cardiac Arrest is reminiscent of that whole realm of television, but it's stretched out over 93 minutes and has little suspense or flair. A sensational plot (heart theft, medical skulduggery) gives way to uninspired filler, underpowered acting and a distinct lack of thrills, TV movie level direction keeps this crawling along at the bare minimum pace required to keep from flatlining and the premise goes sadly wasted. At least Garry Goodrow is fairly good value as the cop investigating; he does his level best with the material, projecting a certain neat sense of kooky dedication. Michael Paul Chan is also solid as his refreshingly cliché free Asian partner. Max Gail and Susan O'Connell emote to the best of their abilities as a couple who get involved, there's a brief appearance for a young Fred Ward, side roles by and large make little to no impression or are simply hammy. A modicum of interest is provided by the late 70's San Francisco setting, in intervening years such city-scapes and their portrayal on film has perhaps changed forever, with its resolute ordinariness the film gains a certain time capsule quality. Also it's almost interesting to watch a film with realistic, human characters pretty much across the board, people that aren't glamorous, that make mistakes and don't seem to yell "I'm in a movie" by their very presence. But both these points still need some kind of underlying tension and there just isn't any so the film falls almost wholly flat. Its just dull, dull viewing, it picks up in the final quarter hour or so but its too little too late. The length really hurts this one, at half its length it could be a good TV episode, at 70 to 75 minutes it could have been a good pilot episode, but at over an hour and a half there just isn't enough there, and the characters don't stand out enough for any digressions (such as the hero interrupted whilst with his girlfriend) to work. I don't like to rag on films like this, for I enjoy cinema at most levels of quality, but this really was a stinker and not one that I would recommend to, well anyone.

That's it! With God as my witness (hmm, maybe Satan would make a better witness in my case), this is the absolute last time I allow an appealing VHS-cover to fool and trick me into watching a movie that is generally – and righteously - considered as a huge piece of crap. "Cardiac Arrest" is downright unendurable 80's junk and, maybe it's just me, but there's something seriously wrong with the plot. The lousy excuse for a "film" opens and continues with the investigation of a couple of murder cases where the hearts have been surgically removed from the victims' bodies, only … we didn't see the murders happening! Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the point of horror films to show the violence and blood? This is more like a comedy with homicide coppers puking each time they encounter a corpse and that sort of lame things. "Cardiac Arrest" is a totally senseless and incoherent piece of crap with lousy characters, irritating dialogs, a dreadfully boring pace and – as said before – no gore. I made a rookie mistake picking out this film for its cover, and I'm trying to make the pain go away by advising others to avoid it like the plague. Suffering from a cardiac arrest yourself even looks like more fun.

Cardiac Arrest (1980)

1/2 (out of 4)

Detective Garry Goodrow (Clancy Higgins) gets sick at the sight of blood, which isn't a good thing considering his latest case. Set in San Francisco, the detective is trying to track down a serial killer who is ripping the hearts out of his victims. It turns out that the killer might be involved in a harvest program.

CARDIAC ARREST hit video shelves and was being sold as a horror movie with a pretty good cover showing an evil doctor holding a heart. I'm going to guess that this film was put into theaters as a detective story but it flopped so the producers tried to make their money back on video by passing it off in the slasher era. Sadly, the film is just really awful from the start and has very little working for it.

I will say that the idea of an evil doctor, hearts being stolen and sold is a pretty good idea but sadly nothing is done with it here. I really thought this was a poorly made movie right from the start as it lacks any real tension and there's never an atmosphere or anything else built. Even worse is how awful some of the performances are as you'd really think that they filmed a rehearsal because the performances are that bad.

The mystery of who the killer is was well kept but at the same time the viewer is so bored by the film that by the half hour mark they won't even care who is doing it. The lead detective isn't very interesting and neither is everything that happens for him to solve the case. With the mystery side of things not working you'd hope for some good kill scenes but that doesn't happen either as we usually just see the aftermath so those expecting gore or violence should go somewhere else.

CARDIAC ARREST is a film that just doesn't work and should only be viewed by those wanting to see the bottom of the barrel.