Mikey: Collector's Edition — Mikey: Collector's Edition(Blu Ray)
Mikey appeared in 1992, and was directed by Dennis Dimster( as Dennis Dimster-Denk)- who has only seven directorial credits to his- these take in 1990 Psycho-drama Cold Heart with Nastassia Kinski been the victim, Val Kilmer fronted 2009 plot-twisting thriller Double Identity, and a few US TV show credits. Mikey is a well enough shot, if slightly TV movie like venture- though we do get some neat leering kills along the way- there is a little sag in the middle where things turn decidedly US soapy, with the darts of tension…though as we roll towards the latter part, things get nicely over-the-top & devilish. Oh, and the film has a neat enough tag-line ‘Remember, Jason and Freddy were kids once, too.’
The film kicks off in fine killer kid form- as we meet Mikey(Brian Bonsall), a jell quaffed nine years old. First, he’s lighting a fire in the families garage, gets told-off by his high heeled adoptive mother- then pushers the families little daughter in the pool & watches her drown. He then throws a hairdryer in his adoptive mother baths, and waits for the families father return putting down marbles so he trips falls through a glass door, then Mikey finishes him off with a baseball bat- and this is all in the first ten minutes of the film. Next, the police show up, and he plays the crying- hiding- in- the-wardrobe victim, sees a psychiatrist & fools him. Fairly soon he gets adopted again by the middle class- but- childless Neil(John Diehl) and Rachel(Mimi Craven) Trenton- who dote on the seemingly butter wouldn’t melt Mickey, but expectedly his more deranged side starts to show. Added into the mix we get a blonde haired teen daughter Jessie(Josie Bissett)- who little Mikey gets his sets his sights on, and interfering teacher(Shawn Gilder-first two Hellraiser films), and new age school headmaster (Lyman Ward- Ferris Bueller's dad).
The film has a great, great start- with a midway lag when things turn a little too US soapy, though we do get some nice 90’s camp-ness here. With things rolling towards a great half an hour or so, with some neat kills- taking in crossbow attacks, jacuzzi boil-ups, hammer attacks, broken glass stabbings, ect- all topped with the occasional cheesy catch phase. Bonsall is well placed as the charming to devious to deadly Mikey, Diehl and Craven are good as the trying to do their best adoptive parents. With the supporting cast doing good enough, with Gilder particularly been good as the caring/ interfering teacher. On the whole, Mikey is a good enough example of the killer kid genre, and certainly one of the better thriller/ horror films of the ’90s.
Moving onto the region free Blu Ray- and the high definition print looks nice & crisp. On the extras side, we get a just shy of one hour & a half making of doc- this features Editor and Producer Natan Zahavi, Director of Photography Thomas Jewett, lead actor Brian Bonsall & Director Dennis Dimster-Denk. The doc moves from Zahavi discussing the project's origins, moving onto talk about the cast, then crew selected. As this point, Dimster-Denk & Bonsall come in, and they discuss how they got connected with the film, and something they both shared been child stars, up to the age of Dimster-Denk was a fairly prolific child actor. The doc certainly through & in-depth, and on the whole worth a watch- if I’d criticise anything thing is it jumps around a bit, going between the film to hand, and the pair's child acting. Other extras wise we get Dimster-Denk discussing one of the final scenes in the film- this runs around the thirteen-minute mark, and we get an original trailer.
In finishing- if you enjoy 1990’s thriller/horror blends, or the killer kid genre- this release is certainly something you’ll be wanting to pick-up, with MVD Rewind doing a nice job of this new Blu Ray release.