RETURN TO FROGTOWN (1993)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological*

This isn't a "return" to the same cosmos seen in 1987's HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN, but a reboot. There's still the same overriding conflict-- mutated frog-men vying with humans for control of a post-apocalyptic world-- but the characters of hero Sam Hell and his assistant Spangle-- so winningly played by Roddy Piper and Sandahl Bergman-- start over from scratch, essayed by Robert (MANIAC COP) Z'dar and Denice Duff. The characters are shown encountering one another for the first time, so this is clearly not a sequel, as some sources erroneously report.

In my review of HELL, I referenced director Donald G Jackson's final interview, which for my purposes contained two relevant items. One is that Jackson said he didn't favor as much sex in his stories as did his co-writer Randall Frakes-- and that explains why RETURN lacks any of the pleasing concupiscence found in HELL. The other item of interest was Jackson's interest in old serials, which explains why this version of Frogtown includes "Rocket Rangers" who are a pretty clear callback to the three "Rocketman" chapterplays of the classic era. 

There's nothing wrong with a creator who recognizes that he has more facility with fictional violence than with fictional sex. The problem is, Jackson showed no facility with either one. The stunt-work is appallingly bad, and not only from Z'dar and Duff, but also from costar Lou Ferrigno, who certainly had more than a little experience staging fight-scenes on the INCREDIBLE HULK series. Until re-viewing this nearly forgotten cheeseball production, I might've said that the worst movie to reference old serials was Fred Olen Ray's THE PHANTOM EMPIRE. But even that junkpile had one decent (if short) fight-scene in it. RETURN may've spent most of its budget on the faux-Rocketman suits briefly worn by Z'dar and Ferrigno, and some brief animated flying sequences, but there are no thrills present in either. Even the shabby costumes of the frog-men, amusing in the first film, are just pitiable here.

Despite having a jawline that Dick Tracy might envy, Z'dar was entirely out of his depth playing a stalwart hero, and clearly Jackson didn't know what to do with any of the seasoned pros in his employ, including Charles Napier, Don Stroud, Rhonda Shear and Brion James. As bad as Jackson's ROLLER BLADE films are, I think the Frogtown reboot is many times worse. There's a third film in the series which I'm not sure I've seen before, but I'm not sure I can survive another of these.