WFG RATING: B- (film); A (Blu-Ray)

Visual Vengeance presents an Eagle Films production. Written, produced, lensed, edited, and directed by Philip Cook.

Stars Mark Redfield, Doug Brown, Gage Sheridan, Frank Smith, Michael Weitz, Tara Bilkins, Mark Hyde, Mike Diesel, and the voice of Philip Cook.

The 2002 sci-fi cult classic from Philip Cook has arrived again thanks to the crew at Visual Vengeance and it’s a lot of fun chaos. 

Gordon Hauge is a former Naval officer who has worked as a freelance artist. However, he is having the worst day of his life. He has been fired from his job and on top of that, his wife has decided to leave him. After a night with his buddies, Gordon crashes on his way back and ends up in purgatory. 

Gordon finds himself chased down by Shadowmen and creatures. He eventually meets Nimbus, the leader of a group of resistance fighters picked by God to stop the being known as the Despiser. Gordon discovers he has the ability to travel between purgatory and the real world. When the Despiser catches wind of this, he decides to use Gordon’s estranged wife to bait him in order to force him to help wreak havoc in the real world.

Originally meant to be a sci-fi film with practical effects, filmmaker Philp Cook decided that using CGI effects would make things easier in this tale of aliens landing in purgatory and instead of a coexistence with humans, attempt to prove they are the dominating force. The end result is something that could look like it came out of an early PlayStation game but saved by a decent story and performances by the likes of Mark Redfield and even our team of rebels.

Redfield is great in the role of Gordon, who must go from zero to hero when after losing it all, he really loses it all in purgatory. Waking up in a world he’s never seen, he’s targeted right away from the Shadowmen, a group of demons led by the titular Despiser, voiced by Philip Cook himself. It is when he joins a noble group of warriors led by Doug Brown’s Nimbus that he begins to realize what’s at stake as it is a battle for Heaven and Earth but replace angels and demons with aliens and those in purgatory.

The group is quite an eccentric bunch. Nimbus is the strong-minded leader of the team. There is outspoken cowboy Jake, played by Michael Weitz; hot-headed and impatient former firefighter Charlie, played by Tara Bilkins; and former kamikaze fighter Fumie, played by Frank Smith. As for the villains, the Shadowmen are all humans with demonic-like powers who work for the Despiser. One of the Shadowmen even has the ability to jump from body to body as long as it is one of their own. 

What makes Gordon the unexpected hero is his ability to jump between purgatory and the real world, which the Despiser plans to use to his advantage. He even possesses certain people within the real world and does so to bait Gordon by sending his estranged wife to the hospital via a jumper he possesses, played by future friend and collaborator Mark Hyde. This leads to Gordon realizing he must go back to not only save his wife, but save the world before it’s too late.

Like many of Visual Vengeance’s Special Collector’s Blu-Ray, this film has loads of extras. 

There is a 2023 interview with filmmaker Philip Cook and actor/producer Mark Hyde, who talk about how they met making this very film and how it would lead to a friendship and partnership making many indie sci-fi movies and how the film still holds today as a cult classic. 

The commentary tracks are of two. One has Cook along with lead stars Mark Redfield and Gage Sheridan. The other commentary track comes from podcast hosts Sam Panico and B&S About Movies and Bill van Ryn of Drive-In Asylum. There is also a making of the film, deleted scenes, outtakes reel, trailers for this and other VV titles. There is enough bonus materials to make cinephiles proud.

Despiser is a fun sci-fi adventure with 90’s style CGI effects that today may look hokey, but who cares? This is a fun cult classic and the Blu-Ray is loaded with great special features!

The film comes out today on Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray!