The Kindred [Blu-ray]

Director: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow Stephen Carpenter

Overview

A superior follow-up to The Dorm that Dripped Blood from directors Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen W. Carpenter, this campy, slime-covered monster movie centers around a dark secret kept in the basement catacombs of an ailing geneticist (Kim Hunter), which turns out to be the bizarre end product of a gene-splicing experiment combining genetic material from her son with the DNA of an aquatic creature. The little guy -- dubbed "Anthony" by its creator -- breaks free to stalk Hunter's son John (David Allen Brooks) and his obnoxious friends before facing off with another loony scientist (Rod Steiger, in an absolutely hideous hairpiece). Filled with creepy surprises, audacious makeup effects and buckets of goo, this film's high point is provided by lovely Amanda Pays as Steiger's assistant, who proves late in the film why she kisses like a fish.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/2022
UPC:	0654930323199
Original Release:	1987
Source:	Synapse Films
Language:	English
Time:	1:33:00
Sales rank:	17,074

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

David Allen Brooks	John Hollins
Kim Hunter	Amanda Hollins
Rod Steiger	Dr. Phillip Lloyd
Amanda Pays	Melissa Leftridge
Talia Balsam	Sharon Raymond
Timothy Gibbs	Hart Phillips
Peter Frechette	Brad Baxter
Julia Montgomery	Cindy Russell
Bunki Z	Nell Valentine
Charles Grueber	Harry
Bennet Guillory	Dr. Stone
Edgar Small	Dr. Larson
Jim Boeke	Jackson
Randy Harrington	Paramedic
Ben L. Perry	Porsche Driver
Betty Freeman	Nurse
John Farmer	Minister
Michael Shawn McCracken	Full-Sized Anthony
Ben Perry	Porsche Driver
Steve Conte	Orderly
David Newman	Composer

Technical Credits

Stephen Carpenter

Jeffrey Obrow

Earl Ghaffari

Joseph Stefano

John Penney

Stephen Carpenter	Director,Screenwriter
Joel Freeman	Executive Producer
Michael John McCracken Sr.	Special Effects
Matthew Mungle	Special Effects
Jeffrey Obrow	Producer,Director,Screenwriter
Earl Ghaffari	Screenwriter
Joseph Stefano	Screenwriter
John Penney	Screenwriter
Jane Jenkins	Casting
Denise Chamian	Casting
Janet Hirshenson	Casting

Editorial Reviews

Like any number of mid-level science fiction and horror exercises, The Kindred is more notable for its visual effects and gothic trappings than for its characters or its ability to deliver a mood as creepy as its ideas. The notion that one's long-lost sibling could be a slime-covered sea monster or that a sexy scientist could hide gills underneath her alluring bustline gives The Kindred a fantastical and frightening appeal -- especially given the special effects team's better than average rip-offs of Ridley Scott's Alien and John Carpenter's The Thing. Unfortunately, though, The Kindred's plot is full of holes and its premise is riddled with pseudoscience that's preposterous by even fright flick standards. Five individuals receive screenwriting credit, so perhaps it's simply a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. Still, with its gooey, marine-themed set pieces and its memorable cameo from Planet of the Apes star Kim Hunter, The Kindred remains watchable in spite of its weaknesses. Hunter's character's lullaby to her mutant child is a haunting little piece of music that, like the film's grotesquely literal take on the incest taboo, works its way into one's head and sticks.