User Reviews

Directed and written by George Mendeluk (Doin' Time, The Kidnapping of the President, Meatballs III: Summer Job), and based on The Sin Sniper by Hugh Garner, this has a killer with an interesting weapon: a camera with a long-range lens takes a photo of each victim seconds before the killer shoots them. The killer is sending these photos to the police to taunt them as he kills as many women as possible.

Sergeant Boyd (Richard Crenna) is Toronto's meanest cop and he wants this killer dead or in jail. He's trying to protect the sex workers of Yonge Street, who include both real girls of the night and actresses, like Linnea Quigley, who plays the first victim. Plus, Paul Williams plays the man who owns all these women, Julius Kurtz. There's also the typical call girl with a good heart, Monica Page (Linda Sorensen) and a tough undercover female cop, Sandy McCauley (Belinda J. Montgomery). This is a Canadian movie, which is definitely proved to be true when Lesleh Donaldson has a small role. She was in almost every northern horror movie that mattered, including Funeral Home, Happy Birthday to Me, Curtains and Deadly Eyes.

There are a lot of reviews online that don't enjoy this movie. How can they feel that way with such a powerful ending and the chance to see the actual darkness of Toronto before it was all cleaned up? I mean, the former Psychedelic Avenue might not be the same any more, but Zanzibar survives. I wish I could have seen it back in the 60s when it had what owner David Cooper said was a "Twenty-first Century total environment with "stroboscopic" lights, mannequins and closed-circuit cameras that would take photos of the dance floor and project them on the wall."

It's a fun movie but not the best giallo made in Canada. That would be Strange Shadows in an Empty Room.

After a few days of PG-13 festive viewing, I'm diving back into the deep end with this R-rated VHS I found buried in my collection.

The video cover claims that women of the night can sell anything... even their lives. The back synopsis reads that a sniper shoots working girls and photographs them via a camera on his scope.

Remember the annoying previews before a movie started on VHS?

This one's called 'Cross Country' and a perfect blond is bar dancing while behind closed doors someone else is being dunked in a toilet bowl. Holey Moley, a car just Thelma and Louised over the Grand Canyon and only made it half way. That movie looks decent. We need a name for the topless blond bar dancer, though. (I believe it's Nina Axelrod.) Here it is, almost 2024, and I'm still watching a VHS analog movie.

Okay, so Inspector Gadget loads his pockets with anything from a Polaroid camera to a hacksaw and no sooner sharpshoots the first victim, whose only crime is taking a shower.

Crenna patrols the streets of Toronto, which is posing as New York. He shakes down anyone who looks shady in an attempt to get a lead on The Sin Sniper.

Inspector Gadget has a high-powered Meccano rifle that requires assembly and runs on a dual-action camera and trigger action. How do you attach a Polaroid to a gun?

Mob boss Mr. Kurtzs looks like Joseph Michael Calleja wearing a Benny Hill wig.

You know, it just came to me: I've never heard Richard Crenna drop any F bombs in his movies.

Crenna goes toe to toe with a Kronk gym member who's slippery and does his best to elude the law. Is that Michael Moore? Nah, I think it's one of those baddies from 'Red Heat.' "Victor, set us up." I love how Crenna answers his phone: "Goodbye!" Moore is apprehended, denies all charges, and uses a foul tongue as a defense.

Isn't this where 'Rocky 2' was filmed? Little Italy, right? But how could it be when 'Stone Cold Dead' is filmed in Canada?

Is Crenna doing his best to come off as Detective Callahan? He has his hair.

Where'd Inspector Gadget go? There hasn't been a murder in a while.

Instead, the director's throwing all these false lead curve balls and misleading the viewer into believing the mafia is responsible for the shooting victims deaths. It's not Joe C in the Benny Hill wig.

Even Crenna's under the impression that Joe C in the Benny Hill wig is the one behind the murder. He's wasting resources down this avenue.

How'd Crenna go from being a Canadian 'Deathship' sailor to capturing Rambo and then lost in Toronto as a detective?

With the murders coming to a halt, Crenna's wasting vital time on false leads and not even close on the trail.

The movie lacks intensity and does not engage the killer enough.

'Dirty Harry' balanced The Scorpian Killer out perfectly.

Where's Inspector Gadget gone in this?

This big wig in the Benny Hill wig is far from convincing as a mafia boss. As if anyone would fear him on the streets. What a joke.

Crenna finally attends a crime scene and steals $140 from victim number three.

I have to say that Inspector Gadget's choice of firepower doesn't pack much punch. It's almost like an air rifle.

In the tradition of The Zodiac, Inspector Gadget starts sending letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, and one reads, "Greetings from the darkroom. A centerfold guaranteed to blow your mind. Now she belongs to you. The Sin Sniper." People today wouldn't know what a darkroom is, would they? I must clarify, then. It's where old Kodak films and the like used to be processed for development. Whatever you do, don't open the door midway through when someone is working in the darkroom.

A Christopher Walken lookalike is another decoy killer suspect to confuse the viewer.

At one stage, my money was on Crenna being the sniper, as he wore a trench coat. But I can't rule out one of the street walkers being the killer.

Why did they cast this dwarf in the Benny Hill wig? What a horrible choice for a movie villain. You can't take him seriously.

Inspector Gadget picks off another victim and sustains a knee injury, and is made in the process by a drunken bum.

Using the money he stole off the hooker from earlier, Crenna reserves the services of a strung-out junkie but folds on the psychical as she's only a 2/10 and looks too motherly. Instead, they go ice skating in an attempt to make her the love interest of the movie. There's no chemistry between Crenna and the human. It's another wasted lead in the movie, as she gets shot at the end by her own daughter, who's the killer. I didn't see that coming.

Two more victims show up in a sting, but the boxer from the Kronk gym is the hitman this time, not Inspector Gadget. By this point of the movie, it confuses the viewer and kind of drags.

At this point in the movie, I exited for 5 minutes to cater to my cat's stomach and must have missed an important piece of the puzzle. But from what I can gather, Crenna's colleague is on the take and squeals on the mafia boss, which no one fears. So, Joe C in the Benny Hill wig is finally arrested and put in the big house for espionage and the importation of cheap knockoff toupees.

Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but Olivia is Inspector Gadget. Olivia. It was Olivia. She's The Sin Sniper. Olivia. I know what you're thinking because I'm thinking the same thing too - who's Olivia? Was she even in the movie for most part? That's your big reveal, movie? I can't remember her from earlier. Was I supposed to?

The movie's no 'Tightrope' and kind of a let-down.

Can you believe I'm actually rewinding a videotape? I haven't done that since, what, 2008?

Another well plotted thriller, sees a prostitute hating nut taking out his victims with a fancy rifle, silencer attached. That's not all, our nut has a camera mounted on his rifle, so at the point of shot, he takes a series of photos until they are, as the title refers. Obviously typecast, is Sly's good mate, caring cop, Richard Crenna, out to bust this pimp, Kurtz, and awesome piece of acting from Paul Williams, who just outdoes the others. His women, including one of his favorites, are being taken out. Again this is a highly constructed thriller, where your guesses to to the killer will waiver from one to another. Some real American style violence, one scene with a disgruntled black pro who takes it in the neck, some blood cascading out, is a little sick. Her john, (a professor) staggered, trying to plug the flow of blood, apanic, becomes an informant for Crenna in the case, who keeps the poor guy's spit clean reputation intact. There are some scenes you don't expect to see in a film, like this. Still quite hot looking, 50's pro (Belinda Montgomery-great in the part) where time has worn her through this profession, becomes romantically involved with Crenna. She suggests to him "Lets do something that I haven't done for ages". They go ice skating, Crenna, not a good skater, by any means. Also we get to see the time activating gadget for feeding his fish which starts with a phonecall. Crenna's female friend, who's working undercover, to try and bust his arch rival, Kurtz, is fun too. She takes her undercover role a little too seriously, her demise near the end, came as quite a shock in it's first viewing. Stone Cold Dead is a solid rate thriller, that does tend to fall a bit into sleaze here and there. But we learn a little bit more about people in this flick. How many other films like this, do that. A must for psychological thriller fans, good performances, all round. The actress who plays Montgomery's daughter is creepy as.

Hard-nosed detective Boyd (Richard Crenna in fine rugged form) and street smart undercover vice cop Sandy MacAuley (well played with sassy aplomb by Belinda J. Montgomery) work together to catch a sniper who's picking off prostitutes. Boyd's investigation puts him in the path of smooth pimp Julius Kurtz (a surprisingly credible and effective portrayal by Paul Williams) and high class call girl Monica Potter (a sharp performance by Linda Sorensen).

Writer/director George Mendeluk relates the compellingly sordid story at a steady pace, offers a vivid evocation of Toronto's lurid urban underbelly, maintains a grim'n'gritty tone throughout, and delivers a satisfying smattering of tasty gratuitous female nudity. Moreover, there are sturdy supporting contributions from Alberta Watson as the forlorn Olivia Page, Chuck Shumata as Boyd's fed-up partner Sgt. Tony Colabre, Andre Cousineau as pathetic junkie Bernice Carnival, and Monique Mercure as helpful shrink Dr. Bouvier. Dennis Miller's slick cinematography gives this picture a glittery neon look. Paul Zaza's pulsating score hits the funky spot. Worth a watch.