User Reviews

This Canadian film shot entirely and shabbily with videotape, opens with a scene that is soon repeated, its first appearance being perhaps a misplaced trailer, that would indeed be representative of a rather confusing scenario primarily occupied with depicting detailed actions of John Schrader (Jack Zimmerman), an accountant for a large corporation who has decided to forcefully take over a Hamilton, Ontario television studio, an exploit successfully achieved by means of his manufacturing of a briefcase bomb, along with an only tenuous hold upon reality. Schrader is depressed due to the death of his only son, the end of a 32 year marriage, and the imprisonment of his daughter upon an imaginary Caribbean island, Kanzaal, she being accused of political crimes against the state. Therefore, when he learns that the prime minister of Kanzaal, Yuri Ahshi, will soon be visiting in Hamilton (for reasons never made clear), John communicates with a local television journalist, Paul Adams, and persuades him to invite Ahshi, as an interviewee, to his program, where Adams will ply the guest with disputatious questions supplied and composed by Schrader, utilizing documents that he has purloined from his employer that is ostensibly financially connected in illicit fashion with the Caribbean country. Unknown to Adams, guileful accountant John, who has unaccountably been hired as a grip (non-union?) has constructed a bomb to fit snugly within a briefcase along with copies of the damning documents implicating Kanzaal in criminal activity, and at gunpoint takes several crew members and guests hostage, their freedom theoretically to be exchanged for the release of his daughter, with the entire silly affair being televised nationally and providing entertainment not merely from the hostage-taking situation, but additionally from broadcasting throughout the land footage of Schrader and his former wife plaintively renewing their lost love, each for the other. Telefilm Canada contributes to this production that includes location shooting for a single sequence upon Saint Kitts, the remainder being completed in Hamilton. Funding spent in a less futile manner might have been for a higher grade of film stock in lieu of videotape, and more capable post-production visual and sound editing, especially with the latter improved looping and synchronization, and certainly script doctoring to correct a raft of weaknesses in continuity and logic terminating any possibility of an absorbing drama being developed. There are capable players on board here, but their talents are not to be seen at their best, due to an excessive number of ancillary plot threads that are with little point for the most part, including such as a randy young couple who frolic throughout the film wherever they may be in the studio; a police two-man detective team that has apparently been placed in charge of the entire charade; and sundry internecine and romantic conflicts that occupy the emotions of studio personnel and management, all of which tend to deflect a viewer's focus from the primary storyline, thereby helping to reduce the general quality of this work to its status as an obscure oddity in search of an appropriate genre.

This little seen Canadian effort was shot on videotape, and tries to mix the satire and suspense of "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Network." Instead, it achieves all the tension of a stale marshmallow. John Schrader (Jack Zimmerman) is an older man with a big chip on his shoulder. He lost his favorite son in a car accident, and is estranged from his wife and daughter. The daughter lives on the Caribbean island of Kanzaal, and is arrested after trying to help a knife-wielding boy she accidentally ran over in the film's opening big silly action set piece. The prime minister of Kanzaal, Yudi Ahshi (Hadley Sandiford), happens to be visiting Schrader's Canadian town, and Schrader decides to take action. He meets with local hotshot reporter Paul Adams (Phil Rash), and arranges an on-camera ambush of the prime minister with some documents that show the politician is corrupt. What Paul does not know is that Schrader is also packing a pistol and a briefcase bomb. Schrader then takes over the television studio and show, and a live feed of the events goes out to the three or four Hamilton, Canada residents who happen to tune in to their local news to watch. The police are called in, led by Detective Richmond (Bill Boyle), and you will kick your shoes off and chew on your toenails as the film's momentum climbs to Hitchcockian heights- yeah, I'm kidding.

Shot in 1985, writer/director Gaudet starts things off in a bad way. I do not know if it was a teaser, an artistic statement, or what, but we see a couple of minutes of Schrader taking over the show, and then cut to Schrader's daughter getting arrested. I had no idea what was going on, as the clip from the opening of the film is then played again during the "hijacking". After Schrader's daughter's arrest, we go through the excruciatingly boring sequences of Schrader coming up with his mildly nefarious plan and acting on it. Try to contain your screams during the fast paced "photocopying incriminating documents" scene. The film is top heavy with minor characters who Gaudet feels we should know more about. We have the jerk talk show host, the equally jerky TV director, the uber jerky network brass, assorted technical employees, the prime minister's staff, the detective and his partner, etc. I haven't seen a cast this big since my last Cecil B. DeMille epic. It does not help that our first glimpse of the prime minister reminded me of the Notorious B. I. G., and I began wondering if Canada had ever heard of a S. W. A. T. team. Since the film was shot on video with 1980's technology, it has the production value of porn from that era. "The Hijacking of Studio 4" is a lame attempt at sermonizing about the evils of television and corruption. The only point it makes is that it should not appear on your television any time soon.