Customer Reviews
bold attempt at the unfilmable - By: Paul T Horgan, 25 Sep 2007 
This is based on the novel by Michael Moorcock.
Like most films of the book there had to be compromises.
The main issue I see with the film is that it feels empty - there are very few people around.
Since the climax of the book is the birth of a fully-formed hermaphrodite alll-purpose human being & the mass suicide of Europe's population in the sea (after a triumphal procession), this was always going to be a problem in getting the transfer to the screen right. Also there is a lot more depth in the book. All we have here is a prolonged chase between the Cornelius brothers, a couple of shootouts & then the denouement in the mad scientists' lair. Oh, & a bout of vampirism.
The exposition with the faux Hindu is out of place & does not segue well.
The novel was always going to be unfilmable at the time (it could be easily done now), & so this was a bold attenpt.
The explanation behind the spaseness of the film may well be that there was a bot of an economic crisis going on at the time & money may have been short. Perhaps the people felt at the time that the world was ending.
A short note about a remake. One of the executive producers ont he film was a certain David Puttnam, now a peer of the realm. So how about it Dave? A slice of pre-AIDS 1970s sexual ambivalence? How about it?
70's Kitch - By: , 24 Nov 2005 
If you love 60's/70's kitch then you'll love this film, they just don't make them like this anymore & they never made them any more freekier than this. A Clockwork Orange has now been labeled a classic, I think this one deserves the title too!
have to agree - By: Rhys Edwards, 05 Oct 2004 
Needle guns at dawn indeed, I'll accept the challlege any day. A film to get drilled down into your very soul, the phrase "smooth stuff professor" will stay with you for life, I guarantee it. This is a deeply flawed film - but hey, what do you expect from Moorcockian roots, it was never going to be easy. I just love the fact that anyone would ever attempt it & more, that its scarred me so deeply that I'm still obsessed with it 20 years on. Dig that car coat baby!
Like the Curate's Trip - By: , 10 Jul 2004 Good in parts.
I love this film. For its style. For its source. For a truly great performance by the woman who went on to be Ali's wife off EastEnders.
And most of alll for the scene in the Kensington Roof Gardens.
If you like the Jerry Cornelius novels, you'll like this, even if you will wish it was a tiny bit better done.
If you don't know who Jerry Cornelius is, meet me at the corner of Ladbrooke Grove. Bring a needle gun. You'll need it.
