Review: Doctor Mordrid (1992)

Full Moon videos were a sort of background noise for me throughout my teens. By that I mean, I always seemed to find myself renting and watching them, but half the time they wouldn't hold my attention, so my mind would wander to something else while the movie continued to play. Somehow this gem escaped me (but to be fair, it was a thread-bare video store in a small town).


Charles Band initially had the rights to a Dr. Strange movie, but lost them before he could complete the project. Jeffrey Combs stated that Band loved the idea (many Full Moon ideas were comic book oriented in tone), but he didn't want to re-purchase the rights. Instead of scrapping it, Band opted for a title change, along with a few minor details. The result was Doctor Mordrid, a blended cheese dish that could only come from a genuine love of the source material, mixed with sincere actors, inferior recipe ingredients from a low budget, and being left in the oven too long. 1992 overcooked it, where it would have been perfect in the late 80's. But if you peel off the crisp outer layer, it still tastes good underneath!



Ageless, enchanted knives of cheap, transparent plastic! Adorably cute terrifying demons! A security guard doll flailing for his life in stop motion! An M79 Grenade Launcher that shoots magical laser beams! Not-so-wooly mammoths! A direct kick to the bad guy's meat and potatoes! 80's punks in a 90's movie! Words!! Exclamation marks!!!

It's available (albeit broken up into chapters) on YouTube. If you need any more convincing, here's another opinion. From IMDB:

"Dr Mordrid is terrifying. I would not recommend any adult or child see this unless they are rampaging murderers already. There is so much filth in this movie it hurts my yes. Speaking of eyes, there are eyes in the sky, against a backdrop of stars. Only the devil himself could have imagined such a wicked thing. I rented out every copy i could from local video stores and crushed them with a 5 pound crucifix. That movie should remain locked in a cellar behind the 4th dimension with all the other disgusting beasts of hell. That is where this movie belongs. I suggest if you want some scandalous entertainment, go and rent All Dogs Go To Heaven, or Angels In The Outfield. Those movies are worth seeing. If you want to commit a sin and love terrible movies, you need to see Dr. Mordrid."

Ah, internet. Sometimes you bring me such joy!