Rampage (1987) on Netflix
R19871h 31mCrimeDramaHorrorThriller
Charles Reece kills people and drinks their blood, believing his own organs are failing. After his capture, prosecutor Anthony Fraser seeks the death penalty for him.
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- Netflix2.7/5
- IMDb6.2/103,167 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes44%
Trailer
Plot summary
Charles Reece goes into houses and kills the people he finds there, drinking their blood because he believes his internal organs are failing. He lives with his mother and works at a gas station, and has spent time in a mental institution. After his capture, the case goes to trial, and prosecutor Anthony Fraser tries to have Reece found sane and given the death penalty. Fraser was previously against capital punishment, but after meeting the family of one victim he seeks it, and defense lawyers argue that Reece is not guilty by reason of insanity.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Rampage (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Rampage was set for a mid-February 1988 American theatrical release, but the plan was shelved when its producer, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, went bankrupt in August 1988, leaving the film unreleased in North America for five years.
- In January 1986 William Friedkin told a Chicago hospital newspaper the film would "show the world through the eyes of a killer who is also schizophrenic", drawing angry letters from readers and a concerted campaign by the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, then 30,000 members strong.
- The scene in which serial killer Charles Reece escapes custody and goes on a rampage was drawn from a real Illinois case that unfolded while Rampage was in production, where the killer painted his face silver just as Reece does in the film.
- William Petersen, who had appeared in Friedkin's previous film To Live and Die in L.A., was reported in December 1985 as attached to Rampage, but he did not end up appearing in the finished film.
- Rampage actor Michael Biehn recalled a confrontation during the Stockton shoot after Friedkin reprimanded him for not staying at the hotel he had been assigned with his family; Biehn stood up to him and Friedkin did not bother him again on the film.
- Rampage's negative portrayal of courtroom experts was personally motivated: director William Friedkin was then in an ongoing custody battle for his son with his ex-wife.
