How have I missed this one all these years? Not expecting much, I was blown away. From Executive Producer Wes Craven, we have a good one for you that dates back to the 90s. Sweaty babes in peril! A fiend that eats brains! Lance Henriksen! A gratuitous shower scene! Tentacle gore! Genetic mad scientists! A virus out of control! No, not "Mystic Pizza," but something more human and sensitive. Our feature today is 1995's "Mind Ripper," directed by Joe Gayton.
An almost dead man is found in the desert by mad scientists. They haul the hunk (Dan Blom) into a nuclear bunker converted to a genetic laboratory. Jim (Henriksen) and his team of mad scientists has created a virus that cures death. They inject the new subject with it. Jim gets mad when the army converts their experiments to creating genetically created super soldiers. Jim just wanted to cure...death. Great! Those annoying old relatives who smell like rubbing alcohol? Why not have them around forever? Back to the plot. Jim quits as his conscience does not want to create super soldiers. The five remaining scientists stay in the bunker and one day, will be running for their lives as the test subject, called Thor, wakes and begins eating the brains of the scientists. We like and cheer for Joanne (Claire Stansfield), cause she is a babe and gives us a gratuitous shower scene. Alex (John Diehl) is the one who gave Thor extra virus causing him to get up, grow a tentacle, and eat brains.
Okay, one by one, Thor eats the heads of the brainiacs. Meanwhile, the team can't call out or leave. They are trapped underground as the thing hunts them by moving through ventilation ducts. Jim, don't ask why, brings his family to the bunker to check on things...and to check on Joanne, who is quite the babe. Jim's daughter Wendy (Natasha Gregson Wagner) is a perky beauty and her fiancé Mark (Adam Solomon) is also there for the ride. Also with Jim is his loser and cranky son, Scott (Giovanni Ribisi). They get in, but won't be able to get out as Thor goes through geneticists like crap through a goose. Now Jim and family are being hunted by Thor, and eventually they hook up with Joanne who is all sweaty and determined to survive. Uh oh...indications that Thor, just like us, has a crush on Wendy.
Will Wendy figure out that Joanne is the reason her parents got divorced and engage in a catfight with her? Will Thor act on his crush and stick his tentacle in Wendy's...well, I withdraw this question...only because it is in bad taste. Will Jim, as the only mad scientist with morals, be able to get his family and the sultry Joanne out of the underground laboratory? This is a good one that did not get a whole lot of attention back in the 90s. For a fun movie set in an underground laboratory, see "Mind Ripper."