- Title: On Deadly Ground
- IMDB: link
Released 20 years ago today, On Deadly Ground is a clusterfuck even grading on a curve for a Steven Seagal film. Not only does Seagal star but he also directs for the only time in his career in this bizarre tale of a mystical martial artist turned environmental activist (and some sort of official investigator?) who saves the day, I shit you not, by blowing up an oil refinery in Alaska.
Insane doesn’t come close to explain the script by Ed Horowitz and Robin U. Russin, or Seagal’s directorial choices which include a bizarre Native American vision quest, torture, mercenaries from New Orleans (like you’d recruit or an Alaskan job), and the film’s villain (Michael Caine) literally being drowned in his own wealth. And all without an once of fun, logic, or sanity.
Somehow the film has managed to stay in-print on DVD both as a single film and part of Triple Feature with two more of Segal’s lesser films (Fire Down Below and Out for Justice) which would be a pretty cruel gift to anyone other than your mortal enemy.
[Warner Home Video, $14.00 / $14.98]
This was the beginning of the end for me with Seagal. The end came a couple movies later with Glimmer Man.