pad-9 Review of Adrenalin: Fear the Rush

Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996)

An existentialist, feminist, surrealist masterpiece

[13 March 2003]

Contains spoilers. In 77 minutes Albert Pyun successfully encapsulates the human experience - stuck in a nightmare world heading for an inevitable confrontation with death. And the reward for our endeavours - a free pass over the border (with no hint as to what lies on the other side, but considering that's where the 'monster' came from we can only guess it's not much better). This grim vision of existence is interwoven with an equally unsettling subtext concerning childbirth. The endless probing through tunnels with flashlights and guns, the incessant scenes of pain, the angels of death in their bright raiment transformed in the subtext into the medical team come to deliver the baby from the infinite void into which we must all return. It's interesting how Pyun uses his characters to bring out this subtext: Natasha Henstridge as the mother, Christopher Lambert the supportive husband, who encourages her to take this painful journey and in the end proves to be totally useless, while the secondary characters, Norbert Weisser and Elizabeth Barondes shadow the leads - Weisser revealing the true role of the man in this business, running away and hiding, and the death of Barondes representing the loss of innocence. All of this is neatly supported by the nightmare world of an American city overrun with refugees from Eastern Europe. With a brief nod to John Carpenter's 'Escape From New York' with one establishing shot and a voice-over, we are then plunged into a totally surreal landscape and the chase begins.