DIMENSION IN FEAR (1998) * ½

An escaped serial killer named Cal (Ron Jason) is on the loose, roaming the city in search of prey.  Meanwhile, sexy weather girl Dedra (Nicole West) leaves her job at a television station, headed for greener pastures.  When her car breaks down, Dedra gets stranded in the middle of nowhere and Cal gives her a lift.  He then proceeds to terrorize her and Dedra is forced to fight for her life.

Dimension in Fear is a rather dull, low budget, shot-on-video serial killer thriller from Ted V. (Blood Orgy of the She-Devils) Mikels (who also has a cameo as a hotel clerk).  The scenes of the police arresting the killer, his escape, and the ensuing manhunt play out like an expanded episode of Cops, mostly because they share the same non-existent production values.  The scenes that take place at the TV station are especially cheap.  (When West does her weather report, she merely stands in front of a map that’s been taped to the wall.)

The only recognizable names in the cast are former Ed Wood flame Dolores (Glen or Glenda?) Fuller as the TV station manager and Liz (Desperate Living) Renay as a “world famous psychic”.  Renay gets the funniest part of the movie when she does a psychic reading for West.  Since there was no room in the budget for a crystal ball, or even tarot cards, Renay just holds the sides of her face and kind of zones out.  It’s pretty damned funny too.   

As a whole, Dimension in Fear is about middle of the road as far as Mikels’ movies go.  It’s more realistic than something like The Astro-Zombies, but it’s not blatantly bizarre as Female Slaves’ Revenge.  Because of that, it undoubtedly lacks that certain something that makes Mikels’ best work so endearing.  Well, at least to me, anyway. 

Also, at 109 minutes it’s way too long; another thing that’s unfortunately all too common with Mikels' latter-day pictures.  There are way too many subplots, the most egregious being the stuff involving the killer’s twin brother (also played by Jason).  This plot revelation plays out exactly as you’d expect, and since there are absolutely no surprises in store, it makes the third act particularly rough going.

AKA:  City in Terror.