Once again a devious, dastardly doctor is up to no good: the nefarious Dr. Divine (Ron Ray) runs a clinic with the equally slimy Dr. Price (Clarke Lindsley) and their devoted nurse (Melody Patterson of 'F Troop' and "Blood & Lace"). Their mission is to transplant the brains of elderly & wealthy clients into much younger, healthier bodies in order to prolong their lives. But they make a mistake with the latest batch of youngsters whom they abduct: Gregg (Chris Crone) manages to escape, but is determined to save his friends as well. Naturally, the jerk Sheriff (Bo Byers) is no help at all, but Gregg gets some assistance from a snooping neighbor (Elmarie Wendel, 'Third Rock from the Sun').
Entertaining gore effects, as well as a subplot involving unsuccessful donor bodies, makes this a reasonably engaging direct-to-video B flick. This viewer was overall fairly satisfied, and would chalk this one up as "good" dumb fun, even if he was often questioning character decisions. The characters, by and large, are all pretty standard, and the script may be not so hot, but director Joel Bender ("Gas Pump Girls", "Rich Girl") still delivers a consistently amusing, trashy horror flick, complete with nudity and a pretty typical ending. The performances are actually a bit better than one might think, with Crone making for a decent-enough hero and Lindsley seeming to enjoy himself as the not particularly loyal Price. Viewers will also recognize American Gladiator Raye Hollitt ("Skin Deep") as one of those "creatures" whom our villains keep locked up in the basement. Bob Verne and Terry Miller are good for some chuckles as two brain-dead henchmen. And Ray is fun to watch as the pompous chief antagonist.
"The Immortalizer" is no unsung B movie gem, but if you're anything like this viewer, you may have a fairly good time with it as well.
Six out of 10.
