While Tempe Entertainment generally has some very good packaging for their products, I have to say they dropped the ball on this one, because the moment I saw the cover of this film I groaned. The cover makes this movie look much cheesier than it actually is. Or maybe they did the film a favor with that cover, because I haven't been this pleasantly surprised by a movie in quite a while. Yes, it's cheesy -- how could a movie with a title like Satanic Yuppies not be? But it's also surprisingly well acted, genuinely funny in places, and one of the best looking shot-on-video movies I've ever seen.

Remember Kolchak: The Night Stalker? I'm willing to bet that most of you reading this do. As a kid, this was one of my favorite tv shows and it's something I have in common with the creators of this movie, co-writers, directors, and producers Mark Burchett and Michael D. Fox. This film is dripping with homages and references to that cult favorite from the 70's, from the naming of the main character Pete McGavin (Kolchak was played, with rumpled dignity, by the late character actor Darren McGavin, probably best known as the dad in A Christmas Story) to the resigned to a life of slime voiceover that covers both Kolchak's and this movie's adventures.

Burchett and Fox may not be the equal of Richard Matheson (but hey, who is?) who wrote the scripts for the original Night Stalker tv movies, but the narration in this film has its charms. And the plot of Satanic Yuppies might not have been out of place as an episode of the tv show.

As the film opens, we have all the exploitation film staples in place. Naked blonde writhing with snake? Check. People dressed in dark robes chanting Satanic incantations? Check. Sinister priestess? Check. Fellow holding badass ceremonial knife? Check. But just when you figure you know where things are heading, somebody's cell phone goes off and the film's comic tone is set.

Reporter Pete McGavin (Paul Morris, underplaying at just the right level) is self described as a reporter for "the number three paper in a two-paper town" (Cincinatti, Ohio) a tabloid painted as being in the vein of the Weekly World News. He happens to be on the scene as the body of the victim of the preceding black mass is discovered. His detective friend Leslie Kellogg (Renae Raos, whose miscasting is the weakest link in the movie) politely tolerates his presence at the scene because they have something of a history together. But the other officers' scorn is obvious as they bait him with comments about bigfoot as they go about their work.

Next we are introduced to Julie Swanson (Lucy Frashure) who has just moved to the city to pursue a career as a model. (I had no idea Cincinatti was a center of the modeling world, but some things you just have to take on faith.) She shows up at the offices of Infernal Media, the too-on-the-nose-named company run by Brittany Drake (Amber Newman, who is terrific in the movie), the sinister priestess we saw in the earlier scene. Suspecting Julie might make a perfect bride for Satan, she quickly signs her up just as quick as she rejects poor Gretchen Parkinson (Kindra Laub, who also does an admirable job), whom Julie meets in the lobby.

Meanwhile, McGavin is trying, in vain, to interview up-and-coming politician Gideon Jessup (David Levy, unctuously evil), whose cell phone interrupted the satanic goings on in the earlier scene. Jessup is, of course, a republican ... who hopes Satan will propel him to a position where he can cut taxes and put an end to bleeding heart social service programs. (Liberal bias in the media makes its way into the horror genre, as well.)

Jessup and Drake have an evil henchman named Lester, played by Rob Calvert as a kind of metalhead Dwight Frye, who kidnaps the luckless Gretchen so she can also be sacrificed to Satan, and the discovery of her body leads McGavin to suspect that there may be cult activity going on. His reputation being what it is, however, makes Detective Kellogg a little wary of this idea, but McGavin's recognition of the dead girl from an earlier encounter does offer the first promising lead for the police in the case, as Kellogg shows up at the offices of Infernal Media.

(There is a bit of ceremonial magic that happens in the next sequence that is one of the best scenes in the movie -- I don't want to spoil it, but it's cleverly done.)

Speaking of ceremonial magic, there is a bit part for Debbie Rochon as a spirit medium whose scenes, particularly a seance, are also well done for such a low budget ($15,000 according to the commentary track) movie. Another cameo of interest to MAP readers is the casting of McGavin's editor, played by Bill Hinzman, whose place in the horror hall of fame is assured by his role as the first zombie encountered in the cemetery in Night of the Living Dead.

Anyway, it's not really a spoiler to say that Satan does make an appearance (his photo appears on the back cover of the video box) but I mention it to point out the scene-stealing performance of Randy Rupp in the role. His brief cameo is one of the most entertaining riffs on the character in quite some time, and if there is any justice, some adventurous, sharp-eyed casting director will give Rupp, Paul Morris and Amber Newman some roles in big budget movies.

Likewise, Mark Burchett and Michael D. Fox deserve long careers making (hopefully bigger budget) movies. It's one thing to make a low budget movie that says you have some promise that could be fulfilled with more resources, allowing you to make something better. It's a lot harder to actually make a good movie with limited means, and these guys (helped in no small measure by the creative camera and lighting work of DP Jeff Barklage) have pulled that off in spades.

Tempe has provided a decent array of extras, the best of which is a faux newscast made by Burchett that covers a "ten years later" story on the satanic yuppie murders (the film was actually made in 1996 and released under the title Evil Ambitions, but for the 2005 dvd release a nude scene with Glori-Anne Gilbert was added and the title changed back to the makers' original choice). In fact, learning it was made in 1996 actually explained a nagging question that lingered in the back of my mind throughout the movie, which is -- didn't the filmmakers realize we already put a satanic Republican in the White House? (Just kidding -- no, really, I don't want to spend the rest of the year in Guantanamo.)

A crowded, if jovial commentary track that offers up little information but does give you an idea just how well the cast and crew got along and a 30-minute collection of interviews with the cast and crew round out the package.