Through The Fire (1988 or 1997)
So this movie was a little known gem I would have loved to catch when it originally came out, but it didn't get a proper release on VHS until 1997, when it was apparently marketed as a sequel to the Italian flick The Gates of Hell. Despite what is clearly a typically low budget for the era, this movie proved to be a lot of fun (and despite all the people on IMDB claiming it put them to sleep, I did not find it in the least bit boring to watch).
Nick is a cop approached by a woman named Sandra to help find her missing sister, who went missing under "mysterious circumstances." They quickly discover a medallion and a satanic cult to the demon Moloch are involved, and the movie ends on a lovely low budget sequence in an abandoned office high rise which is laden with low quality effects but some surprisingly decent action sequences.
I'm not going to pretend this movie is great, but I can absolutely say I regret not being able to see this movie in 1988 because it would have stood out along with the various other films of similar quality I enjoyed watching back in the day. Worth seeing if you enjoy 80's B movies. I don't know if it's on streaming, but I got a copy of it on Vinegar Syndrome.
If you are a GM looking for some inspiration for an action/horror mashup, I might actually suggest this is worth viewing to outline a decent basic plot with a series of set pieces. It's got just enough of that magic to make you think "I could rip off this plot for game night and make it a whole lot better." I have actually done exactly that with a Savage Worlds plot I built out based on this movie a while back. I might use the premise again in a future Starfinder game.
Given what this movie is, and how much I enjoyed it, I place it squarely as a solid B! For me this rests next to other classic B quality films of the era such as Rutger Hauer's Split Second and the inestimable Hardware (will review that one soon).
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