Robert Englund likes to pop up from time to time.  Aside from the Nightmare franchise and beyond his role as Freddy, he’s made a pretty big name for himself despite being in films that aren’t at all particularly groundbreaking.  He had an impressive role in Tim Sullivan’s 2001 Maniacs while portraying the mayor of a southern ghost town, but for the most part, his films generally slide past most viewers’ eyes.  I suppose we can now add Heart Stopper to the list.  Still, at the time of its promotional DVD release, I was able to pick up a free copy and it finally ended up in my player when I came across Bob Keen’s name as being attached to it as the film’s director.  Bob was a major contributor to the special effects design teams that brought us all the gooiest delights in a couple of Clive Barker films.  With Heart Stopper, I thought I’d give his camera work a look while praying that the special effects would be just as horrific as they were in Hellraiser and Candyman.  In the end, the special effects and Mr. Englund aren’t enough to keep this film from falling ever so close into the forbidden realms of my shit list.
       
Chambers, played by James Binkley, is a mass murderer who is set for execution by means of the electric chair.  It seems that Chambers likes to physically rip out the hearts of all of his victims and the town’s sheriff, played by Englund, was the man that finally brought him to this foreseeable justice.  Little does everyone know that Chambers is a demon and the only way you can destroy him, and his terrible one liners, is by ripping out his own heart.  Well…after the presumed corpse of Chambers is taken in for an autopsy at a local hospital, all hell breaks loose when it turns out the killer is not only not dead but also stronger than ever.  The result is a bloodbath and a couple of cute teens running around as they try to survive Chamber’s wrath and flee from the small rural hospital.  No twist and turns in site and nothing too original will be found throughout Heart Stoppers total running time.  In the end, it’s really just a shaky plot that’s designed to give reason to a whole lot of blood to be spilt in one hour.  The problem here is that, although the body count is rather high, most of the deaths are repetitive and a bit dull at best.
       
Bob Keen does a pretty good job at giving the hospital a rather gloomy and unsanitary feel but the problem is that the film doesn’t have enough of a cast to really make us believe that our characters are running around in an actual hospital.  Set pieces used to make you believe that we’re actually in a hospital are used but most of the time the place feels more like a high school than an actual medical building.  Keen does what he can but his character direction is also lacking in nearly every frame.  James Binkley delivers probably the worst performance of a horror villain that I have ever seen and our director doesn’t help in the least to establish him as some kind of a supernatural bad guy.  Instead, it is up to Binkley to spout out ridiculous one liners.  Try this one on for size: “Come back here you Christ infected bitch…when I get inside you, I’m going to make you a hell slut!”  Ohhhh the pain!
       
So if you are looking to rent an Englund film that isn’t a Freddy movie, you might want to just pop in 2001 Maniacs.    Heart Stopper is just another example of an effects designer who should have stayed far far away from the camera.

Extras consist of a preview of the film and a nice little interview with Bob Keen and the famous Robert Englund.  He is quite the character!