I loved this film when I saw it on BBC 2 midweek in about 1989. Fast, furious and very funny Crimewave jumps out of the screens in a hullabuloo of noise and shapes. I don't think it would be popular with everyone but I was still a teenager when I saw it and it appealed to me very much.I think it was Sam Raimi's second outing in the chair and was less anticipated than his other films. However, the trademarks where still there and it was obvious that Raimi was a major talent with lots of signatures. Busy in the extreme, Crimewave is fairly unapologetic in its needs and doesn't Kow-Tow to anyone apart from itself...I think the Latin is Sui Generis.Bruce Campbell was brilliant, as were the rest of the cast and the action is pretty non-stop and hilarious. A must for anyone interested in neglected/below the radar movies and devotees of Sam Raimi's oeuvre. Put your head back and laugh.

"Crimewave" is a bizarre film, written by the Coen Brothers and directed by Sam Raimi. The plot is just strange... two criminals kill the owners of an alarm company and then begin killing the witnesses to the crime. Done in slapstick comedy style...This film has Sam Raimi written all over it. His crazy zoom camera shots, the inclusion of Bruce Campbell as "the heel"... and the very over-the-top silliness. The only other time the Coens really tread this path was with "The Hudsucker Proxy" (which is, in all fairness, the better film)... and that, too, had Raimi's involvement.I suggest this film is worth seeing. While not the Coens' best, not Raimi's best, it's an interesting little film, bizarre, and a good showcase of early work from those involved.

It is so strange how some films never seem to catch the attention of either the public or the critics. Most would rightly assume the reason being the lack of quality of the film in question, which is indeed often the case. But not so with 'Crimewave', at least not as far as I am concerned.This film is so far out that most people never ever venture there and never will. There is scarcely anything normal about this film: even other Coen products pale into normality compared to it. And this is precisely the film's attractiveness. The situations, characters, dialogues and overall cinematographic language is absolutely unique. I cannot compare Crimewave with any other film out there, and I've seen thousands. Cartoonesque, surreal, utterly stupid, screamingly funny because not trying to be, the film boasts attributes I have not really encountered anywhere else, at least not in just the one film. Tex Avery cartoons may at times spring to mind, as may some films by French director George Lautner, or Bogdanovich' screamingly funny 'What's Up, Doc?' ... oh, and of course the equally terrific over the top romp 'Raising Arizona'!Acting as well is so totally over the top that even just trying to take it serious, merely results in total incomprehension on the part of the utterly bewildered and bemused viewer. This film is totally about style inasmuch as even its substance is style.The incredibly unreal atmosphere the film exudes is - apart from the aspects already mentioned - also due to the lavish use of alienatingly oversaturated colours: they marvellously complement the overall strangeness of the film.I have seen this film dozens of times and have never had any cinematic blinkers on me and I still get warped and thrilled out of my human, mainly logical mind by everything this jewel of a film can and does throw at me, time and time again.Approach it for yourself without prejudice, constraint or any other preconceived notion of what a film can, must, could or should be and simply enjoy 80 minutes of marvel!

I recently read Bruce Campbell's highly entertaining and informative first book, If Chins Could Kill, which served to instill within me a heightened interest in seeing his more obscure roles over the years, other than his role as Ash in the Evil Dead films, some of my favorite horror films of all time (as well as some of my favorite horror performances). In attempting to check out some of those movies that I had never seen, I watched Crimewave which, being the honest man that he is, Campbell came right out in his book and said that no matter how you slice it, the film is a dog and everyone involved should line up for their forty whacks. And he wasn't kidding. Wow.One flaw that permeates the entire film is a nonstop barrage of stupid, badly dubbed sound effects that don't belong and don't work. They are the kind of sound effects that belong in Bugs Bunny cartoons, like gunshot sounds when someone makes a witty remark. Bruce plays the role of Renaldo the Heel who, given the feeble plot, need not be described as anything more than some jerk. The villains in this film are absolutely ludicrous, they are some of the worst bad movie performances I've ever seen.Remember that bully that roughed up Charlie Chaplin in Easy Street? He was completely overblown and exaggerated in every way because he was acting in a silent film in 1917, which explained his bizarre mannerisms and movements and behavior. In this movie, they took that exact villain and gave him a voice. Just as overblown and exaggerated, except now he talks like he acts and just comes off as goofy. His sidekick is even worse.The weirdest thing about this movie is the talent that was involved in it's production. It was written by the Coen brothers and directed by Sam Raimi, and starred, to some extent, Bruce Campbell who, b-movie virus or not, has a huge cult following. Unfortunately he was right, this movie is just a disaster, and I can understand why Bruce described this as their first taste of real failure. Keep your eye out for two jerks in the ballroom scene smugly sipping martinis. During production of the film, these two guys all but extorted $30,000 from the production team for the use of the ballroom, and demanded as an added bonus that they get to appear in the movie. Can you imagine that someone spent $30,000 just for a location for this movie??Before I go, let me just say that I have all the respect in the world for the people involved in making the movie. Some things just don't work out, and this was one of them. Some of the performances are just unforgivable, but I actually think that Bruce performed well, the problem is that his character is badly written. He was asked to act stupidly, but at least he did a good job of it! Too bad the story is virtually unintelligible