Private Resort

Director - George Bowers (Th Dukes of Hazzard)
Starring - Rob Morrow (Monsters), Johnny Depp (A Nightmare on Elm St.), and Emily Longstreth (Hardbodies)
Release Date - 1985
Genre - Comedy/Crime
Tagline - "Where every room has a great view"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     No horror July has been off to a slow start but it has started to pick up speed.  My usual no horror month reviews are typically sleazy, raunchy sexploitation flicks from Vinegar Syndrome and Impulse Pictures.  However, I have got a few films from Mill Creek that were not horror.  One of those film is Private Resort which is part of the Sun, Sweat, and Sandals bluray set.  This particular film is first in the set and stars a very young Johnny Depp who got the jump start on his career with Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm St.  I love the teen comedies of the 80s, as well as, Johnny Depp so I was excited to check it out.  

     The film follows two young boys who book a trip to a private resort for some drinking and beautiful women.  They find themselves in several sticky situations while chasing tail but soon things turn serious when a thief and his wife pose as resort guests to still a priced jewel from another guest thrusting the boys in the middle of the chaos.


     I love the 80s.  I love ALMOST everything from that decade.  I was born in 1986 at the tail end of this sweet decade but everything I came to love as a young child into adulthood has been influenced by 80s pop culture.  When I started writing reviews I wanted to dive deep into the world of forgotten cinema and review exploitation flicks along with anything time had forgot.  The goal was to sneak in as many 80s flicks as I could. Private Resort was just one of those movies.  It is said that the film's stars, Johnny Depp and Rob Morrow, one made an agreement to destroy all copies of the film once it was completed.  I don't know why, I actually enjoyed it.
The acting in this one is not the best but far from the worst.  Depp has always been one of my favorite actors but he had not hit his stride by this point and was still fine tuning his skill.  The remainder of the cast does a decent job, including Morrow, but Depp was struggling to keep in character.  The story for this one is pretty generic and flows like so many teen comedies before it.  It follows a group of teenagers living life carefree until something drastic happens forcing them to stand up for what is right.  This was the basis for so many comedies in the 70s that ran through the 80s, 90s. 00, and well into today.  The private resort was a change of pace but still uses the same basic plot.  With that being said, it was still fun and offered several memorable characters.  Finally, this one has several laughs.  Some were goofy and made me wonder why they were there while others were genuinely clever.  The film really had the potential to be one of the comedies that everyone remembers but some of the dry humor makes it fall a little flat.  Overall, Private Resort is a solid 80s comedy that has some laughs and a decent cast.  The writing is a little off at times but still entertains.  Check it out.