MINER'S MASSACRE/ CURSE OF THE FORTY-NINER

Stephen Wastell as Axl

MINER'S MASSACRE (aka Curse of the Forty-Niner/2002). Director: John Carl Buechler. 

Three couples, including Axl (Stephen Wastell) and Tori (Sangie), set off to a small town because they have been told that there's a mess of gold in a mine there. But a hideous figure -- an old (and deceased) "forty-niner" (Brad H. Arden) -- takes exception to this and begins killing them all off. This is a by-the-numbers slasher film with an uninteresting maniac, and characters that no one can care about. 

John Phillip Law 

The most interesting thing about the movie is the cast. Not the young people -- although they are all professional -- but such veterans as John Phillip Law as the sheriff; Karen Black channeling Agnes Moorehead from Hush ... Hush Sweet Charlotte as batty Aunt Nelly; Martin Kove as her neighbor, Cabel; Richard Lynch as "Old Man Prichard," an early victim of the forty-niner; and Jeff Conaway playing a preacher in a flashback sequence. 

Karen Black as Aunt Nelly

As in Leprechaun, the miner in this wants his stolen gold back -- or else. There is very little originality in the screenplay, which includes flatulence jokes and one scene of Axl having an explosive bowel movement -- what fun! As Axl, Stephen Wastell at least displays some presence. This whole mess was executive- produced by Peter Lupus, who played Willie on Mission: Impossible. His son, Peter Lupus III, produced. 

Verdict: No great reason to waste your time on this one. *1/2.