"The main premise is that there's a conspiracy by the big pharmaceutical companies. And that's what motivates the character, is that it's not just one person - so he goes after the whole idea - the whole concept of government sanctioned drug dealing." ~ Michael Pare
Michael Pare, best known for his starring role in Eddie And The Cruisers and its sequel, is on a very different dramatic detour these days, as he delves into his current film targeting those legal drug peddlers profiting off the other pandemic, that has unleashed deaths from prescription drug overdoses across the country. That is, those pharmaceutical corporations and doctors reaping the profits off popular misery precipitated by late stage capitalism. And not simply another vigilante revenge thriller, though that too.
Starring horror vet Bill Oberst Jr. as a combo podcaster prophet of doom and the masked medication avenger in question, Painkiller has much more on its mind beneath the sensationalistic surface. Namely, that lawyer turned screenwriter and co-star Tom Parnell has dedicated this film and its narrative emotionally and politically to his own young son in real life - a victim of prescription drug addiction. And that brewing tension as Parnell's character confronts Pare's evil doctor, is an undercurrent simmering under the surface of this reality fueled film.
A Cinedigm Release May 4th.
