Happy Horror-day! Uncle Sam (1996)

I must confess to have completely missed this movie when it was first released in the mid 90’s and so I was pleased to finally set that matter right.  Directed by William Lustig the man who gave us Maniac Cop and written by the great Larry Cohen (whom we sadly lost earlier this year) Uncle Sam regards one Sergeant Sam Harper (played by David Fralick) out in Kuwait, killed in the line of duty by “friendly fire”.   When his body is returned to his home town to the custody of his widow, sister and patriotic young nephew, Jody (Christopher Ogden), Sam comes back from the dead as the town prepares for its Independence Day celebrations!  After killing a peeping tom dressed as Uncle Sam he steals the costume (shortening the legs as the pervert was on stilts at the time) before embarking on a mission to punish the town’s unpatriotic residents, draft dodger and flag burners alike while Jody  whom harbors aspirations to join the army learns that his uncle Sam was not as good a man as he thought he was, but instead an alcoholic psychopath, who abused both his sister and wife that believe that his joining the army was more an excuse to go kill people than patriotic duty.  The movie also stars William Smith, Leslie Neale,  Bo Hopkins and  P. J. Soles (whom we haven’t seen the last of in this challenge) and not forgetting Isaac Hayes as Sergeant Jed Crowley the veteran who holds himself responsible for glorifying war to the young Sam Harper. The movie is a lot of fun and the image of Uncle Sam is genuinely creepy, why this one never got a sequel or remake yet, your guess is as good as mine, but if you haven’t seen it be sure to check it out. So, back here for Friday the 13^th of September?  

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