''Hellmaster'' (also known as ''Soulstealer'' and ''Them'') is a 1992 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

written and directed by Douglas Schulze, and starring

John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...

. The plot follows a psychotic college professor who uses unsuspecting students as laboratory rats, injecting them with a drug that mutates them into brutal killers. The film has been observed to be largely influenced by the ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' series – which also featured Saxon – as well as other popular horror titles such as ''

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker in his directorial debut. Based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart'', the film's plot concerns a mystical puzzle box that summons the ...

''.

Plot

Part of a secret government

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

project, crazed

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

professor Jones (

) committed terrible crimes on his college campus in the late 1960s before one of his colleagues burned the college to put a deadly end to his spree. Jones is presumed dead, but a series of murders twenty years later raises questions of whether he has somehow managed to return. In actuality, Jones's drug experiments have turned him into a superhuman. Having teleported himself to safety during the fire, he has been living underground continuing his experiments. With an injection, he is able to turn people into mutants who will follow his will. With the help of his

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

-like army, Jones plans to access his stores of his "Nietzsche Drug" in the catacombs beneath the campus. Standing against him are three people: a

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

, a

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and a woman who has already survived one supernatural attack. The psychic determines that she herself must take the Nietzsche Drug so she can face the mad professor and his mutant slaves.

Cast

as Professor Jones *

David Emge David Michael Emge (September 9, 1946 – January 20, 2024) was an American actor. He was best known for playing Stephen "Flyboy" Andrews in George A. Romero's horror film '' Dawn of the Dead''. Life and career Emge was born in Evansville, In ...

as Robert *

Jeff Rector Jeff Rector (born September 12) is an American actor. He has appeared in over 150 feature films and television programs. On 28 April 2012 he hosted the launch party of the Burbank International Film Festival. Movies *'' Dangerous Snowday'' ( ...

as Jesse Jameson * Amy Raasch as Shelly O'Deane * Edward Stevens as Drake Destry * Sean Sweeney as Joel Johnson * Melissa Zafarana as Tracy * Jim Riethmiller as Harrold (credited as Jim Reithmiller) * Robert Dole as Professor Damon * Todd Tesen as Adam O'Deane * Eric Kingston as Bobby Jones * Neil Savedes as Joey Jones * Suzanne Labatt as Moon Jones *

Ron Asheton Ronald Franklin Asheton (July 17, 1948 – Wiktionary:circa, c. January 6, 2009) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter for the rock band the Stooges. He formed the band along with Iggy Pop and his brot ...

as Mama Jones * Janet Linck as Andrea * James Croteau as Paul * Steven E. Williams as Harvey (credited as Steve Williams) * Becky Traynor as Beth * Rebecca Jachman as Pam * Anne Marie Reilly as Tiffany * Valentina Agius as Chris (credited as Tina Ashley Agius) * Sarah Barkoff as Little Girl

Home media

The film's initial home video release

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

was distributed through AIP in 1992. The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on September 19, 2006 and includes

audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...

from director Schulze and one of the producers, along with a conceptual art gallery, and a behind-the-scenes

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: * Gallery (surname), a surname Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery ** Online art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ' ...

References

External links

* * 1992 films 1992 horror films 1992 psychological thriller films American supernatural horror films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language horror films English-language thriller films {{1990s-US-film-stub