MURDERCYCLE (1999)
“Murdercycle,” a 1999 sci-fi action flick directed by Thomas L. Callaway and produced by Full Moon Features, delivers a wild, low-budget romp. The story kicks off when a meteor crashes near a secret CIA outpost in the Colorado desert, merging with a dirt biker and his motorcycle to form the titular Murdercycle—a laser-firing, alien-possessed killing machine. Its mission: retrieve a hidden alien artifact stashed at the base. A ragtag team assembles to stop it, led by Marine Sergeant Kirby (Charles Wesley) and including Dr. Lee (Cassandra Ellis), a psychic who reads objects’ “inner life,” and CIA agent Wood (Michael Vachetti), a shifty operative hiding key intel.
The Murdercycle wastes no time, blasting a guard’s truck and running him down in a ghost town chase. Kirby’s squad—named after comic book legends like Ditko and Buscema—scrambles to the base, a shack masking high-tech secrets. Dr. Lee’s visions hint at the threat, but Wood’s evasions (singing the National Anthem to block her mind-reading) stall progress. The creature strikes again, scattering the team with lasers and brute force, killing Private Buscema. Barricaded in the shack, Kirby forces Wood to spill: the base taps alien transmissions, and the Murdercycle wants its tech back.
In a chaotic climax, the team lures the Murdercycle to an old mill. Kirby battles its rider—a transformed alien in a Power Rangers-esque suit—while Dr. Lee’s psychic link reveals its goal. They destroy it with a rigged explosion, though Wood’s fate stays murky. Critics panned the wooden acting and shaky effects—like lasers bouncing off wagon wheels—but its absurd premise and ’90s B-movie charm, from the synth score to the killer bike, make it a cult oddity. “Murdercycle” is a gloriously dumb ride for trash cinema fans.
