Movie

Demolition High (1996)

An unlikely hero trapped in a building with terrorists planning extortion. Sound familiar? Yep, this is another Die Hard scenario movie. A fair number of these films made my list because they often include above-average villainesses. The setting is (unsurprisingly) a high school, and the hero is Lenny Slater (Corey Haim), a recent transfer from New York City who’s quite handy in fistfights.

Lenny isn’t popular with the school bully, but they put aside their quarrel and team up with a timid girl to battle the bad guys. The rough kid must be a fan of the 1980s TV series MacGyver because he fashions makeshift weapons from whatever materials are lying around. He’ll need those skills, since the enemy leader is planning to launch a stolen missile at a nuclear power plant.

The movie is competently made (by B-movie standards) and moves along at a brisk pace. No plot twists to floor the audience, but an undemanding watch. A digitally restored version is available on DVD and many streaming services, worth watching for action lovers and Haim fans. Stacie Randall, an on/off action star in the 1990s, offers “support” as an interfering FBI agent.

Villainess

Tanya (Melissa Brasselle)

The sadistic henchwoman dressed in black is a stock character in these films, but Tanya is better than most. She remains a constant presence throughout the runtime, and there aren’t many action sequences where she doesn’t play a part.

Many characters exist simply to show how evil Tanya is. These include a security guard who chats her up, a cop who pulls the villain’s van over after they steal the missile, and a nameless thug who gets captured by Lenny. All get blown away by the villainess’ nickel-plated Desert Eagle.

Tanya makes it clear she wants a larger share of the take, so it’s no surprise she considers Lenny’s hostage expendable. Fortunately, the hero evades Tanya and disposes of her with a fire extinguisher and calligraphy pens (which make a crude launcher). At least he thinks he’s won, because the wounded woman comes back with a fire axe to finish the job.

The henchwoman’s death scene is below par compared to what came before. A police sniper shoots Tanya in the back after she gets the better of Lenny. It would have been more fitting if the resourceful kid had devised another ingenious way to defeat Tanya for good, but overall Melissa Brasselle plays a solid, if not spectacular, female foe.

Honourable Mentions: Demolition Series

Demolition University (1997) – Elia (Michelle Maika)

The producers re-used many plot elements from the original. Lenny the hero, a bully sidekick, terrorists take over a building (surprisingly not a university) and a cruel henchwoman. Elia, while not as sadistic as Tanya from Demolition High, is still a cold-blooded killer. Die Hard in a water treatment plant – another location to cross off the list.

Elia’s introduction is pretty lame. She infiltrates a guarded research lab wearing a masked ninja outfit and garrotes two stronger army guys. Don’t expect any realism. The choke scenes both last five seconds with no resistance from trained soldiers. We get a decent unmasking (though it’s obvious the attacker is female), followed by a poorly staged shootout and a deadly nerve agent heist.

Overall, the sequel is more amateurish than its predecessor, with an annoying subplot where an American traitor flirts with Elia. Viewers will root for the villainess when she calmly executes the cocky American late in the film. Elia is so confident in her aiming skills she’s not concerned about harming his hostage (her own brother, no less). Or that her target might drop a vial of nerve agent and kill everyone in the room.

Lenny’s final “fight” with Elia is poor stuff. An easy knockdown, then a weak comeback where she garrotes the hero only to drop her weapon for no obvious reason. The hero sets the villainess on fire, raising hopes of a spectacular death, but she goes out with a whimper.