Could somebody explain it?

[Sascha Petrosevitch]

Having watched Marked for Death again last night on Channel 5 (in the UK),something suddenly struck me.I was still not able to fully comprehend how Screwface suddenly came back to life at the end to fight Hatcher in the climatic showdown.Was it that he had a twin brother.Or did he just use black magic to get 'two heads.'Or something else.The first time I saw the film (many eons ago.....or so it seems),it was just totally inexplicable to me how he could come back to life at the end when we had so clearly seen Hatcher chop his head off on his island.Could anyone offer an explanation?

Sascha (God help me if I ever see The Usual Suspects )

 

[Nassau Mike]

Originally posted by Sascha Petrosevitch
Having watched Marked for Death again last night on Channel 5 (in the UK),something suddenly struck me.I was still not able to fully comprehend how Screwface suddenly came back to life at the end to fight Hatcher in the climatic showdown.Was it that he had a twin brother.Or did he just use black magic to get 'two heads.'Or something else.The first time I saw the film (many eons ago.....or so it seems),it was just totally inexplicable to me how he could come back to life at the end when we had so clearly seen Hatcher chop his head off on his island.Could anyone offer an explanation?

Sascha (God help me if I ever see The Usual Suspects )

Yep, they were twins. Did'nt you hear when Seagal said "I hope they were not triplets"? You were'nt watching that closely were you..

 

[MMCK2]

Hi Sascha Petrosevitch.

It is indeed because Screwface had a twin brother, hence Seagal's final line of the movie "I hope they were'nt triplets". Other clues in the film are when the girl in the Jamaican club tells Seagal that the secret of his magic is that "Screwface has two heads and four eyes". Hope this helps.

Classic Seagal film by the way, especially the region one R-rated version!

Peace.

MMCK

 

[TDWoj]

I'm taking Marked for Death with me to my friend's house tomorrow. She's not a big fan of Steven's, but is interested in the Jamaican back story - she's studying Caribbean culture, as well has having worked in the Caribbean - and she's also knows of Jimmy Cliff and wants to see the scene he's in!

It took me two viewings to catch onto the twin thing, but it made perfect sense, especially the clue about the two heads and four eyes - the first thing I thought of was twins, but then said, no, that can't be, it's too easy... but twins it was.

I think MFD is THE most violent of Steven's films (but I haven't got my Out for Justice DVD yet to compare).

 

[steve]

Why did C5 cut the film so much?!

Yes he did indeed have a twin, so he's not that magic after all. I was really annoyed at how much Channel 5 cut from the film the other night, they used to show the film with the arm-breaks in the jewellery store, the arm-break in the voodoo chamber and the eye-gouging and back-break at the end in tact but the last two screenings have had all of this cut out. A hand-severing and a shot of a Malibu bottle (!) were also cut. Shame on you Channel 5 and probably the ITC who are probably responsible too.

 

[Sascha Petrosevitch]

Thanks for that guys.Yeah,I was pretty sure at the back of my mind that was the answer.But,gee,when you think about it,that is a pretty silly ending,isn't it?I mean,how many other movie bad guys could have had twin brothers that would serve as their double at the end of the movie?It was all because it got interwined with the voodoo subplot,wasn't it?Him coming back to life and having two lives would have been a more plausible outcome actually,that ending just detracted from the rest of the film in my opinion.

Thanks anyway,
Sascha

 

[GlimmerMan]

Hahaha... I would have thought the most obvious clue was when Seagal is fighting the second Screwface and he says to him: "You killed my brother - now you gonna surely die!"

Sascha - It wouldn't really have been plausible with him coming back to life, as he was dead, and you can't come back from the dead. The whole point of the two Screwface's was the fact that nobody (even his loyal followers) didn't know he had a twin brother and thus he could then 'appear' in two places at once in order to frighten and therefore command respect from people with his supposed knowledge of voodoo and black magic.

Glimmer

 

[TDWoj]

I saw Marked for Death (again) yesterday with my friend who hadn't seen it before, and who is also fairly well versed in Caribbean culture. Her - I hate to say objection, because it wasn't really an objection - issue was mostly that they weren't consistent with what Screwface was, although she did say it's possible to mix and crossover various beliefs and religions.

For example, Screwface is clearly Rasta, from his use of the term "I and I" among others; but he also seems to be practicing Haitian voodoo, which Rastas wouldn't do (and Jamaicans don't practice). The Latin babe at the beginning seemed to be a practitioner of Santa Ria (sp?); the details were right with the rum and the cigar and the chicken, but then Screwface seemed to be doing the same thing to her, which, again, he wouldn't do if he was 100% Rasta. The references to the African drawings was completely out of left field.

My friend was also amused and mildly impressed by the attempts to balance stereotype against fair representation.

She did enjoy the film, though. Loved the violence. (We girls are a bloodthirsty bunch at times, I must say.)

 

[Sascha Petrosevitch]

Glimmer-Well duh,people don't come back from the dead.In real life.This was a movie,and it would have been better ending,in my humble opinion,for him to have used his voodoo magic to have gained two lives and for Seagal to have ended the second one.Anyone could have a twin brother and tried to frighten people,that doesn't necessarily mean it would happen.Or just not bother with that ending at all.

TDWoj-I wouldn't bother worrying about how the Voodoo/Rasta thing wasn't practised properly.This isn't a smart movie in anyone's eyes,so I wouldn't have expected them to research what they were portraying properly.

 

[TDWoj]

I wasn't worrying at all about whether the voodoo/Rasta thing was portrayed properly. I was just sharing what my friend told me. I wanted her to see the film so she could explain the rituals to me, and she did.

 

[GlimmerMan]

Sascha - Surely if he had had a second life, he could have had a third and a fourth? If he had used voodoo to come back from the dead it would have been a pretty poor film, I reckon. I thought the twin brother idea was a good one and the point I was making was that Screwface's black magic didn't actually exist - it was just a front to fool both his posse and anyone else who did business with him and to command respect from people.

 

[Nassau Mike]

Originally posted by GlimmerMan
Hahaha... I would have thought the most obvious clue was when Seagal is fighting the second Screwface and he says to him: "You killed my brother - now you gonna surely die!"

Sascha - It wouldn't really have been plausible with him coming back to life, as he was dead, and you can't come back from the dead. The whole point of the two Screwface's was the fact that nobody (even his loyal followers) didn't know he had a twin brother and thus he could then 'appear' in two places at once in order to frighten and therefore command respect from people with his supposed knowledge of voodoo and black magic.

Glimmer

Your right Glimmer, I completely forgot about that one. I cant see where anyone who watched the film would not have known that they were twins..
I have to agree with you too about Screwface coming back from the dead as a rasta ghost. I think the critics would have gone to town with that one..I think that it ended perfectly.

 

[Sascha Petrosevitch]

Glimmer-Superstitiously speaking,does a cat have more than nine lives?His Voodoo magic would have given him the power to be resurrected once only,then that was it.

Plus,think about when he went over to Jamaica.If his twin was still hanging around in America,what if one of his posse had spotted him and couldn't understand if he was supposed to be living in Jamaica?After all,they all congregated in the place where Seagal 'n the gang went to see 'em at the end?

Sascha (Didn't think about that,did ya?)

 

[Lotussan]

Well, once I figured out that he was twins, I knew his vodoo wasn't magic at all techinically, that's the point....Like the girl said, "screwface have two head and four eye and dat the secret to his magic" so the way he did it all, was he had a brother for help...Simple....

 

[GlimmerMan]

Sascha - a cat only has one life, and superstition is a load of nonsense believed by the weak-minded, if you don't mind my saying so. How the hell can passing a pair of scissors to somebody or walking under a ladder bring bad luck? Anyone who believes in such crap* is a fool.

As for Screwface going back to Jamaica - it doesn't make a difference, as the whole point was that Screwface wanted his posse to BELIEVE that there were two Screwfaces, so if one of his posse had spotted one of the Screwfaces when the other one was still in America then it would have just re-inforced their belief that Screwface possessed magical powers. Besides, it wasn't clear if one of the twins stayed in the US or whether they both went back to Jamaica.

Glimmer (Resurrection Mutha)

*I was going to say ****, but I knew that Casey would just edit it out.

 

[Sascha Petrosevitch]

Glimmer-Of course a cat only really has one life,but,you know,superstition.

How can passing someone a pair of scissors be bad luck?-Scissors are sharp and if they are passed too fast,they might cut you.Maybe even in some place very unfortunate.

How is walking under a ladder bad luck?-You might get a bucket of paint dropped on your head,or trip up and cause the ladder to fall backwards (maybe with someone on top of it) or look up and get a really nasty glance at the builders crotch.Uuurgh.Any number of things really.Best avoided,know what I mean?

Now,as for the outcome of MFD,well,what you've said about Screwface's posse believing there was two of him,well,that ultimately contradicts what you said about them really believing that he had evil voodoo powers and that he was some kind of-Oh,to hell with it,I can't be bothered with this silly little debate anymore.Let's just accept the way it turned out and move on to bigger and better things.

Sascha

 

[GlimmerMan]

Sh*t on me - I meant that his posse thought there were two Screwface's BECAUSE of the voodoo magic that he supposedly posessed. It ain't that hard to grasp, but I agree - it's time to move on.