FROM:Boston Globe June 1987
- A review of Viggo's first movie (the underground production) 'Salvation' Its during production of this film that Viggo met & later married his costar Exene Cervenka -

The fallout from Jim Bakker's TV evangelism follies continues with Beth B's "Salvation." Filmed before Bakker and his troubles became a supermarket tabloid's dream come true, it owes what will be its brief commercial life to its unforeseen topicality. It represents little in the way of advance beyond this director's "Vortex," filmed in 1983 with her former husband, Scott B. "Vortex," targeting big business, was an amateurish effort, underlit in SoHo. "Salvation," which goes after the Elmer Gantrys of the airwaves, is another such outing, luridly lit in Brooklyn.

It begins in the disheveled household of a redneck cyclist named Jerome, whose wife, Rhonda, spaced out on the trumpetings of a two-bit TV evangelist, blankly spouts religious platitudes when confronted with crisis. The presence of Jerome's nymphet sister-in-law does not promote domestic tranquility, especially after he loses his job in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. While Jerome seethes, his sister-in-law decides to seduce the reverend, and goes to his Brooklyn oceanfront house. There she receives a vicious sado-masochistic greeting by the reverend, who's just crazed enough to believe some of his more extreme views.

Then the tables are turned. Jerome rescues his sister-in-law and smites the reverend. More than once, and enthusiastically. A few sleazy neighbors, afraid they're missing a party, happen in, and before long, the reverend is climbing down his own huge lawn crucifix, fleeing for his life, and his bankbook. Spacy but sincere Rhonda, in turn, rescues him. They they make a deal. Plugged into her sincerity and her idea of wedding TV evangelism to heavy metal and MTV editing, they prosper. The irony here, of course, is that as they simultaneously grow more corrupt and more adept at media manipulation, the bucks get bigger. On the whole, TV evangelism lampoons itself more pungently.

But to describe the storyline of "Salvation" is to imply a coherence that it not only lacks, but seems determined to spurn. There are long stretches of boredom between this or that lively zap. A lot of the zapping comes from the overbearing soundtrack. Some comes from the blue lighting in the reverend's nightmare evening. Some even comes from the performances. Exene Cervenka, of the Los Angeles heavy-metal group X, has her moments as the vacant gospel punk. Ditto for Viggo Morgensen, as her greasy husband, and Dominique Davalos, as her lubricious sister. But the reverend is played by a real actor, Stephen McHattie. In his taut, whiplash way, McHattie suggests a Clint Eastwood of religion, and it backfires. His professionalism and presence underscore the inadequacy of what's surrounding him.