Before anyone asks, we’re skipping over Gory Guts and Goofiness part 3 pt.2 because of some difficulties I had with the discs for that review. I wound up with R-rated versions of quite a few of the films due to some truly shady Amazon sellers and let’s just say that instead of Gory Guts and Goofiness the review would have had to have been re-titled Shitty Crap and Poopiness.(Isn’t sophomoric humor fun!)
Luckily this month has been great for multiple releases that ANYTHING but censored, beginning with a wonderful little throwback slasher flick from director , David Ryan Keith (creator of Attack Of The Herbals), the first Scottish Slasher film I’ve ever seen, THE REDWOOD MASSACRE.
THE REDWOOD MASSACRE introduces a group of 20-somethings thrill seekers who head out to the redwood forest to visit a notorious murder house where several years before a lumberjack lost his mind, murdering his entire family before disappearing. Their hope is to use the site of this tragedy to have fun scaring each other and also to “honor” the memory of the gruesome event..Too bad for them the scares become a little too real when the killer returns and starts hacking through them with a brutal ferocity!
Gruesomely great, terrifically twisted and gory to the nth degree, The Redwood Massacre is a true to form throwback to the hey day of the Slasher genre, bitch slapping wannabe bubblegum pop contenders like Scream off their pedestals and resurrecting the stalk and slash in an epic way that I haven’t seen in at least 15 years! It’s The Town That Dreaded Sundown meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a healthy dollap of Violent Shit.
The story here is a fairly basic set up, but with an origin story that marks our resident slasher as a particularly nasty one. Afterall, even Jason loved his Mommy, even Leatherface had family values, the Redwood Slasher is a merciless, truly evil killing machine, having him kill his own family (including his kids) built him up as truly and purely evil and in an age of sympathetic killers that’s exactly what we needed to see.
The acting here was what you’d expect from a slasher film, a bit hammy, but I must say, in the case of this film the acting was much better then I’ve come to expect from Slashers. More akin to what we saw with The Burning, campy, but damn good. I can’t honestly say that I rooted for any of the victims..but let’s be honest here no one really does. It’s all about watching obnoxious, spoiled, heartless assholes torn apart and this one delivers! Yes the characters are shit heads but that just makes it more fun to watch them get taken out, plus we know who the real star is, let”s talk about the killer!
Clad in a simple, yet effective attire of work stained overalls and plaid shirt, topped with a moldy looking face formed burlap scarecrow’s head for a mask and standing at an rather impressive height as well as the appropriate girth of a real lumberjack, The Redwood Slasher is a genuinely intimidating killer. Best of all he doesn’t move like a robot. He’s alternates between the calm slow movements to the viper fast axe strikes with ease. This guy is human and that makes him all the more scary! He reminded me alot of the original Hillbilly Jason. Human and mortal but too damn crazy to give a fuck!
The kills on display here are a far cry from the quick stab, mouth blood cutaways typical modern slashers have been giving us lately. Here the killer takes his time and his victims don’t die easy. If you don’t like gore you’ll want to steer clear of this one because it’s got truck loads and no guts, severed limbs, bones or cartridge is spared. This is also where I detected a fair amount of dark humor from the Director, turning taking the cliche’ of one hit kills and turning it on it’s head by making the victims just as hard to kill as the killer is. Best of all, all the kills were practical and the gore is pretty damn flawless (in part due to some pretty damn ingenuous lighting techniques)
The cinematography here appeared to high grad Digital but with some awesome era appropriate framing and angles that reminded me quite a bit of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween. I’m going to commit Slasher blasphemy and just put this out there, the way this thing is shot is quite a bit better then any Friday the 13th after part 1..Now to be fair the filmmakers here had alot of time to study plenty of Slashers and see what worked and what didn’t but I think we can all agree the pans and cuts here are smoother then Debbie Rochon’s ass!
Overall I give this film two middle fingers chopped off and sanded to the bone. I hope to see alot more slashers from David Ryan Keith, this guy knows his stuff!
The next few films we’ll be discussing were sent over by Tribeca Films and are flicks I quite looked forward to checking out.
First we’ll take a look at the award winning practical effects driven film from Director James Sizemore, THE DEMON’S ROOK
THE DEMON’S ROOK Introduces Rosco a talented young boy who befriends an ancient demon, eventually descending into the underworld for many years. Rosco is far from alone when he returns to Earth as a man. Along for the ride are the most evil of the demons and the legion of the undead they control! Now it’s up to Rosco and his childhood friend Eva to save not only themselves but the world are large!
Dark, permeating and undeniably gorgeous, THE DEMON”S ROOK is a rare gem that blends wondrous fantasy, stark terror and gallons of gore to perfection, coming across as Hellraiser meets Bone Sickness meets the Guyver meets Faust!
The acting here was a huge selling point for me, coming across as very theatrical but manages to curb the cheesiness, playing things straight. Rosco in particular was of interest, bringing high drama and hyper expressiveness as well as presenting himself as a man child in an amazing way.
The story here was also quite impressive, managing to incorporate numerous layers involving multiple locations and situations while never losing focus and manages to bring things together very well. The amount of directing skill that went into this thing gave me one hell of a level of respect for James Sizemore!
The effects here were amazing, from the demon and zombie makeup to the background of hell and even some things as simple as smoke everything was practical and done very well. A special care was taken to give everything a very fantastic quality that brought to mind films from my youth like The Black Crystal, Legend and the original Hellrasier. The gore was heavy without being cartoonish and the demons on display here will have you clamoring for a sequel just to see more of them.
The cinematography, while appearing to be midlevel digital video had a very film-like quality and the utilization of colored lighting really took me back to the joy I felt while watching the surreal films of Dario Argento when I was a kid.
Overall I give this film 2 middle fingers chopped off and sanded to the bone, I must say this is my favorite demon film in a very long time and the sub genre needs alot more like this one. I highly recommend it.
The next film we’ll be discussing is a brilliantly crafted little social satire that looks at the monsters who hide behind upper class Suburban life entitled Fresh Meat.
FRESH MEAT introduces a not so skilled group of criminals known as the Tans. After an almost completely botched and extremely violent prison van break to release one of their members the group decides they need to hole up for awhile and select the home of a wealthy celebrity chef and her Historical author Husband. That’s when things begin to take a turn for the worst for the would be hostage takers. The Cranes are far from the normal suburbanites that they appear and it soon becomes apparent that they managed to trap themselves in a house with some Suburban cannibals. When the Police finally do arrive..who will they protect?
A wild darkly funny jab at peoples’ obsession with embracing ones’ culture as well a great comedy of errors, Fresh Meat is what you’d get if you mixed together Bad Vs. Worse, Killers, and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner!
The acting here was a pleasant surprise, with all of the characters having a flourish that made them stand out in equal force..However I must say my absolute favorite here was Remi (the head of the household of cannibals) His manic energy and ability to go from calm and composed intellectual to raving lunatic is extravagant to say the very least. Rina (Remi’s daughter) was another favorite of mine, as she was the film’s only “straight character” (Ironic considering the subplot involving her lesbianism) and she manages to stay logical and relatively in control throughout the madness. Strong female leads like hers are unfortunately a dying trend, even Horror films so it was refreshing to have a little girl power in this one.
The gore here was alot of fun, not the most excessive but then again to go any further would have negated the comedic elements which were the most important. That’s not to say that there isn’t gore, trust me, any fan of splatter will find something to enjoy here. Most of the effects were practical with a few CG touch ups here and there. I would have preferred purely practical but I understand why CG was necessary where they used it so I really can’t hold that against them.
Overall I give this film no middle fingers up. If you’re looking for a dark comedy with balls then I’d highly recommend you give this one a shot.
The last few films we’ll be discussing were sent over by our good friends at MVD and are coming from a few of the many companies they distribute for.
First from Unearthed Films we have the warped vision that is COLLAR from Director Ryan Nicholson (who brought us Hanger among others)
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COLLAR brings us into the underbelly of a city rotting from the inside out. This is where we meet a demented giant with a vile past named Massive. Broken as a child and rebuilt as a force of evil, Massive spends his time raping and murdering men and women. A bit of a slip up occurs when he captures, tortures and rapes a local hooker named Rachel and lets her escape. Rachel gets stopped by the fuzz and a female officer named Dana sets out to stop Massive but soon becomes Massive’s favorite play thing herself. Now Rachel’s pimp, and a local bum fight recorder are all out to get Massive but they’re all about to find out they have one hell of a battle cut out for them!
I’ve seen quite a few movies that sell themselves as modern day exploitation but I really have to say, this is the first that I received in a very long time that completely nails it. This is Hobo With A Shotgun meets I Spit On Your Grave meets August Underground meets Cherry Bomb. It’s the type of film that kicks your teeth down your fuckin’ throat and demands that you love it..and I’ll be damned if I didn’t!
The acting here is downright wonderful with each character coming across as gritty, flawed and perfectly human in their own way. The role of massive is downright unsettling. Here we have a man whose apparent autism, upbringing on a warped and abusive version of Catholicism and sheer size and strength has created one of the most fucked up movie monsters I’ve ever encountered.
Even as fucked up as Massive is though, Steven (the bum fight recorder) is much, much worse. Here we have a “normal” person who encourages and exploits those who are at their lowest. He sees Massive as nothing but a cash cow and the suffering og his victims as nothing but pay checks. His inclusion in the story was a masterful move, illustrating that as twisted and fucked up as a human soul can be there’s always another that is worse.
Rachael was another character that stood out quite a bit. Strong, decisive and resilient, Rachael represents the other side of the spectrum. She shows that someone can be mistreated beat down and crushed and still have their heart in the right place. She may do it for selfish reasons but she stands as the hero rather then just another villain.
The gore on display here surprised the shit out of me. Considering this is more exploitation then it is Horror they could have easily skipped on the gore and been alright but hell no! From evisceration to eye gouging with a cattle prod to heart eating this thing threw enough gore on us to make Jeffery Dahmer blush and it’s all practical and all done with a craft and precision that would make Peter Jackson proud!
The cinematography here utilized a dark, bleached and dirty look that seemed to aim more for how exploitation would look today then how it did in the 70’s and 80’s. There was none of that “aging” effect crap we see so much today, and trust me this worked much better then any effect could have.
I give this film two entire hands chopped off sanded down, sewed back on and chopped off again. It’s beyond classic I cannot recommend it enough and I very much look forward to seeing more from Director Ryan Nicholson.
The next film we’ll be talking about is one I’ve been waiting to see for quite sometime..actually it’s from a Director who’s work I’ve wanted to review for awhile, Dustin Wayde Mills. About a year ago I attempted to review one of Dustin’s films (Easter Casket) but was unable to due to the problems I tend to have streaming feature length films (I live in a rural area so that tends to be a killer for me) This film (originally entitled The Ballad Of Skinless Pete) is a fun little wink at the body horror genre of the past entitled Skinless
SKINLESS introduces Dr.Pete Peele, a medical researcher who develops an enzyme meant to destroy cancerous cells and regenerate damaged ones after he himself develops skin cancer. When the medical authorities refuse his request to begin immediate testing he decides to test the enzyme on himself resulting and a grotesque and wondrous transformation not just to physicality but to his mind!
Gory, raunchy and playfully campy, Skinless is a cartoonishly grotesque insanity trip that plays out like Hollowman meets The Incredible Melting Man, meets Body Melt.
The story here reminded me quite a bit of an old EC comic, focusing purely on the character’s transformation and wasting little time on anything else. This might have been a problem if it weren’t for the charismatic performances from everyone involved and the cheesy yet wonderfully gross makeup effects.
The characters here were very well played, this is where this thing would have been a disaster if lesser actors had been employed as there was really only two characters on display (other then a few who were more props then characters) However a small cast worked wonderful here. Pete himself with his quick mood changes and eradicate movements made the perfect mad scientist, bringing to mind Herbert West from the Re-animator series with his nerdy but nuts performance.
Acting opposite him is the calm and concerned Dr. Alice Cross, Pete’s lab assistant and longtime friend. Watching her concern degrade first into disgust and then deeply routed fear of her quickly transforming friend is quite the interesting metamorphosis in and of itself and her presence adds all the more humanity and sympathetic elements to our title character.
The gore here is heavy handed and on the cartoonish side,,but damn effective and alot of fun and likely made to be campy on purpose. Trust me when I tell you that this one doesn’t skip on blood and viscera. We get plenty of skin melting, body morphing goodness and if you’re sensitive you may want to grab a barf bag!
Overall I give this one 2 middle fingers chopped off and sanded to the bone, if you love a nice dose of silly with your splatter like I do I highly recommend checking this one out.
If you’re looking to pick up some Dustin Mills madness now is the best time because a buy one get one sale is going on until the end of this week! http://dmp.storenvy.com/collections/908718-halloween-2014-sale
Well that’s all we’ve got for you this time around Gorehounds, but if this month is a fruitful in the old splat and spray as last month was expect part 5 soon.
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