Blood Punch - Review

I must admit I was weary going into "Blood Punch". Here was an independent film without a clearly defined genre and featuring a cast and crew made up of Power Rangers alum. My expectations were a bit low. Luckily, by the time the film entered its second act I was completely hooked. What I thought was sure to be another run of the mill independently produced genre outing turned out to be something that I couldn't wait to watch again. Not only was the acting stronger than I ever would have expected the story itself is filled with plenty of twists and turns and is dripping in pitch black humor.

The film itself concerns a young man named Milton living in court ordered rehabilitation for cooking crystal meth. While in rehab he meets Skyler, an outgoing and overly forward young woman who approaches him with an offer to cook a large amount of meth in only a few days with the intent to sell it for millions of dollars. Though he is weary about taking part in her plan he ends up with no choice when her bat shit crazy boyfriend Russell breaks into the rehab center and takes both of them to a cabin in the woods where he can cook the meth in solitude. Since I prefer to stay spoiler free in my reviews I won't reveal what happens next but it was truly unexpected.

It's also at this point in the film where the acting becomes most important. The remainder of the film takes place primarily in this one location so the dynamic between the three main characters is key. As the sexual tension between Milton and Skyler becomes more obvious and Russell becomes unhinged, all of the actors have to walk a fine line between seriousness and dead pan humor and for the most part they succeed. Milo Cawthorne and Olivia Tennet are particularly strong with Tennet showing a perfect blend of sincerity and pure evil leaving me constantly unsure of what her intentions were.

On top of great writing and performances, the film is also filled with tons of excessive death and violence as almost every method of murder you could imagine is attempted on screen adding another layer of fun and absurdity that blends well with all of the other elements and helps set a definitive tone for the film. That's about as close to spoiler territory I am willing to get.

Overall if there is one thing I want to reiterate about "Blood Punch" is that its well worth your time and I hope that you seek it out. It's a truly original, entertaining and darkly comic film. This one is a strong recommend and one I will gladly revisit again.

Score: 4/5

As of September 1st Blood Punch is available on DVD, Digital HD, and Cable VOD. Seek it out!

Hillbilly Horror Show Volume 4 (2015) - Review

My fellow podcast host Mike has been telling me about Hillbilly Horror Show for a while but this is the first chance I’ve had to finally check it out. The format of the series is pretty familiar. A trio of hosts (Bo Keister, Scott Geiter & Rachel Faulkner) introduce a variety of genre related content. However, Hillbilly Horror Show isn’t exactly your typical horror host series. Rather than another retread of the tired formula of a host emulating some classic horror movie character while we are treated to yet another viewing of Night of the Living Dead we get something more in line with Joe Bob Briggs. Our three hosts are caricatures of southern trailer trash who have discovered a giant bag of short horror films and decide to sit down and watch them while taking part in various comedic situations.

Here lies the immediately noticeable difference from most of the horror host series out there. They are showcasing the best in short horror films. Most of these are newer films that many of us may have never had the opportunity to watch. It was refreshing to see these guys take a format that has grown pretty old at this point and attempt to make it different by moving away from public domain riffing into providing some quality content. It also helped that I found the skits to be pretty funny.

Volume 4 consists of 5 shorts films. The first is “Strange Thing” in which a young couple find a mysterious door in their home and decide to walk through it. This one was pretty surreal but fun and featured some cool special effects. Next up is “Til Death”. A group of friends who wish to return to the bachelor life run into some problems when they attempt to dispose of their wives. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The humor is a bit on the dark side but there’s still a light tone to it that had me laughing throughout. The third film is “Foodie”. I can’t stand foodies so I am always on board for some skewering of how ridiculous and annoying they can be. The story itself is focused around a group of foodies who hold a secret dinner with some unique entrée’s. You’ll know where it’s going immediately but it’s the characters that make this one worth a watch. The fourth film is “The Hourglass Figure” and focuses on a housewife who discovers an hourglass that allows her to have one extra hour in her day. The problem is that overuse of the item can have some dire consequences. This was another entry that pretty successfully mixed in comedy with the darker moments. The fifth and final film was a super short entry called “Collision” in which the Earth is on a collision course with another planet. This one was actually really cool and completely different from the previous four and had a runtime of only a couple of minutes.

Overall I can now say I am a fan of Hillbilly Horror Show and am looking forward to checking out some of the other volumes. I really enjoyed the format and can appreciate that the content offers up something different from most of the other “horror host” series out there.

Once again you can rent volume four at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/9883/87394315

Score: 4/5

Pernicious (2015) Review

Pernicious is the newest film from James Cullen Bressack (Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys) starring Ciara Hanna, Emily O’Brien and Jackie Moore. The plot concerns three young women who have decided to volunteer their time in Thailand teaching children English. Unfortunately for our three heroines the home they have been placed in contains a giant gold statue of a child whose angry spirit has been trapped within. It doesn’t take long for the spirit to escape and wreak havoc as she seeks vengeance for her death.

From the opening scene of the film I was immediately impressed with the look of the film. The film was shot on locations throughout Thailand which is a huge asset to the films production value. The house where the girls stay as well as the multiple locations they visit throughout the movie all feel genuine. I loved the beginning of the film as our three leads make their way by to their home starting by car and ending by boat. It perfectly sets up a sense of location without having to tell us through dialogue.

The cast is also quite good. From the leads to the supporting cast everyone does a fine job. It was also a relief that as the film progressed the three girls never become overly annoying or mean. They are never setup as characters we want to see die. That’s not to say they don’t have their moments but I never found myself rooting against them which, considering how modern horror films typically work, is a good thing.

The only issue I found myself having with the film was with its tone. There’s a point in the movie where it turns from a pretty standard supernatural story into a Hostel type film. There are some scenes of extreme torture and violence that come almost out of nowhere and were a bit jarring on my first viewing. The effects are all good and the gore hounds will be pleased but it went against my expectations and I think these scenes could probably be completely removed without harming the film at all. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good gory horror movie but Pernicious actually has a pretty cool premise and some genuine scares. There are scenes later on in the film where the spirit of the little girl is haunting our heroines and I was legitimately creeped out. I think everything would have gelled better had it stuck to one tone and gone with it but a repeat viewing may change my mind.

Despite finding the film a bit jarring at times I can say I enjoyed it. There’s really solid production value and the effects are well done. The cast is good and I found there to be several effective scares. Overall I can easily recommend checking out Pernicious.

Score: 3/5

Pernicious is due out in Theaters and VOD on June 19th, 2015.

Podcast Episode 38

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In episode 38 we are talking zombies. First up is another film deemed too nasty for the British public, Fulci's eye stabbing shark fighting throat tearing classic "Zombie"! We then slow things down a bit to discuss the potential issues with curing a zombie apocalypse with "The Returned", a 2013 release which takes a unique spin on the zombie genre. We also discuss the potential implications of deeming "The ABC's of Death" an obscene film, whether protective parent's everywhere will ever allow a "Friday the 13th" video game to see the light of day and more! Enjoy!

The Upper Footage (2013) - Review

Saw 34 - Short Review

I will start this review by making it clear that I despise the Saw franchise. While I enjoyed the first couple of films upon their release the franchise quickly spiraled from a relatively simple premise into a ridiculous convoluted mess that came pretty close to unintentional self parody. It was always difficult for me to understand how this franchise continued to survive and be profitable despite all of its flaws. Therefore, I am always happy to spend some time with a project that attempts to skewer this franchise for what it is.

"Saw 34" is a short 6 minute video that is currently available on Funny or Die. The creator of the video contacted us and asked if we would be willing to check it out. Apparently made for a meager 60 bucks and a pizza this is played as the 34th entry in the Saw franchise which I am honestly surprised isn't a real thing yet. Of course the key to whether or not this will work as a parody is how successfully the creators can skewer everything that's ridiculous about the Saw films.

Without giving too much away I think that overall they succeeded in creating a product that fans and haters of the Saw films will enjoy. All of the key points are addressed such as the fact that Jigsaw always seems to have someone willing to put on a pig mask and assist with abducting people off of the street. In Saw 34 it's a guy named Keith who is still in training. The ridiculous monologues that Jigsaw always has to deliver to his victims are in here as well only he's become so bored with coming up with crap to say that he resorts to reading the ingredients off of a Cheerios box. All he needs to do is read the words in that gutteral Jigsaw voice and they come off as both threatening and intellectual. The fact that it would be almost impossible for every scenario to play out exactly as planned is also addressed. What are the odds that all of the victims would so simply be abducted and that all of them would play directly into the traps the way Jigsaw plans. Everything is so dependent on the reactions of the abducted that it's almost impossible to accurately predict what they will do or say. Lastly the have to address the traps themselves. Everyone that's seen a saw film knows how intricate and over the top the traps and scenarios became as the films moved along. By the time Saw 34 comes around Jigsaw has exhausted his ideas and capabilities to the point that the victim simply needs to make a choice between an apple and a banana. Sam hates bananas but the apple is spongy, the choice is his.

Overall I enjoyed Saw 34. I am not usually a big fan of parody because feature length parodies tend to overstay their welcome and the jokes just become a barrage of pop culture references. However, in small doses like this where the focus is on one single film the format can shine. They are able to poke fun at all of the things that make Saw so ridiculous without ever going overboard. It's just the right amount to make anyone who has seen even one of these films have a good laugh. I would definitely recommend you go and check this one out!

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/0727307ec5/saw-34

Stage Fright (2014) Review

I love slasher movies. Musicals, not so much. It's not that I hate all musicals. In fact, there are a handful of horror musicals that I really enjoy. Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Cannibal the Musical and more recently Repo the Genetic Opera all managed to successfully merge horror or science fiction with full fledged musical numbers. So, while I was hesitant approaching Stage Fright I've seen horror musicals work so I kept my mind open.

The film opens as most slasher movies do with a murder and it's surprisingly graphic. A knife is put into the back of a character's head and is then violently stabbed multiple times. It sets off a tone that I wasn't expecting from a horror musical which is dark and graphically violent. The tone changes pretty quickly though as we flash forward several years to a musical theater camp and our first musical number featuring all of the kids in the camp. We also see that Meat Loaf is the camp leader who is given plenty of time to show off his own vocal talents. It's bright, cheery and funny and is in stark contrast to the opening scene. Throughout the movie there are major tone shifts like this and it is actually kind of an issue. The slasher element is brutal with kills that are ultraviolent in nature. This is juxtaposed with a summer camp comedy film that borders on parody. There's no point where the two really seem to mesh well together so it feels like two different movies trying to come together. It's a similar issue that I find with "The Burning". That films feels like an 80's summer camp comedy with a slasher film thrown in to bookend it. This feels like a summer camp parody with a slasher movie shoehorned in. There needs to be some compromise in style on both ends so that the film feels cohesive.

The killer is a kabuki masked psychopath who screams like the lead singer in a metal band whenever killing someone. The costume works and the killer certainly comes off as menacing given how violently they take out their targets. The practical effects are also very good. One scene in particular features a victim having a lightbulb with the lamp still attached shoved into his mouth and is then viciously thrown away like a ragdoll. It's effectively gruesome as are most of the on-screen kills throughout the movie and is in line with some of the nastier giallo or 80's slasher films.

In the final act the movie does come together better as the students perform their end of camp production while the killer runs around behind the scenes picking many of them off. As usual the killer and their motives are revealed (thought it's not too difficult to figure out who it is) and it all plays out in typical slasher movie fashion. While I wasn't blown away by Stage Fright I can recommend checking it out. It's not something I see myself revisiting any time soon but for a one time watch it's got some great kills, solid performances, catchy musical numbers, and some genuinely funny comedic moments involving all kinds of genre tropes. It's on Netflix for the moment so check it out!

Score: 3/5

Read About Stage Fright on IMDB
Purchase or Rent "Stage Fright" on Amazon

Scumbag Hustler (2014) Review

Joy Ride 3: Roadkill - Review

Joy Ride 3 sees Rusty Nail return with his trusty tractor trailer to run down a new set of victims. This time his sights are set on a group of young street racers on their way to Canada to take part in a competition known as the Road Rally 1000.

The original Joy Ride is a movie that surprised the hell out of me when I first saw it. Filled with suspense, likable characters, good acting, a simple premise and a frightening antagonist it was easy to be sucked into the story and come out at the end satisfied. That’s why it’s so disappointing to see this become nothing more than a modern slasher franchise that utilizes characters we can only barely like, features kills that feel like rejects from a Saw movie and seems to be positioning Rusty as a wise-cracking slasher in the vein of Freddy Krueger rather than an ominous presence hidden behind the wheel of his truck.

The film opens with two meth heads in a motel room, high as kites and having sex. They run out of meth so they come up with the bright idea of calling a trucker on the CB radio and robbing him of cash and drugs. Of course they call up Rusty Nail who proceeds to tie them to the front of his truck and tell them that if they can hold on for one mile he will let them go. You can see why I make the Saw reference as most of the kills are setup in a way to torture the victim and draw out their death. So right from the opening scene we have two characters being killed by Rusty who fully deserve what they get. Seeing them be run over by his big rig is satisfying rather than terrifying. I will say that Ken Kirzinger chews up his role as Rusty Nail and is a good fit for the role but setting up the audience to root for him is a mis-step.

After this opening we are introduced to our main cast of characters. They include two incredibly annoying women and a bunch of completely underdeveloped male characters. We are simply supposed to define them by the fact that they race cars. The only character I found myself even remotely liking was Austin and that was because he makes a Large Marge reference which I can totally appreciate. It’s the only scene in the movie where I found myself smiling.

As you can imagine the remaining run-time is filled with the racers running afoul of Rusty and he kills them off in various creative ways while they continually make horrible baffling decisions. He ties onecharacter to the top of his truck and drives full speed under a bridge. He places one characters head between a lift and the bottom of his truck slowly crushing it. He sets up an elaborate contraption where one characters head is slowly wrapped with a chain and impaled. There are a few others as well but most involve some sort of elaborate setup. Again, this is why I make the Saw comparison. He puts in so much work to kill these people when all he has to do is run them over with his truck.

I don’t have much more to say about the movie. It’s from the director of Wrong Turn 3, 4 & 5 which I have yet to see but haven't heard many good things. Hopefully the Joy Ride franchise calls it quits at 3 and we aren’t exposed to any additional sequels though I doubt it. Overall it’s a formulaic run of the mill slasher movie with unlikable bland characters and an unoriginal uninspired story that left me bored. There are some good gore effects, decent car chases, and the acting’s not half-bad but that’s hardly enough to save this movie.

Score: 1.5/5

Read About Joy Ride 3:Roadkill on IMDB
Purchase or Rent Joy Ride 3: Roadkill on Amazon

Antisocial - Review

Zombies are everywhere in pop culture. The success of the Walking Dead has only helped to catapult them further into public popularity so it’s not surprising that the number of zombie films out there is so high. It’s not much different from the slasher movie fervor in the early 80’s and, like those, the zombie films desperately try to find a way to spin the concept in a unique way and set themselves apart from the herd.

Antisocial is a film with its “spin” based around social media. The plot concerns a group of college aged adults who are a small part of a larger worldwide obsession with a website called the Social Redroom. It’s basically a fictional version of Facebook where everyone can connect with friends, share pictures, post updates about their lives etc. but, unbeknownst to them, the site has been transmitting a subliminal signal which causes users to become addicted to the website. One day during a normal update to the site the signal goes bad and infects everyone with a virus that puts them into a violent zombie like state. Only those who haven’t accessed the site remain safe from the virus. Due to the nature of the transmission of the virus it only takes a day before most of the world is infected.

The concept of a visual or auditory signal that turns people into zombies via technology isn’t entirely new. Movies like “The Signal”, “Pontypool”, and even “They Live” utilize the concept to some extent as well as books like “Cell”. If done right, the concept can work incredibly well since most of us rely on these technologies daily and the thought of them turning on us is kind of unnerving.

Antisocial primarily wants to function as a satire hiding under the guise of a zombie film. The movie pokes quite a bit of fun at the people who use social media and is quick to point out the shallowness and stupidity of those who use it. There is, however, an issue with the way the filmmakers approach the topic. It’s clearly stated in the film that the signals transmitted via the site are what cause those to be addicted in the first place. This takes the blame off of the users and turns it from a film poking fun at a societal issue where the users are the cause of their own demise into a film where the users are the victim. I am fine with this approach as it makes sense in some ways so that we better empathize with the characters as victims but it doesn’t hold up as well as a satire of the social media generation. It would have been interesting had they removed the subliminal message aspect and just made it an unexpected side effect on all of the users as a result of a regularly scheduled update. This would have maintained the message about our current obsession on social media and the consequences of that obsession.

One additional issue with having the cause of the virus be dependent on a website is that the power has to stay on for the entirety of the film for it to continue spreading. If the world were really being overrun by billions of zombies in the matter of a single day the power grid and all communications would cease pretty quickly yet internet, cell phones and power continue to work right up until the end. It’s a minor flaw but difficult to believe.

While I take some issue with the overall message of the film there are aspects that work well. For one, the characters are likable. Some of them fall on the side of bland but at no point do we really hate any of them and I found myself feeling generally bad for some of them as they became infected. There is also some good effects work. Most of the effects are practical including one scene with a drill to the head which is effectively cringe-worthy. There is also some minimal CGI work but it blends well with the film and practical effects.

Overall Antisocial’s major failing is that it can’t fully pull off the satire angle that I believe the filmmakers were attempting. It works as a zombie film in the way that any post Night of the Living Dead zombie film works. If you can manage to take a group of people and hole them up in a house for an hour or so while maintaining some sense of suspense and whetting our appetite for gore then you succeed. It’s more a question of whether or not the film can distinguish itself from the others in the genre and, in my opinion, Antisocial doesn’t quite do that. However, I commend them on attempting something different and mildly recommend it.

Score:2/5

Read About Antisocial on IMDB
Rent "Antisocial" on Amazon

Podcast Episode 26.5 - It's Time for another Minisode!

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Episode 26.5 was a last minute recording so in lieu of our regular format we recorded a minisode! In this minisode you can hear our thoughts on the new Predator and Rambo movies, the MPAA, a slew of box sets and more. In addition to an overabundance of news talk we also give our reactions to a variety of movies and series we've been watching including Almost Human, the Re-Animator trilogy, Bates Motel, Trophy Heads and more! While 26.5 may be formatted as a "minisode" we certainly aren't lacking in content! Enjoy!

Blood Shed (2014) Review

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Stitches - Review

Stitches is a Comedy/Horror movie about a clumsy unfunny clown name Richard "Stitches" Grindle (Played by Ross Noble). Stitches is hired for Tom's (Played by Tommy Knight) birthday party but when he isn’t as funny as the kids want they play a prank on him causing his death. Six years later Stitches comes back from the dead to seek revenge on the kids that accidentally killed him. Stitches is written and Directed by Conor McMahon who previously directed a few short films and also wrote and directed "Dead Meat", which was featured as part of Fangoria's Gorezone label. David O'brien was a co-writer for the film who is known for “Shrooms” from 2007 and a few other films. Stitches is played by Ross Noble who is an English actor with a long list of credits including self-titled videos, shorts, and documentaries.

The film starts right off with Stitches banging some girl in a trailer, so be careful with kids in the room it's the first thing you see. This is the only real raunchy seen, other than this we get one nip slip, but it is about high school kids so...

In the middle of having sex Stitches remembers he has a birthday party to do so he just stops, pulls up his pants and heads off smelling like liqueur and sex to little Tom's birthday party. Stitches arrives at the party while the kids are in the driveway playing and drives straight for them as they jump out of the way. Tom's mother's tell him he’s late, he call's her ugly and proceeds on into the house. Just the clown you want at your kid’s party right?!

Stitches is not a good clown. He can’t do tricks or even make balloon animal's so the kids decide to throw things at him and tie his shoes together. This is where everything goes wrong for Stitches. Stitches death scene is really funny and contains some great effects. All of the effects in this film are actually done well. Many are filmed on a black background but the cut's from the film to effects are smooth and worked well and while the effects are definitely not realistic but are still fun to watch.

We then learn that all clowns have an egg with a painted face and that holds the clown soul and that all of these eggs are stored away in a special clown tomb. Not sure if this a real thing or not but let's just roll with it. We also learn that if a clown dies in mid-act then he or she can never rest until the joke is finished.

We now jump ahead six years where all of the kids are in high school. They did a surprisingly good job of matching the younger kids to their high school aged selves. Tom starts having visions of Stitches the clown including one with Stitches ripping his friend’s dick off. While the scene will definitely make the men in the audience squirm it manages to be both gory and funny.

Tom's friends are trying to convince him to throw a party but he is reluctant. Finally Vinny, his childhood friend, convinces him but he only invites his closes friends. Unfortunately for Tom there’s a social media site called "My Face" where someone posts an invite to the party. One girl’s MyFace invite reads "You invited everyone to come on My Face" which is just one example of the low brow humor which fills up the movies run-time.

The party is where the bulk of the action happens. It’s a huge typical high school party with a lot of beer and weed. I don’t want to spoil anything but the best scenes happen here.

The acting is really good with each character possessing a distinct personality and the progression from childhood to teenager allows us to see how none of them really change. I mentioned earlier how well the special effects work and I would like to touch on a few specific scenes. There is a decapitation scene where a character’s head is kicked off and their lips are still twitching as it fly's through air. There is an eyeball that is popped out directly towards the camera. Someone has their head blown up with a balloon pump which you have to see to really understand but it’s pretty funny. There is even a chase scene with two kids on mountain bikes and Stitches on a tricycle.

Overall Stitches just a fun movie. If you’re looking for a feel-good movie or romantic comedy this is not for you. If you’re up for a good laugh and plenty of blood and gore then this is for you. Or maybe you just need to receive a life lesson to never fuck with a clown (or did “IT” already do that)? I would definitely recommend you check this out. The re-watch value is high and I fully enjoyed it for what it was. Unless you’re scared of clowns, then you should probably stay away!

I give this a B-

Read About "Stitches" on IMDB
Rent or Purchase "Stitches" on Amazon

Review - Battle of the Damned

Podcast Episode 20

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In episode 20 we review 1974's blaxploitation kunk-fu hybrid "Bamboo Gods & Iron Men", 1977's craptastic "The Guy From Harlem" and the bizarre 1981 Canadian production "The Pit". We also talk some recent news including the governments odd concern with moviegoers hearing and a recently announced reboot of a remake. Enjoy!

Fields of the Dead (2014) Review

Our review of the recently released direct to video film "Fields of the Dead" or "The Wretched" as it was titled during its 2008 festival run. 

Directed by:Daniel Iske 

Starring:Mark Booker, Chelsie Hartness, Matt Harwell, Jessica Hotovy, Daniel Iske, Wendy Iske, Melanie Recker

IMDB Page

The Expelled - Review

Podcast Episode 16.5 - The Big Gundown

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Episode 17 will be out a week later than anticipated so in the mean time we have reviewed Grindhouse Releasing's newest offering, the 1966 spaghetti western, The Big Gundown.

Walking Dead Season 4 so far - Recap and Review

Podcast Episode 12

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It's all about monsters in episode 12 and we cover a wide variety beginning with a tour of the English countryside in Clive Barker's "Rawhead Rex" from 1986. We then tear into John Carl Buechler's "Cellar Dweller" from 1988 and finish up with a stomping from 2001's Godzilla, Mothra and King Gidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack! Who will come out victorious??? We also list our top 5 all time monster fights. Enjoy!