Back in January 2010 I wrote a horror spotlight on Fred Vogel and ToeTag Pictures.  In that article I wrote the following:

Fred Vogel, and what he’s doing with ToeTag Pictures, is the most important man working in horror today … Vogel is out there pushing limits and challenging viewers with his flicks.  Even the most jaded horror fan will be disgusted and revived after watching just one of Vogel’s flicks.  They will feel that there’s still hope out there for the genre.

Vogel made his mark in the horror world with his AUGUST UNDERGROUND trilogy.  These films followed around a couple of sadistic serial killers as they filmed their violent killing spree.  For the most part there was no plot and even most of the dialogue felt ad-libbed.  But then in 2006 Vogel made THE REDSIN TOWER which was a sharp departure from the AU trilogy.  TOWER had a plot with flesh out characters and had a narrative.  Then in 2009 he made MASKHEAD, another twisted fucking film, that also followed the narrative-style of film making.  With each film Vogel made he matured and got better and better.

Now with SELLA TURCICA Vogel has really proven that he’s a filmmaker to be reckoned with.  Not only is this his most mature film to date, but along with his (beautiful) wife Shelby and Don Moore, TURCICA is also an extremely well written genre film.  This film has it all:  Great pacing; an intelligent plot; characters who “grow” as the film progresses; and it has one of the most violent and gory last acts you’ve ever seen!!

It's great seeing Camille Keaton on the big screen again!!

The story begins with an average family preparing a homecoming party for Brad (Damien A. Maruscak), a soldier returning home from the war.  He was injured in battle, under mysterious circumstances, and is confined to a wheel chair.  His mother, played by Camille Keaton (‘Jennifer’ in the original I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE) is the matriarch of the family and is trying to emotionally prepare herself for her son’s homecoming.  Brad’s little sister Ashley (Jade Risser) is also preparing for his homecoming while also trying to sort out her own problems, one being her insensitive boyfriend Gavyn (Harvey Daniels).  On IMDb.com SELLA TURCICA is listed as a “thriller”, and it certainly is.  But to be more accurate it should have the following labels; thriller, horror, and drama.  Yes drama.  We get some really great writing here as we see how a family is torn apart as they try to deal with the return of a family member horribly injured in war.  What a bit of timely fucking writing!!  There’s also a scene where Brad talks about all the various medals he was awarded and what it really took to “earn” them.  It was a very sobering moment with a strong anti-war message that’ll really hit home.

But just so you don’t think this some kind of straight up dramatic flick, Vogel and team throw us a curveball.  It seems that the family was originally told that Brad was killed in the line of duty and the body was missing.  They then got another call that the body was found.  Even Brad can’t remember the details of his injury.  According to him he remembers getting injured and then waking up in Germany.  But as he slowly begins to remember the mysterious circumstances surrounding his injuries, his behavior starts getting more and more bizarre.  The title of the film refers to the saddle-shaped indent at the base of the human skull.  Brad seems to feel that his is more indented that usual, but none of the doctors he’s seen seem to agree.  But the fact remains that Brad is confined to a wheelchair and suffers from horrible piercing headaches.  Some of the other soldiers in his squad, also injured that day, believe they were abducted by aliens (that’s how they account for the missing time).  Brad doesn’t know what to believe.

This is a slow burn movie if there ever was one.  We all know this isn’t gonna end well for Brad and his family, but we don’t know how.  And the way that Shelby and Fred Vogel and Moore develop the characters is really brilliant.  We come to really care about everyone in this film.  We come to see just how close a family they are.  We don’t get superfluous characters whose only reason for being in the film is to be killed off in some heinous way later on.  Each character here is important to the story and we really care about all of them.  These are all flawed individuals who are trying their best to cope with Brad’s tragedy.  They’re a family that wants to be “normal” and have things back to the way they were before Brad went to war.  When Brad first arrives home he looks like shit.  I mean he seriously looks like a zombie (pale skin, sunken eyes, etc).  I immediately thought we were getting Vogel’s first foray into the zombie genre, but I was wrong … very wrong.  The family see’s how sick Brad is but they really don’t wanna face it.  But as the film moves along and the tension rises, we realize that the family members realize just how sick he is.  Ignoring Brad’s sickness is the family’s downfall.

And don’t worry; in case you’re wondering we do indeed get the patented ToeTag gore.  Sure it happens in the last 15-20 minutes of the film, but there’s more gore (REALLY well done gore) in those last 15-20 minutes than there are in most entire movies.  Seriously; I don’t wanna give away what happens but it is really intense, violent, sudden, and stomach-churning.  You’ll be re-watching the gore scenes a few times to make sure you caught everything.

SELLA TURCICA will remind you of Bob Clark’s DEATHDREAM with the soldier thought to be dead coming home who has some serious problems.  Vogel may have been influenced by this film (I don’t know for certain, I’m just guessing) but he definitely takes SELLA TURCICA in a weird, creepy, different direction.  No doubt there’s something wrong with Brad and we get a lot of red herrings along the way, but it’s not until the final minutes of the film that we learn the true cause of Brad’s ailment … one that David Cronenberg himself would be proud of (that’s the only hint I’m gonna give you).

Don’t miss SELLA TURCICA.  With an estimate budget of only $20,000 you’ll be amazed with what Vogel & crew accomplish.  Great acting, great storytelling, and fantastic gore (done again by Jerami Cruise who also serves as producer), SELLA TURCICA is way more entertaining than the crap coming out of Hollywood nowadays.  Like I said before, “Fred Vogel is the most important man working in horror today,” and with SELLA TURCICA he proves this and cements his importance in the genre.  I really loved this flick.

This might require a chiropactor!!

My Summary:

Director:  Fred Vogel

Plot:  4 out of 5 stars

Gore:  8 out of 10 skuls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Sometimes I really hate being labeled a “movie reviewer” and being lumped in with other douche-tards who write reviews.  My loyal followers pretty much know my “style” of reviewing.  I’m brutally honest, I don’t pull any punches, and I examine those aspects of movies that the “every day” person cares about.  On occasion I’ll talk about the cinematography or the more technical aspects of a film, but for the most part I look at the acting, the plot, the special f/x, and the overall enjoyment of a film.  That’s why I started getting so pissed off reading reviews out there of the new alien invasion flick SKYLINE.  Let me tell you something:  Ignore the negative reviews on SKYLINE from the so-called “respectable” horror websites out there (you know; the ones who make a ton of cash through advertising).  With all it’s flaws (and there are a few) SKYLINE is a really fun and kick ass alien invasion flick!!

SKYLINE is directed by the Strause Brothers (Colin and Greg), the two responsible for the dreadful ALIEN VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM train wreck.  But to be fair, the brothers were railroaded by the studio in REQUIEM who essentially came in and made a lot of last minute script changes.  The brothers, as a result, had a bad taste in their mouth with big studios and decided at that moment that their next feature was gonna go back to the basics.  Well SKYLINE is that project and they certainly stayed true to their promise.  With an estimated budget of ten million dollars (yeah I know that sounds like a lot, but compared to the big studio releases 10 mil is a drop in the bucket), a shooting crew of 20 (TWENTY) people, and a single shooting location, Colin and Greg pull off one helluva fun flick that manages to give us some bad ass looking aliens, great action sequences, and some absolutely amazing visual f/x.  But best of all it even manages to add a kind of unique element to the genre.

The action in SKYLINE starts off at 200 miles per hour with the glowing blue lights (you know the ones … from the trailers) descending all over Los Angeles.  After our main character Jarrod (Eric Balfour) almost succumbs to the light we then skip back 15 hours earlier and get some back stories on our group of main characters.  Jarrod and Elaine (Scottie Thompson) are flying in to L.A. for Jarrod’s long time buddy Terry’s (Donald Faison) birthday.  I liked all the characters the Strause brothers introduce and enjoyed the fact that they are all very human in their backstories.  Jarrod and Elaine love each other but they also have their problems; Terry and his wife Candice (Brittany Daniel) also have a very realistic relationship (especially for L.A. I would imagine).  The other people at Terry’s birthday party are Denise (Crystal Reed), Terry’s personal assistant; Ray (Neil Hopkins), another of Terry’s Hollywood buddies; and Oliver (David Zayas), the manager of the upscale apartment complex where Terry lives.  All the characters stay consistent through their actions as the movie progresses and the acting was strong from everyone involved.

After their heavy night of partying the group is woken up by the bright blue lights.  When Jarrod and Terry decide to go to the roof to see what the hell is happening, they find there are blue lights all over the city sucking up humans by the thousands like gigantic vacuum cleaners.  The culprits are huge spaceships.  At this point SKYLINE is in full gear and doesn’t let up until the end.  The characters involved give the right balance of sheer panic and the desire to survive as they first barricade themselves in Terry’s huge apartment while they try and decide the best course of action.  The group’s indecision is valid here because we don’t know anything more about the invading aliens than the group does.  This isn’t like INDEPENDENCE DAY where we get the perspectives of the military and even have the aliens explaining to us why they are invading (gay).  The viewer is in the dark as much as the characters.

One part I did find that dragged on a bit was watching the group trying to decide what to do.  This scene took a little too long, especially since we all knew they were gonna leave the apartment (how else was the story gonna progress?).  But once they finally decided to get out of the city, no matter what they did or where they went (to the streets, the roof top, the stairwell), the alien menace was waiting for them everywhere.  I liked this; this gave a sense of hopelessness and futility to their actions and it also had me thinking about what I’d do if I was in their shoes.

So what about the aliens?  I thought the aliens looked fantastic.  Yes the one type of alien that was flying around searching the various buildings did look a lot like the alien in THE MATRIX flicks, but it was still a bad ass looking design.  And the bigger aliens are almost beyond description.  They seem to be using human beings to synthesize brains that the aliens put inside themselves and use almost like batteries.  But trust me, this description doesn’t do the end scene inside the spaceship justice … ya gotta see it to believe it.  And the overall visual f/x are really mouth dropping, but this shouldn’t come as any surprise being that the brothers worked on such film like TITANIC, THE X FILES, TERMINATOR 3, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, AVATAR, and IRONMAN 2.

More than anything, the ending will divide audiences.  The brothers take the film in a very strange direction.  One of the characters who got “infected” by the blue lights in the beginning, experiences some kind of change.  The blue light somehow alters their body and mind.  I don’t wanna give away too much here, but if you realize that the brothers got the green light to go ahead with SKYLINE 2 even before SKYLINE 1 came out, then the ending makes a little more sense.  Yes it leaves us with a bit of a cliff hanger but overall I was satisfied with the ending.

Do yourself a favor and don’t listen to the critics out there dissecting and tearing apart this film.  SKYLINE is more fun than INDEPENDENCE DAY and will have you alreay eagerly waiting for SKYLINE 2.  The Strause Brothers have really developed a great new alien race that I’ll be looking forward to learning more about in the (hopefully near) future.  Check out this hugely entertaining film.

My Summary:

Directors:  Colin and Greg Strause (also producers and visual f/x supervisors)

Plot:  3.5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  2 out of 10 skulls (although there’s a lot of alien violence)

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

No modern film better re-defines the role of the female in the horror genre than Neil Marshall’s The Descent. Marshall exploded on the scene with 2002’s Dog Soldiers, about a squad of British soldiers training in the Scottish Highlands who have to do battle with a pack of werewolves. By all accounts Soldiers should have been a run-of-the-mill, formulaic, studio quickie. But due to Marshall’s energy and storytelling prowess, Soldiers had an original feel to it that was marked with great gore, plenty of action, and great performances. He didn’t try to re-define the werewolf genre; he just took the best elements of it and distilled it down to a gory, fun, scary 105 minutes. Soon after I put Marshall’s name in the back of my head as “someone to look out for.”

Three years later Marshall comes back with The Descent. The basic set up here is a group of friends exploring a cave get trapped inside and proceed to get attacked by creatures. Really? My hopes of having found a new, fresh voice in the genre came crashing down. Was Marshall really making a “creatures-in-a-cave” flick? Oh boy. I expressed my disappointment to a buddy of mine who told me that no matter what I do, I’m not to miss this one. If I didn’t see it he would never speak to me again. Ok then; that’s a pretty strong reaction to this flick. Well once again he didn’t lead me wrong; The Descent blew me the fuck away.

So what made this movie so goddamn great? Why does it feel like an original idea even though it’s been done to death 1000’s of times over (that very same year, in fact, we got The Cave which is the same set up but executed terribly)? Two main things elevate this flick to the “ass-kicking” level: The first is Neil Marshall himself, and the other is the all-female cast. This movie wouldn’t have been nearly as effective if it was the typical all-male cast.

As to the first point: Marshall himself. Marshall takes this clichéd setup and makes it feel original by giving us fantastic characters, great dialogue, great creatures, great f/x, and great action. Lets be honest; there’s nothing new going on in this movie that hasn’t been done. The difference is Marshall’s execution. He cares about the material and his love of the genre is obvious in every scene. His treatment of the bat-like creatures is also brilliant. At first all we see are faint shadows of these creatures as they are observing and following the girls deeper into the cave. There are even times when you question whether the girls aren’t imagining them altogether. And I’m not gonna tell you when we finally see the creatures up close and personal; believe me you’ll know it when it happens!! But I will tell you it was a truly terrifying moment that’s one of the best scary moments from the last decade. What made that scene so effective was that the actresses weren’t acting terrified, they were terrified. Marshall gave the actresses an edited version of the script where there was no mention of the creatures. They thought they were filming a survival flick. So the scene where the girl’s encounter the creatures for the first time actually captures their genuine terror at seeing these creatures for the first time. A few of the actresses actually ran off the set screaming! Brilliant move Marshall; not only did that give the scene a sense of authenticity, but you really felt the girls’ terror.

This brings us to the other element of what made this movie so successful: The all-female cast. The entire core cast is made up of six young women. There’s in fact only one male character in this entire flick and he doesn’t even make it outta the prologue (oh that opening scene; it’ll grab you by the balls and squeeze hard. It’s brutal and takes no prisoners. You’ll be numb as you ask yourself, “Did I actually just see that?”). “But,” you ask, “We’ve seen movies with strong characters before. What makes this one so amazing?” Well unlike, say, Charlie’s Angels … ok ok; I’m totally fucking with you. There’s absolutely NO comparison between the females in Descent and Angels (the girls in The Descent are way hotter too)!!

What makes this group of girls such a breath of fresh air is that they are strong, tough, fiercely independent, and bad-asses. Not just one or two of them; ALL of them. They don’t “cave in” (ahem) once the shit hits the fan and sit around waiting to be rescued by a group of men. Not here. They are fucking survivors who fight for their lives. Hell, even the “weakest” of the group would kick the shit out of most guys. The girls here are all long time friends who meet every summer to go on an adventure. This time they meet to explore a cave in North Carolina. The most experienced in the group with caving chooses a cave system she came across that isn’t on any map. “[This cave system] hasn’t got a name. It’s a new system. I wanted us all to discover it! No one’s ever been down here before.” You just know this spells trouble!! The dialogue among the woman is also some of the most realistic and authentic conversation ever put on film. There’s no cattiness or bitchiness among the girls. There’s a healthy sense of competition among them all and there’s only one strained relationship among two of the girls (which ends up being integral to the plot). But even their dialogue has a sense of realism to it.

If you’re claustrophobic you may wanna avoid this flick. I’ve never experienced a more claustrophobic feeling in a movie ever!! The sets that were built and Marshall’s camera work will make you feel as though you are trapped and buried alive in the cave with the girls. Just wait until the cave-in scene; I found myself gasping for breath as I watched the girls narrowly escape death. This cave-in cuts off their exit so they have no choice but to go deeper into the cave to try and find a way out. Then eventually they encounter the bat-like creatures. Oh those goddamn creatures; truly the stuff of nightmares. They were designed to look as if they evolved and adapted to their environment over hundreds of thousands of years. Pretty friggin’ realistic looking if ya ask me. They are fucking frightening looking things, and in another brilliant move Marshall insisted that the people playing the creatures were trained actors and not stuntmen. This way the actors could give the creatures a history and a personality. Again; smart move which paid off in spades!!

Marshall took a tired and clichéd sub-genre here and created what felt like a truly original flick. He re-defines the “creatures-in-a-cave” movie by simply giving us good actresses, true dialogue, realistic situations, and terrifying creatures. It seems pretty basic and elementary, doesn’t it? Even the subplots wrap around and contribute to the intensity of the climax of this film. They don’t get much better than this one folks. If you haven’t seen this yet drop what you’re doing and go watch it. It may seem I’ve dropped some spoilers here but I’ve seen this one a dozen times and still jump at the scary scenes full-well knowing they’re coming. Definitely check this one out and make sure you see the original director’s ending on the DVD, not the North American ending!!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gore: 6.5 out of 10 skulls
Zombies: 0 out of 5 brains (Perhaps the only movie ever made that doesn’t need zombies in it)
Rating: R
Length: 100 minutes
Director: Neil Marshall
Writer: Neil Marshall

-Review by Scott Shoyer

I consider myself very lucky .  I like to think that I’ve established myself as an honest (ok; brutally honest), fair, insightful, and fun reviewer.  I have a large, faithful following (you all know who you are) of intelligent people who love the horror genre as much as I do and leave great comments under the various reviews, interviews, and articles I post.  I also get a lot of indie horror filmmakers sending me their feature length and short films.  This, perhaps, is my favorite part of running anythinghorror.com.  I absolutely love getting screeners from up and coming filmmakers.  And whereas I may not always like or enjoy the indie films I get I can promise you one thing:  You will get an honest and fair review from me.  It may not be the rave review you’re looking for, but it will always be honest.

So earlier this week I received a screener for Anthony Sumner’s SLICES OF LIFE, an indie horror film anthology four years in the making.  I first heard about this project early in the spring of 2010 and contacted Sumner for more information.  Sumner was a gracious, down to earth guy who took time out of his already busy schedule to tell me about both the history of the production and the plot.  From the moment he told me about the story I was hooked and couldn’t wait for the release of SLICES OF LIFE.  Well I’m happy to say that the wait is over and SLICES OF LIFE far exceeded my expectations and is a hugely entertaining flick with great writing, overall strong performances, and tons of well-done gore.  Tons.

The story begins with Mira (Kaylee Williams) unconscious and waking up on the lawn of a rat-trap motel confused about where she is and how she got there.  She is helped by the motel’s caretakers Irma (Helene Alter-Dyche) and Tiny (Marv Blauvelt).  The two help her into the motel and put her at the front desk.  Mira’s only possession is a sketch book (OR IS IT SKETCH BOOKSSS) that may or may not be hers, so she decides to examine the sketch BOOKS in hopes of finding some clues as to her own identity.  As she thumbs through the books the sketches come alive, exploring three aspects of everyday life (work, home, and sex).  That’s right folks; this is an anthology flick.  And you know I loves me a good horror anthology!!

And Jessica Simpson thinks SHE has skin problems!!

The first segment “W.O.R.M” tells the story of nerdy and awkward William (Jack Guasta) who works in a company that develops and markets nanotechnology.  William just got his online degree in computer programming and is hoping to start moving up the corporate ladder.  But people don’t seem to notice William and the ones who do make fun of and laugh openly in his face.  Then one day William writes a nano program which will force people to like him.  He’s a little too successful and all the co-workers who were making fun of him now have an unhealthy obsession for William.  And did I mention that the nano-code turns everyone into zombies (well more ‘zombie-like’; they never actually die and come back to life).

“W.O.R.M” is the story from the “work” aspect of life and shows how dangerous and “zombifying” the corporate world really is.  We also get some really great special f/x here.  In one particular scene an office worker is accused of having his “head up his bosses’ ass”, and after he turns into a nano-zombie that accusation becomes all too real.  It’s a pretty gruesome scene that’s done really well.  It reminded me of a scene straight out of Brian Yuzna’s 1989 surreal horror flick SOCIETY (Screaming Mad George did the effects).  Fun stuff.

Does it really matter if they're demons or ghosts when they're this "in your face"?

The next segment, “Amber Alert,” comes from the “home” aspect of life and is more of a straight up ghost story.  It begins with a serial killer kidnapping a little girl from a playground.  We soon learn that this isn’t an isolated case and there has been a rash of little girl’s disappearing from around the neighborhood.  Then we meet Vonda (Toya Turner), a pregnant woman who suddenly starts seeing the ghostly apparitions of the kidnapped, and presumably dead, little girls.  But one of the ghosts, which doesn’t seem to be one of the disappeared victims, seems more concerned with (or is it connected to) Vonda’s unborn baby.

“Amber Alert” is definitely the most mature of the three stories.  The acting is top notch and the story progresses at a nice pace.  Sure if you’re paying attention you’ll spot the child rapist/killer early on, but the strength of this story isn’t in the mystery, it’s in the unraveling of the story line.  We also get some great dialogue and some fantastic ghost/demon make-up on the little girl victims.

The last story’s title, “Pink Snapper,” tells us everything we need to know.  And yes; it’s exactly what you think it is.  This one comes from the “sex” aspect of our lives and concerns a brother and sister (Galen Schloming and Deneen Melody) on the run after they kill their policeman father who’s been raping the sister for many years.  They run off to a remote location and hide out in the house they stumble upon.  Outside the house is an unconscious man (who they take to the hospital), and when they go inside they find a rather sexy caged up chick.  But don’t jump to conclusions too quickly.  All is not what it seems, and the seemingly innocent characters are far from being innocent.

This is what all tubs look like in Best Westerns!!

“Pink Snapper” is easily the most enjoyable of all the stories.  It has an extreme story line and throws a nice curveball at us that works.  You’ll think you have this one figured out; trust me, you won’t.  This story is also the goriest of the group and has some pretty hot girls in it (Deneen Melody and Judith Lesser).  And did I mention Sumner injects some nice body horror into the story?  No?  Well there’s a great scene that would make David Cronenberg himself cringe!!  I don’t wanna give away anything else about the plot; this one needs to be seen with your own eyes to be believed.

She's having a very bad day!!

Sumner started making SLICES OF LIFE over four years ago.  I’m sure by now he’s completely lost perspective on the final project, but I’d like to be the one to tell him that he has a fantastic film on his hands.  There’s a few spots where some of the stories seem to drag a bit and could have used some tighter editing, but this aside Sumner has given us a hugely entertaining horror anthology.  Sumner himself calls this a “micro budget horror anthology” and I for one am impressed with the level of acting and with the incredible special effects.  I’m not sure of the exact budget, but I can tell you he stretched every penny and put 100% of the modest budget up on the screen.  Whenever I receive a screener for an indie horror movie I never know what I’m gonna get when I push the “play” button.  But SLICES OF LIFE is one of the rare indie horror projects that fully delivers in both the story and gore departments and puts a huge smile on your face.  Definitely check this one out; I’ll let you know where and when it becomes available.

My Summary:

Director:  Anthony Sumner (& producer, editor, & special makeup f/x artist)

Plot:  4 out of 5 stars

Gore:  8 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains (the creatures in the “W.O.R.M.” story weren’t technically zombies; they never died and came back to life)

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

On Thursday night (April 29), after the screening of Romero’s Survival of the Dead, we got to see the North American premier of Tim Sullivan’s 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams (I love the title and its second only to Gingerbread Man 2: The Passion of the Crust).  For 2001 Maniacs we were lucky enough to have director Sullivan and the cast in attendance (most notably Bill Moseley).  Right from the start Sullivan seemed to be warning us that what we’re about to see was an old-school exploitation film that pays tribute to and is steeped in that tradition.  Well he was right.  But there was no need to be apologetic; the crowd that assembled to see 2001 Maniacs was VERY into exploitation flicks and was loving it.

Unfortunately this is the kind of movie that is waaaaay more fun seeing it in a packed theater with fans who are there to get fucked up and have fun!!  Sullivan even set up a drinking game for the movie:  Every time the stuffed sheep Jezebel appears on screen everyone needs to yell out “fuck ya” and then do a shot.  And as my hangover can attest, that goddamn sheep was in it A LOT!!  Sullivan was also doing some promo filming (a la Paranormal Activity) of audience reactions during the screening.  Everyone was whooping and hollering and having a great time.  THIS is the way to see an exploitation flick!!

For for the movie itself.  I really need to separate the actual movie from the experience I had by watching it with a really fun (drunk) group.  In and of itself the movie is … well; its just “ok.”  It fully embraces its exploitation roots and is completely successful in that regard.  But overall the feel of the movie was that of a student film; kinda like a bunch of drunk frat boys got together to make a movie.

Quite a crew to give you nightmares!!

The plot will be familiar to anyone who’s seen Herschell Gordon Lewis’ original or Sullivan’s previous 2001 Maniacs outing (2005).  A small Southern town was pillaged by a bunch of Northern soldiers during the Civil War.  Women were raped and killed, children were brutally killed, and the town was burned to the ground.  Now the town is cursed and the spirits of the dead towns people won’t rest until they take their revenge on and rape, kill, and eat 2001 Northerners.  I hope you’ve seen the original (made by the “Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis back in 1964) because that is one classic flick.  This time around our little Southern town packs up a bus and decides to take to South up to the North.  Up in Iowa (??) they run into a group filming a reality show (its a parody of Road Rules and even has Nicole Ritchie and Paris Hilton doubles).  This is when the fun starts.

The acting is very over-the-top.  At times you know its intentional and other times you can’t help but feel its just the level of the actors in the movie.  But what really took away from the experience was the soundtrack.  The soundtrack was fucking horrendous and it made the worst sounding dubbed karate flick sound like a THX presentation!!  All the dialogue sounded as though the cast were all talking in an amplified echo chamber.  I’m really surprised they left the soundtrack the way they did for the North American premier.  I’m assuming they are gonna fix it for the DVD release.

They definitely know how to throw a feast!!

The f/x are well done but there wasn’t nearly enough carnage and mayhem for my likes.  Sullivan set this up to be an old-school exploitation flick but too much time passes between gore set-pieces to really satisfy.  There were times I was wondering when the next gore scene was gonna happen.  But when we got it the gore was really bloody and fun!!  A girl gets sawed in half the long way with a huge circular saw starting at her vag and ending through her head; a guy gets torn in half so just his exposed spine is “standing”; and we get a few exploding heads.  The gore is fun, there just wasn’t enough of it for me.  They needed to either add more gore or shorten the overall length of the film so the audience didn’t have to wait so long in between f/x.

The stand out performance was definitely Bill Moseley as Colonel Buckman, the mayor of the town.  Moseley’s great in anything he does and this is no exception.  We also get lots of nudity and even some girl-on-girl action.  Sullivan’s heart was definitely in the right place here; he hits all the essential elements.  Gore, hot girls (and they are hot), crazy dialogue that offends everyone, and some lez action.  As Sullivan warned us before the screening started, “If you’re easily offended then you’re in the wrong place.”

Director Sullivan gets in on the action.

If you’re looking for a fun, crazy, over-the-top exploitation flick then you’ll definitely enjoy this one.  But be warned that the acting is pretty bad and (at least the version I saw) the soundtrack is horrendous.  I was luckily enough to see this with a large group of drunk, rowdy, gore-loving people, so if you gather up a lot of friends and watch it like that you’ll love it!!  Recommended only for those who love exploitation flicks and the exploitation-completist.

My Summary:

Director:  Tim Sullivan

Plot:  2 out of 5 stars

Gore:  6 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer from the Texas Frightmare Weekend