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Outtake Reel (2010)

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Some filmmakers are really careful … almost too careful.  Take OUTTAKE REEL directors Jeffry Chaffin and Scott Feinblatt (both who also star in the film, and Feinblatt is the writer).  They’ve made a film that in this reviewers opinion is an out and out horror film, yet on IMDb.com it’s tagged as a thriller.  What’s up guys?  Are you two doubtful of the film you made?  Well if you are let me put your minds at ease.  OUTTAKE REEL isn’t only a 100% horror film, it’s a damn fun and entertaining one at that.

The film manages to do something that not many films are able to accomplish … it took me off guard.  Before the film begins we’re told that, “The film is dedicated to Ashley Swan” and that this film is, “Brought to you by the Ashley Swan Memorial Trust.”  I must have been in a naive mood last night but I immediately went online to look up who Ashley Swan was.  Well of course Ashley Swan is the lead female character in the film (played by Ava Santana).  Then we’re told that the State of California is using this film to make it’s case against director Tom Grayson (Scott Feinblatt).  What we’re watching is the raw footage shot by Danny Wilson (Jeffry Chaffin), who was documenting the behind-the scenes footage of Grayson’s latest horror film My Brother’s Keeper.  This is a really clever idea that was executed very well.

One of the first things you’ll notice is the tension that’s on the set of “My Brother’s Keeper.”  Director Grayson is stressed out about his budget, about being way behind on his shooting schedule, and with his actors.  Grayson is a bit of a horror snob and believes a real horror film contains no nudity, no gore, and no jump scares.  Those are just amateurish tricks utilized by talentless, hack directors who can’t get any real scares.  Then after he fires lead actor Joe (William Morse) he starts getting major attitude from lead actress Ashley Swan.  Ashley essentially becomes a prima dona and starts getting very demanding and very bitchy.  All these various tensions stress Grayson out until he just can’t take it anymore.  Danny, the documentarian, recognizes this and sees this as an opportunity.

Jeffry Chaffin (left) & Scott Feinblatt (left) posing with Tiffany Shepis.

Danny is himself a frustrated director and begs, cheats, and pleads his way onto Grayson’s good side to be granted permission to film the behind-the-scenes footage for the DVD extras.  Danny, who sounds a little out of place here (he sounds like an immature, stoner frat boy), decides to “help” Grayson out.  His “help” involves kidnapping Ashley, tying her to a metal table, and taping her up so she can’t see, hear, or sense anything around her.  He then brings Grayson over and shows him the film he shot of abducting and binding her to the table.  He then looks at him and asks, “Mr Grayson … what would you do?”  This sent a shiver down my spine!!  Danny then forces Grayson to be involved in Ashley’s torture.

Getting interrogated by Uncle Lloyd Kaufman.

At first Grayson wants nothing to do with this and is genuinely sickened by Danny’s actions.  But Danny won’t take no for an answer and holds him at gunpoint to stick around and have some fun.  Danny decides to have some fun, all the while holding a gun on Grayson.  After Grayson leaves the room in disgust Danny “finishes” the job by taking a chainsaw to Ashley.  But Grayson’s had enough and ends up over-powering Danny.  But things aren’t really as they seem.  This has a really nice twist that I didn’t see coming and was extremely welcomed.  After Grayson finds out what really happened he looses more of his grip on reality and the film then really spins outta control.

The acting is solid all around and especially strong from Scott Feinblatt (Grayson) and Ava Santana (Ashley).  They do really great jobs and are very believable in their roles.  I especially enjoyed Santana’s performance.  Early in the film she comes across as very innocent and naive but by the end she becomes a pretty damn unlikable character that cares more about being “discovered” than another human beings’ life.  And Feinblatt does a great job as an indie horror filmmaker who slowly goes off his nut and slips further and further into insanity.  I really felt for Feinblatt’s character because at the end of the day he’s just a indie filmmaker trying to make a horror film his way and doesn’t seem to be getting any help from anyone around him.  He’s frustrated, annoyed, stressed out, and quickly getting burnt out.  He’s at his breaking point and something’s gonna give.  It does and he lashes out at the people all around him.  Great stuff.

Besides the solid acting this film is also built on really strong writing and a great pace.  The film never drags and is never bogged down with superfluous sub-plots and meaningless diversions.  It was a smart move keeping the runtime to a tight 75 minutes; this way the film stayed focused and really delved into the main characters.  We also get some great cameos from some iconic indie actors.  Tiffany Shepis plays an actress that replaces Ashley after her disappearance, and Troma Entertainment founder Uncle Lloyd Kaufman plays a cop that interrogates Grayson.  Both are great and Kaufman puts in a show-stealing performance.

I know I sound like a broken record but indie horror is where the future of the genre lies, and it’s films like OUTTAKE REEL that prove my point.  Sure it uses the “found footage” gimmick, but it does so in a unique and fresh way.  Add to this solid writing and great acting and you have one fantastic film.  The only thing that could’ve made this film more entertaining would’ve been more gore.  Minor complaint this time because OUTTAKE REEL is a really fun film.  Check this one out.

My Summary:

Directors:  Jeffry Chaffin & Scott Feinblatt (Feinblatt is also the writer)

Plot:  3.5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  1.5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Posted in Movies | No Comments »

Monster Island (2004 online; 2006 print)

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m pretty hard on zombie novels.  My main complaint is that either the author focuses too much on the zombies and fails to give the reader interesting, well-developed characters that you actually give a shit about or they focus too much on the human factor and forget they’re writing a zombie novel.  There have been films that tried to gap this chasm by introducing some “humanized” zombies.  George Romero’s 1985 epic DAY THE OF DEAD (don’t you dare confuse the original with the remake) attempted this with the zombie character of Bub, and he had some success with it.  Romero attempted this again in his disastrous and practically unwatchable LAND OF THE DEAD (2005) with the “zombie Norma Rae” character of Big Daddy (god that was an awful character!!).  But up until I read MONSTER ISLAND I’ve never seen this “bridging of the gap” done so well.  Author David Wellington gives us a great balance of zombie carnage, well-developed human characters, and a different take on zombies that’s damn original.

MONSTER ISLAND is the first part of a trilogy that includes MONSTER NATION and MONSTER PLANET (which I have and will be reading).  This was originally serialized online and became such a huge hit that Running Press decided to publish it.  The story has a really unique take on a set-up we’ve all seen/read a million times:  the zombie apocalypse.  MONSTER ISLAND begins a few months after the dead started returning to life and overran humanity.  Here’s what I love:  All the developed nations around the world fell and fell quickly to the zombie uprising.  But Third-World countries that are always at war, like Somalia, managed to fend off the zombies.  How?  Because everyone in those warring nations has a weapon and there are tons of various well-armed armies with tons of ammo and warfare training.  Pretty cool spin.

Enter Dekalb, a weapons inspector for the U.N. who is used to going into very unsafe countries and sniffing out all kinds of weapons for his job.  Besides being able to identify various weapons, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of them (a requirement of the job).  He has a young daughter, Sarah, and he’s been traveling around with the soldiers of The Glorious Girl Army of the Free Women’s Republic of Somaliland.  These soldiers, by the way, are 16 year old girls “armed to the teeth” and trained to kill without emotion or regret.  The female warlord of this army is Mama Halima, and her soldiers wouldn’t think twice about dying for her.  But Mama Halima has AIDS and needs AZT to keep the symptoms at bay.  So they’re using Dekalb and his knowledge of all the various countries he’s inspected over the years to track down the drugs Halima needs.  Their search ends up taking them to New York City (the plan is to get the drugs from the U.N. building).

Author David Wellington.

What a really refreshing group of survivors we’re supposed to be rooting for.  Instead of the usual ex-military or “everyday guy”, we get a group of 16 year old female soldiers and a father who are risking their lives to help a Somalian warlord!!  Wellington took a gamble here and really went out on a limb assuming that his readers would sympathize with this group of thugs and murderers.  But his gamble paid off!!  He really develops some great characters in the group (especially with Ayaan) and keeps them consistent.  These murderous young girl soldiers aren’t tough-as-nails one moment and then cowering behind a bed the next; they are and remain tough bitches through the entire novel.  Wellington expertly develops them in a very realistic way.

Ok; so the human characters are taken care of.  What about the zombies?  Geez, where to start?  We never get a solid cause for the zombie outbreak.  The most we get is the explanation that it’s god’s wrath against humanity.  That explains nothing, right?  I kind of got the impression that Wellington didn’t wanna nail himself down to a singular cause of the outbreak knowing he was going to write more than one novel and that maybe he didn’t even have a cause.  So forget the cause … just put it outta your mind.  What’s especially unique here is what the zombies are.  I take the zombies here to be part of some ancient kind of evil life force that somehow has seeped into our world.  All other living things give zombies a life force that makes them strong and which keeps them from decomposing.  THAT’S why zombies are always hungry, because the life force of the living sustains them.  And just wait until you meet Mael Mag Och, The Benefactor, who is kind of the lead zombie.  He’s one bad ass character.

But the real star of this show is Gary.  [The following may contain some spoilers, but nothing that gives away and plot points] Gary was a medical student and one of the survivors left behind in New York City after the zombies took over.  He knew it was only a matter of time before he too became one of the living dead.  But to him the worst part about coming back “was losing your intellect, your brainpower.”  Gary figured that the zombies were so dumb due to organic brain damage caused by a severe decrease of oxygen to the brain.  His solution?  He killed himself while he was hooked up to a ventilator (to keep his brain oxygenate) and a dialysis machine (to keep the blood circulating to his brain and other organs).  And it worked.  Gary was now an uber-zombie; one that you haven’t seen before.  He’s a fantastic character and he really bridges the gap that most zombie writers can’t even begin to cover.

With crisp and fast writing, fantastic human characters, unique zombies, and huge doses of originality, David Wellington really delivers a solid zombie novel that stands above most others.  If you’re looking for a different kind of zombie story then MONSTER ISLAND will be right up your alley.  I can’t wait to start Wellington’s remaining novels in the trilogy.  Highly recommended.

My Summary:

Author:  David Wellington

Plot:  4 out of 5 stars

Gore:  7.5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  5 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Posted in Books | No Comments »

Chain Letter (2010)

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Director Deon Taylor began his directorial career in 2007 with the film DEAD TONE.  In it a group of people partying it up in a cabin begin making crank phone calls and they “call the wrong person” prompting said person to stalk and kill everyone at the party.  Taylor’s latest horror flick, CHAIN LETTER, doesn’t stray too far from the gimmicky DEAD TONE.  In fact the plot of CHAIN LETTER can be summarized as follows:  A psycho obsessed with chains starts murdering teens with chains when they refuse to forward along a chain letter.  That’s it.  That’s the entire plot.  So how does he execute this gimmick-laden plot?

The story begins with a girl bound up in chains with each leg chained to two separate cars.  People, who we’re lead to believe are her parents, each get into their car and start driving away.  The chick gets pulled behind the car and ends with her being split in two as the cars each turn a different direction out of the driveway.  The screen of course goes black before we actually see her split in two and we immediately get the opening credits.  Welcome to a very predictable and by-the-numbers genre flick.  I’m not gonna dwell on this too much because what I got in CHAIN LETTER was exactly what I thought I was gonna get.  We get twenty-something kids cast as high schoolers; we get a plot based on a gimmick and boy does this film drive that gimmick into the ground; and we get a few well-known genre faces that pop up in cameos that ultimately add absolutely nothing important to the film.  This one is so silly and predictable that I thought Wes Craven himself made it!!

Of course she's the smart girl; she's wearing glasses!!

So apparently some psycho guy who makes chains and might be a black smith is pissed off at all the new technology in the world (think about a white-trash Unabomber).  So somehow and for some reason he targets this particular group of 20-somethings … er; I mean teens and sends one of them an email chain letter.  But little do the teens (ah-hem) know that there’s a virus packed into the chain email that lets the psycho Chain Man (Michael Bailey Smith) know if they forward the letter to the appropriate five people.  Those that forward it seem to be safe.  Those who don’t are then visited by Chain Man and suffer some kind of chain-related death.  Holy shit … how many fucking times have I said the word “chain” in this review so far??!?

This is as lame as it sounds as writers Diana Erwin, Michael J. Pagan, and Deon Taylor try to invent creative deaths via chains.  The first death is without a doubt the best one even though the setup is pretty lame.  One of our twenty-somethings … er; I mean high school students … decides to go to the school after hours to work out.  I didn’t realize that school gyms were so well equipped, that they are open all night long, and that the entire room is lit with a 40 watt light bulb.  Anyway the killer comes to the gym and uses his chains and kills our young athlete … in a very gruesome way.  He puts one chain across his mouth and another across his eyes and twists the chains in opposite directions thereby effectively tearing off the dude’s face.  And imagine my shock when this seemingly tame, cookie-cutter of a teen horror flick showed all the gory details.  Yes the only thing this film has going for it and which elevates it (slightly) above the rest of the twenty-something horror flicks is that this one has some decent gore.  But still; it’s really not enough to sit through this exercise in banality.

Brad Dourif in a completely wasted role!!

All the “high schooler” characters are the typical stereo-types that can be summarized in one or two words.  There’s Smart Girl (Nikki Reed); Black Guy (Michael J. Pagan … yup, the writer); Car Dude (Noah Segan); and Emo Girl (Roshni Shukla).  It’s pretty bad when the characters can be identified by their stereo-types and have no personalities outside of those stereo-types.  The writers even help us identify who “Smart Girl” is by having her wear glasses.  Phheeeewww, thanks for helping me out guys!!  The acting is also exactly what you’ve come to expect in these films … pretty dull and forgettable.  But can you blame the actors and actresses when they have such bland and one-dimensional characters written for them??

And then we get the expected familiar genre actors who appear, mechanically run through some lines, and then disappear from the film leaving no impact whatsoever on the plot.  There’s Betsy Russell (who starred in SAW’s 3-7), Keith David (THEY LIVE, THE THING), and one of my personal genre favorites Brad Dourif (EXORCIST 3).  All three are great actors in their own right but are obviously being used for their star power to attract an older audience (guilty as charged).  Like I said, these three established genre actors come and go and leave less of an impact on the plot than a fly farting against a leather couch.  Wasted roles all three.

The highlight of this film.

Then to make matters worse our lead, Smart Girl, starts to piece together the connection among all her dead friends (and yes; she’s wearing her glasses during this montage).  She realizes that all her friends who didn’t forward along the chain email have died hideous deaths.  And then the cop (Keith David) figures out that it’s a black smith (?!!??).  So the killer is a black smith who hates technology yet is an expert with computers and can apparently hack into anyone’s system and is quite proficient writing computer viruses.  Sure, what the fuck; I’m game!!  But then in the final act, CHAIN LETTER breaks it’s own rules and starts killing off all the kids, even the one’s who forwarded the chain email.  By this time you won’t care because you stopped caring about the plot long ago.  If you’re like me you just hung in there to see if the gore stays as juicy as that first kill.  It doesn’t.  I was pissed.  Then add to this the fact that the killer has chains tattooed on each of his forearms and you just stop caring all together.  I mean seriously everyone how hard could it be finding a black smith in this small town who has tattoos of chains on his forearms and a room full of computer equipment?

The anti-tech, computer expert, chain-loving man himself, Chain Man.

But the final insult (which is also the initial insult) was that this film opens with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche:  “Life is a dark chain of events.”  Uummm Nietzsche never wrote that.  Trust me; I have my Ph.D. in 19th century German philosophy and I wrote my dissertation on Nietzsche.  He never said this quote.  I haven’t read Nietzsche in some time so I can’t pinpoint where the quote is they bastardized for the purpose of this film, but DO NOT insult me by quoting the most brilliant mind of the 19th century and then expect me not to call you out on it!!

CHAIN LETTER sucks people, I just wanna be clear about that.  Some better than average gore can’t even save this one.  Listless acting, a limp plot, and characters who you just don’t care about handicap this film at every turn.  You definitely wanna pass on CHAIN LETTER.

My Summary:

Director:  Deon Taylor (& one of the writers)

Plot:  1 out of 5 stars

Gore:  5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Posted in Movies | No Comments »

Scream of the Banshee (2011)

Sunday, March 27th, 2011

Well another Saturday night, another 6-pack of Guinness, another SyFy Original, and another night of low expectations.  Luckily SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE, the third After Dark Original (ADO) made in conjunction with the SyFy channel which premiered ON the SyFy channel, proves to be a pretty fun flick.  This one also has the distinction of being SyFy’s 200th original film.  That’s right folks the SyFy channel has made 200 original films and they all come with interchangeable parts (i.e., the acting, f/x, plot points, etc …).  Now this next statement you have to read carefully because it could be confusing.  Ready?  Ok.  For a SyFy Original, SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE is your pretty standard, formulaic film.  But for this years ADO line up this is the best of the three films I’ve seen so far (pretty sad, eh?).  So let’s get into it.

Lauren Holly looking pretty good!!

The film begins back in the times when swords and folklore ruled the land.  We follow a group of Irish Templar Knights (I’m serious) as they track down and kill a Banshee, a female Irish creature seen as an omen of death whose scream can kill you (but then again what woman’s scream can’t … am I right guys!??!  Guys?).  The Irish Templar Knights (I just wanted to be clear about this point) builds this shield that when thrown on the Banshee cuts off and seals it’s head up in a nice carry-friendly box.  Cut to the present day and we join Isla Whelan (a still pretty hot Lauren Holly) who’s a … come on take a guess … you’ve seen as many of these films as I have.  She’s either a scientist, a (ex-) special forces soldier, or a … a professor!!  She’s a professor.  Her specialty is never really explained but I’m assuming her Ph.D. is in “old bitches cut-off heads in old dirty boxes.”  I’m just saying.

She has the basement offices where she’s doing some kind of research with quirky grad students Otto (Todd Haberkorn) and Janie (Leanne Cochran).  Her daughter Shayla (Marcelle Baer) is also helping out but really doesn’t seem too interested in mom’s work.  There’s an attempt at throwing in a sub-plot about how mom and daughter don’t get along because Isla wasn’t around when daddy was dying.  But that sub-plot was forgotten as quickly as it was introduced.  Isla and group find the box with the head in it, open it, the head dissolves into dust after screaming out a note that was almost more annoying than listening to Celine Dion, and then a full-bodied Banshee appears to start offing the cast one by one.  Standard stuff by all means, but a quick pace and some good performances raise this one above the typical SyFy Original fare.  The cast does as good a job as they can with the silly dialogue and rice paper thin story line.  But the filmmakers here were smart enough to throw Lance Henriksen (as Broderick Duncan)into the mix to give it all some genre credibility (he’s in it maybe 10mins towards the end and plays his typical bat-shit crazy character that we all know and love).

The always great Lance Henriksen!!

The production values here are way better than your average SyFy flick and in this aspect felt more like a theatrical release.  But best of all the Banshee creature itself was done with practical f/x.  Yeah I know, right!!  The practical f/x stick out in SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE because we’re all so used to SyFy cranking out shitty CGI creatures like the History Channel cranks out documentaries on Hitler.  Let me tell you that it was really fun and exciting to see a creature done the old school way.  Don’t worry, though, folks there’s still some shitty CGI here to make you feel at home (one scene has smoke and then a huge arm coming out of a TV screen done through CGI … it was really retarded looking).  Kudos to the makeup department for designing and executing a really cool looking Banshee creature.  There’s also a few juicy moments with some blood flow; nothing over-the-top, have you, but bloodier than most SyFy flicks.  This extra extra bit of blood can be attributed, no doubt, to director Steven C. Miller, who directed the indie zombie flick AUTOMATON TRANSFUSION back in 2006.  SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE is nowhere near as fun as Miller’s zombie flick (which will have a sequel coming out next year), but Miller definitely brings some of his own crazy filming style to the party.  For the most part we get a typically shot film, but there’s quite a few nightmarish/hallucinatory-like scenes where Miller gets to strut his stuff and show off his directing chops.

Considering the first two After Dark Originals lineup for 2011 that I saw, HUSK and 51 (big “blechs” on both those films), SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE is a tremendous step forward.  The pace moves quick enough so you won’t be questioning every ridiculous theory and plot hole that comes around (and there are plenty like why is Lance Henriksen’s front lawn and house filled with mutilated mannequin parts?), the acting was better than most ADO/SyFy Original, and we get lots of practical special f/x.  This is definitely one of the more enjoyable SyFy Originals I’ve seen in some time.  By no means should you go out and rent or buy this one, but if you catch it on the SyFy channel check it out.  It’s good for a few laughs and for a good looking creature.  Who knows, maybe in another 200 films SyFy will hit another winner!!  Recommended for TV viewing only.

My Summary:

Director:  Steven C. Miller

Plot:  3 out of 5 stars

Gore:  2.5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Posted in Movies | No Comments »

Green Day – Awesome As F**k (2011)

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

It’s amazing that a 3 chord punk band that use to play small clubs have become stadium headliners. Love ‘em or hate ‘em , Green Day has not only become the most sucessful punk band ever they have become one of the most sucessful bands ever. The Grammy and Tony Award winners have just released the CD/DVD ” Awesome As F**K ” combo which is a live compilation from their sucessful 21st Century Breakdown Tour.

No longer a trio , Green Day now have a full backing band consisting of keyboards , horns , and three guitars. Billie Joe Armstrong has always been an entertaining and energetic frontman. Grasping the audience and never letting go , Billie Joe doesn’t even need to sing the words. The crowds are huge and know mostly all the words. Tre Cool is a real decent drummer. He doesn’t rely on the same beat and defintely mixes it up and adds perfect break beats when needed. Mike Dirnt is like a lead guitarist on the bass. He keeps the band moving on every single song.

Most of the songs in the set are from Green Day’s last two albums. On the CD its cool to see “Going To Pasalaqua” and “J.A.R” on it. Im sure most of the fans in the crowd probably have not even heard these tunes though. The DVD has a great cover of the Who’s “My Generation” that Green Day has made it is own. It’s Like taking a trip down memory lane listening to tunes like ” When I Come Around ” and ” Welcome To Paradise “. “21 Guns ” is already a stadium anthem and seeing/hearing “Jesus of Suburbia ” live is really great because there are not many 9 minute tunes that you can listen to without getting bored. ” Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) ” ends the set and puts everything in perspective.  Seeing this band mature from album to album and change their sound is pretty cool. I’ve been a fan of Green Day for a long time and look foward to seeing them reinvent themselves and raise their bar once again.

Green Day is

Billie Joe Armstrong – Guitar and Vocals

Mike Dirnt – Bass and Vocals

Tre Cool – Drums

Jason White and Jaff Matkia – Guitar

Jason Freese – Keyboards, Horns

CD 1. 21st Century Breakdown 2. Know Your Enemy 3. East Jesus Nowhere 4. Holiday 5. Viva La Gloria 6. Cigarettes and Valentines 7. Burnout 8. Going To Pasalacqua 9. J.A.R 10. Who Wrote Holden Caulfield 11. Geek Stink Breath 12. When I Come Around 13. She 14. 21 Guns 15. American Idiot 16. Wake Me Up When September Ends 17. Good Riddance

DVD Live In Japan 1. 21st Century Breakdown 2. Know Your Enemy 3. East Jesus Nowhere 4. Holiday 5. Static Age 6. Viva La Gloria 7. Boulevard of Broken Dreams 8. Burnout 9. Geek Stink Breath 10. Welcome To Paradise 11. When I Come Around 12. My Generation 13. She 14. 21 Guns 15. American Eulogy 16. Jesus of Suburbia 17. Good Riddance 18. Cigarettes and Valentines

3 Stars

Awesome As F**K is available everywhere including Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Awesome-As-F-Green-Day/dp/B004GHBQ7O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1301204793&sr=8-3

For everything Green Day go here : www.greenday.com

Review by NzaSixx

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »

Flesh Eaters (2011)

Friday, March 25th, 2011

I don’t know how everyone’s year is going so far, but mine’s great!!  I’m sticking to all my New Year’s resolutions:  I’m seeing all major Hollywood genre releases in the theaters, I’ve lost 35 pounds so far (and still loosing), and I’m reading a ton of horror novels.  Best of all with 2011 I’ve become acquainted with horror author Joe McKinney’s novels.  McKinney is a full time writer who at one time was a homicide detective and a disaster mitigation specialist for the San Antonio Police Department.  But lucky for us all McKinney found his calling as a horror writer.  With his latest novel, FLESH EATERS, available in April 2011, McKinney continues his epic zombie story by taking a step back and telling us how the zombie apocalypse began.

McKinney’s first zombie novel, DEAD CITY (2006), takes place exclusively in San Antonio and follows around police officer Eddie Hudson as he fights off a sudden zombie threat while trying to get back to his family.  We learn that the zombies appeared in Houston after the city and Gulf Coast were hit by a succession of three hurricanes.  Then in 2010 McKinney gave us APOCALYPSE OF THE DEAD in which he opens the scope of his novel to describe a nation-wide zombie epidemic.  Both are phenomenal novels with great characters, a fast pace, and tons of zombie carnage.  Well let me put your minds at ease; FLESH EATERS continues McKinney’s run of extremely well-crafted zombie stories and you’ll immediately be able to tell that he’s maturing with each new novel he writes.  In a word, I love FLESH EATERS.

Author Joe McKinney.

In between his first two zombie novels McKinney wrote a suspenseful little thriller about the outbreak of a deadly mutated flu virus called QUARANTINED(2009).  What I liked most about that novel was McKinney having a female as a lead character.  Well he does it again here in his character of Eleanor Norton.  I am still in awe at how well-crafted McKinney’s female lead is (more on this later).  Eleanor works for the Houston Police Department’s Emergency Operational Command Unit.  It’s basically the city’s FEMA organization that responds to any kind of disastrous situation.  As the novel opens we learn that three hurricanes are about to hit Houston and the Gulf Coast and all three are labeled category fives.  Eleanor’s boss is Captain Mark Shaw, who has a strong sense loyalty and duty to both his family and job.  As the hurricanes hit, Shaw realizes just how unprepared the city is for such a disaster.  Chaos quickly moves in as the entire city of Houston is underwater and the geography of the entire Gulf Coast has been altered altogether.  But worse yet is that the storms

created a secondary wave that kicked up all the debris and floating chemicals and topsoil and dead animals and houses and sewage and leaking oil from the offshore drills and turned it all into a wall of liquid mud that pushed inland so far as … 45 miles. Everything that wall of mud touched was … irredeemably polluted.

This is the “polluted soup” where that nasty old necrosis filovirus was born.

FLESH EATERS takes it’s time setting up the characters and setting the stage for the inevitable zombie uprising.  For the first half of the novel the “Z”-word is never even mentioned.  The survivors think they’re just dealing with severely traumatized people in advanced states of shock.  They’re referred to, in fact, as “cannibals.”  The uprising is slow at first with one or two “cannibals” staggering around in the streets.  But by the end of FLESH EATERS there are hundreds of thousands of them.  I also like how McKinney connects this novel with DEAD CITY and APOCALYPSE OF THE DEAD.  He’s really created one helluva zombie trilogy!!

Just like with his other novels McKinney has that balance of richly developed human characters and tons of zombie mayhem that can fill 2-3 novels.  Besides Eleanor fighting to get her family (husband Jim and teen daughter Madison) to safety, Mark Shaw has plans of his own to secure his family’s future (Shaw has two sons, Anthony and Brent who are also cops)… namely the stealing of $7mil from a bank in the center of the disaster zone.  These are the two main story lines and they of course smash into each other in a most violent way.  Before the zombies grew in numbers the coast guard and other agencies were helping evacuate the survivors out of the Houston disaster zone and were sent to San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth.  But some of those evacuated were already infected and have caused outbreaks in those cities.  (It’s really cool reading FLESH EATERS realizing that the action in DEAD CITY is occurring at the same time!!).  As a result the military is stepping in and setting up a medical check point just outside of Houston.  But now all the survivors are on their own and have to find their own ways of getting to the check point through swarms of flesh eating zombies, polluted waters, and high tides.  This is a nail biter full of suspense, fast action, and tons of bloody violence.  I found myself having to go back and read sections over again because I was reading too fast to find out what was gonna happen next!!  We also learn about what spurs the government on to build the quarantine wall “that stretches from Gulfport, Mississippi to Brownsville, Texas.”

As with all of McKinney’s books we get more than just mindless action and violence.  We get extremely rich characterizations and character development that dives deep into the minds of all the main players as we get to know each of them intricately.  The only character I had trouble with was Captain Mark Shaw’s transformation.  He went from a man of great honor and integrity to a man willing to kill innocent people over the $7mil he and his sons stole.  I know that money is the “great corruptor” but I just wasn’t able to make that leap.  Shaw, though, had a deep commitment to his family and that was probably his main motivation.  But other than that, FLESH EATERS is a pretty damn near perfect novel.

We also get McKinney’s unique insight into human nature as he contemplates the nature of violence and other issues like, “Where does protecting your family stop and simply become ‘violence towards others’”?  In one passage Eleanor contemplates:

There was … a certain magnetic quality to violence. People flocked to it like moths to a bare electric bulb. They fed off it somehow, even as it drained some vital quality from their souls and dulled their senses.

In another great passage that really struck a chord with me (having just turned 40), Shaw remembers the time his father gave him some good advice:

Somewhere right around forty, you get tired. Your hair gets gray, your belly gets fat, your muscles soft. Work is hard. It grinds you down. Some days, all you want to do is say fuck it all and take a nap. That’s when your will, your drive, call it whatever you want, takes over. That’s when you decide when you’re going to be a success or a failure. The success stories … those are the ones with the will to work beyond the body’s exhaustion.

Seriously; that is possibly one of the most insightful passages I’ve ever read and one that really gives some solid advice.

Author McKinney on vacation.

Joe McKinney is no longer a rising star on the horror scene; he has arrived.  With each novel he writes he gets better and more mature.  Eleanor Norton isn’t just a great character we see go from a leader to a fierce protector of her family, she’s an amazing female character written by a male author.  You don’t find that often in mainstream fiction.  Hell, how long did it take for Stephen King to write a strong and well-balanced female character??

2011, for me, is the “Year of Joe McKinney.”  He is easily my favorite writer out there today (with Jonathan Maberry and F. Paul Wilson coming in a very close second).  This is the fourth novel I’ve read by McKinney this year and he just keeps getting better and better.  I wanna see McKinney keep writing books in his zombie series but I’m also really curious to see what he can do with the vampire and/or werewolf myths.  I’m highly recommending this and all of McKinney’s novels.  FLESH EATERS will be available in April 2011.

My Summary:

Author:  Joe McKinney

Plot:  5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  8.5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  4 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

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I Spit on Your Grave Remake, Uncut (2010)

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

When it comes to remakes I’m usually not surprised by the outcome.  Most remakes completely miss the point and ignore those elements that made the original so appealing and unique.  That’s why I was so shocked after watching the I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake.  The cast and crew came together to make a disturbing, intense remake of a notorious cult classic and succeeded.  Director Steven R. Monroe pulled no punches and didn’t try and candy coat the subject matter.  It’s only natural that if you saw the original I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) that you’re curious as to how the remake stands up to it.  Now I’m not going to do a comparison review here but let me get this out of the way:  The I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake is a superior film compared to it’s 1978 source material in every way.  The acting, story arc, cinematography, and ending make this one a “must see.”

We all know the story:  Big city writer Jennifer Hills (Sarah Butler) heads out to the secluded back woods in order to get some piece and quiet in order to get some writing done.  There she inadvertently pisses off some, unbeknownst to her, sociopathic good ‘ole boys who then terrorize, humiliate, torture, and brutally rape her.  Jennifer manages to survive and whereas she is physically able to recover from the ordeal mentally she has cracked and is hell bent on getting revenge on the responsible parties.  My hat goes off to director Steven R. Monroe.  Monroe didn’t compromise at all on his approach to the remake.  He didn’t pull any punches or try and ease up on the disturbing material in order to make it more marketable for a general audience.  The I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake is a hardcore genre film made by a hardcore genre fan for hardcore genre fans!!  I was introduced to this film last year at the Texas Frightmare Weekend where the cast and crew had a panel discussion about the remake.  They all promised us a gritty and “hard to watch” remake that stays true to the original and which goes beyond it.  Well I’ve heard all that before and lets face it, promises from the cast and crew of a film their promoting is tenuous at best.  Well they weren’t blowing smoke up our asses!!

The first thing you’ll notice is the washed out look to the film that will remind you of old-school grindhouse films of days gone by.  This really adds to helping establish the tone and feel of the film.  There’s a tense atmosphere in this film right from the opening scene, but to be fair this might be due to the fact that you know exactly what’s in store for Jennifer.  But regardless you’ll feel a sense of dread even before the opening credits are over.  The acting, though, is the backbone of this film.  Without real, believable characters this film would end up being a caricature of itself.  But all the actors here out in strong performances.  Sarah Butler deserves credit for putting in such a daring and emotionally taxing performance.  She plays both sides of her character brilliantly.  At first she’s the innocent, scared-to-death victim and then she becomes the avenging angel who exhibits no remorse, no pity, and is unstoppable in her focus.  Butler does a really great job.

As we all know in most genre films what can make or break the film is the villains and here they are absolutely horrifying.  First Jennifer is terrorized by Johnny (Jeff Branson), Stanley (Daniel Franzese), Andy (Rodney Eastman), and Matthew (Chad Lindberg), the retarded kid.  Each of these guys has their own personality and is frightening in that they are “movie monsters” but “everyday monsters” that exist in the real world.  Johnny is especially monstrous because he has a certain charisma and almost charm.  He’s like a snake in which your slightest movement will set it off into “kill mode”, and Jennifer, unknowingly, sets him off.  But Stanley and Andy aren’t just the cronies who follow Johnny’s orders; they too are monsters who are more than eager to initiate everything and in fact goad Johnny on and work him up into a frenzy.  Stanley also likes to videotape everything and captures Jennifer’s degradation, torture, and gang rape on film … every small detail of it.

But just as we think we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel director Monroe gives us one more slice of evil in the character Storch (Andrew Howard, who’s quickly becoming this generations David Hess).  Storch is a sadistic sociopath who doesn’t think twice about what he puts Jennifer through.  Storch is definitely the ring leader here and he willingly drags the other guys down deeper into depravity.  But what makes Storch a real monster and gives his character depth is that he’s also a loving family man with doting wife (Mollie Milligan) and a young, pre-teen daughter (Saxon Sharbino) who he calls his “little girl” and his “angel.”  It’s truly disturbing watching him around his daughter after brutally raping and torturing Jennifer (when he says to Jennifer, “I’m a ass man myself” it’ll make you nauseous).  Howard plays his character perfectly and sleaze just drips from his pores in every scene.  Monroe did a great job putting together a great cast.

The first half of the film goes as expected but it’s in the second half where Monroe changes things up a bit.  Jennifer still gets her revenge but it’s more satisfying and better doled out.  At first Jennifer fucks with all their heads.  She leaves pieces of her clothing at Johnny’s door, she mailed the film Stanley made of the rape to Storch’s home, and she generally gets into the heads of them all.  At first the guys think it’s Matthew, the retarded character, being obsessed with Jennifer and messing around with them.  Andy even points out, “I even think [Matthew] feels guilty.”  That sent shivers down my spine!!  To think these guys can go back to their daily lives not feeling any remorse or guilt over what they just did to Jennifer (and they think she’s dead).  These are true monsters.

Jennifer though goes quickly from fucking with their minds to fucking with their bodies, and what I really liked here is that the revenge Jennifer dishes out is apropos to what each guy did to her.  I’m not gonna go into details here but Jennifer’s revenge is brutal and bloody and you’ll be cheering her on all the way.  That is until she possibly goes too far.  She leaves Storch for last and really wants to hurt him (and believe me she does; she gives it to him up the ass good).  But she really wants to hurt Storch so she goes after his family.  Monroe raises a great question here:  When does revenge go too far?  As Storch regains consciousness bent over a table, he remembers Jennifer going after his family.  He’s crying as he screams at Jennifer about his daughter, “She’s just an innocent girl.”  To which she replies, “So was I.”  What a gut punch

It’s hard to believe that the I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake was made by the same man who directed such SyFy Originals as OGRE, STORM CELL, ICE TWISTERS, and MONGOLIAN DEATH WORM!!  But hey, everyone needs to pay bills.  Monroe here gives us arguably one of the best remakes to date.  His focus on the source material and commitment to keeping it gritty, disturbing, and hardcore shows that there’s still some dedicated genre directors out there that won’t compromise on their vision.  I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake is well shot with a great pace, great acting, and a very satisfying ending after Jennifer’s revenge is over.  The last shot in the film shows Jennifer just sitting on a tree stump staring blindly into space.  The heavy question in the air being, “Her revenge is over.  Now what?”  She’s had her bloody revenge and the guilty parties have paid, but does that really change anything?  Is Jennifer suddenly over the trauma just because the guilty have paid?  I think we all know the answer to that queation.

The I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake is a solid film that is not for everyone.  It’s hard to watch (even the revenge parts) and will stay with you days after seeing it.  But to me this is the mark of a really good film.  I’m highly recommending I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake whether you’ve seen the original or not.

My Summary:

Director:  Steven R. Monroe

Plot:  4 out of 5 stars

Gore:  7 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

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The Masks of Our Fathers (2011)

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Horror can come in many forms.  There’s the external forms of serial-like killers after you, zombies wanting to eat you, and vampires wanting to suck you.  And then there’s the internal kinds of horrors in which one’s mind becomes the source of one’s own horror.  Barry Napier’s THE MASK OF OUR FATHERS definitely falls into the internal kind of horror.  Napier gives us an interesting story in which Jason Melhor returns to a place where he spent a great deal of his youth, his family’s old fishing cabin, to kill himself.  This is the setting in which Napier weaves his tale of personal demons, redemption, and a forest full of mysterious creatures.

Napier’s strength lies in his development of the main character Jason.  We follow Jason from mentally preparing himself to swallow a bullet to finding the strength and the will to wanna survive and get his life back on track.  Napier takes Jason, mentally, through Hell and back and he does a good job at describing the way Jason psychologically makes this journey.  What’s essentially screwing Jason up was his relationship (or lack of one) with his father, who was a drunk who neglected both his mother and himself.  We get a lot of ruminations from Jason about how miserable it was growing up with his father but to be honest I couldn’t quite make the connection as to why he was going to kill himself over his father.  Sure his dad was a drunk and neglected him and rarely had a nice thing to say to him, but he wasn’t a violent man and he never beat Jason or slapped around his wife.  I just never felt satisfied about Jason’s motive/reasons for wanting to take his own life.

Right before Jason pulls the trigger to end his life someone comes bursting into his cabin claiming he’s being chased … and he was by someone wearing a ritualistic-looking mask.  Then before you can say “Stephen King”, Jason is alone and tied up in the cabin left to die.  The comparison here to Stephen King is not without merit.  Napier himself described THE MASKS OF OUR FATHERS to me as “Gerald’s Game as written by Lovecraft.”  Well he definitely has the Gerald’s Game aspect down.  About 85% of the remaining novel is Jason alone in his cabin tied up and fighting death.  He gets very introspective about his childhood and his failure as a boyfriend and even starts getting visits from his dead father.  Is it a ghost?  Is he getting delirious from dehydration?  Or is there something more supernatural going on in the woods?  I wish Napier would have spent more time developing the supernatural aspects of the novel.  There’s definitely something happening in the woods surrounding the cabin but I thought he could have examined this in a little more detail.

We get bits and pieces of information from the person wearing the mask about some kind of ritual that takes place in the woods every so often but it’s all very vague.  There are legends about the Nagasai Indians and how their spirits inhabit the woods but we never really get any details.  This is a shame too because Napier gives us such a strong narrative on Jason, his background, and his catharsis that if he would’ve given more explanation on the supernatural elements then this would’ve been a kick ass novel.

The writing here is crisp and fast paced and Napier does a great job giving some vivid descriptions (at some points it reads like a script and you can’t avoid getting a strong mental picture of what he’s writing about).  And despite the shortcomings of THE MASKS OF OUR FATHERS (too much focus on Jason at times and not enough on the supernatural elements) I’m still recommending this one.  Napier has some writing chops and I’m looking forward to seeing how he progress as he matures as a writer.  Napier describes this as “Gerald’s Gameas written by Lovecraft,” and fans of Gerald’s Game will definitely have fun with this one.  But people looking for a strong Lovecraft element will feel a little let down.  But at the end of the day this is a novel about a man facing his personal demons, the ones in his mind and n the world.  Check this one out.

My Summary:

Author:  Barry Napier

Plot:  3 out of 5 stars

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

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Black Death (2010)

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

I must admit that even before seeing BLACK DEATH I was inclined to really like it, and its not because of director Christopher Smith (more on him in a second).  I wanted to like this film because in high school I had an African-American buddy who used to call his penis “Black Death”.  I still call this man my friend to this day and he knows who he is (I’ll spare him the embarrassment just in case his wife is reading this review).  Now what about Christopher Smith?  Smith’s first feature which gave him some notice was 2004’s CREEP.  The film had a lot of wasted potential and had a lead actress who was extremely annoying.  But there was something there; there was definitely a talented eye behind the camera.  This talent was partly realized with his follow-up SEVERANCE (2006), an above-average “killer in the woods” with a twist and some great black humor.  But then Smith took a huge step backwards with his 2009 “thriller” TRIANGLE (see my review here).  This one had an interesting idea but completely falls apart under the weight of its own plot.  Now we have BLACK DEATH.  How has Smith done with his latest?

The plot takes place in 1348 just as the bubonic plague was starting to creep across Europe decimating any and everyone in its path.  As the story begins we join the monk Osmund (an Emo Philips-looking Eddie Redmayne) and his lover Averill (Kimberley Nixon) as they are making plans to escape the plague-riddled town they’re in and run off to a more remote area in the forest.  Osmund is pretty naughty and gave in to the temptations of the flesh (hey who wouldn’t take a piece of ass over god??).  But as they are about to run off together a group of soldiers sent by the area’s Bishop rides into town carrying with them many interesting looking devices of torture.  The group is led by Ulric (Sean Bean) and is tasked with tracking down stories about a village in a remote area that is still completely plague-free.  It’s rumored the villagers there made some kind of unholy pact with some dark forces in order to protect themselves from the plague.  They need a guide to take them there and Osmund is from the area.  Problem solved (hhmmm; is it me or does this sound like the same basic set up as SEASON OF THE WITCH?).

Pretty standard set-up to a pretty routine story.  Along the way we get to see various horrific scenes (ok; they’re not that horrific) from surrounding villages of witches being burned at the stake and other similar visions.  We also get to learn about each of the soldiers and a little bit about their backgrounds; they’re all warriors and it seems some specialize in torture.  So I was hoping to see at least one scene of the torturers at work but Smith decided against it.  But at least we’re told some horrific stories and how talented they are at torturing others.  That counts for something … right?  Right??

Along the way we’re told that the Bishop believes there’s a Necromancer (one who can raise the dead) in the village.  There have been reports of this forbidden and black art being practiced in this village as well as cannibalism and demons roaming freely around the area.  I don’t know, it sounds like a pretty kick ass village to me that “The Man” wants to shut down.  I must also point out something here.  It seems the church wants to have its cake and eat it too.  Witches and non-Christians are blamed as the cause of the plague AND they’re also the people who’re accused of evil practices when a village ISN’T affected by the disease.  Make up your fucking mind Christians; which one is it??  BLACK DEATH flirts around with examining such ambiguous beliefs by the church but ultimately just glosses over such questions.

As they get closer to the village they’re attacked by a group of … come to think of it I have no idea who they were attacked by.  They were just a bunch of guys who were just sitting around the forest waiting to ambush someone.  No explanation was given and the entire scene kinda felt like it was tacked on after the initial filming in order to give the movie an action scene.  Ultimately this attack has nothin’ to do with nothin’.  But that’s ok because they’ve finally arrived at their destination.  After they cross a marsh they find themselves in the village.  The villagers are very stand-offish until they’re finally approached and welcomed by Hob (Tim McInnerny).  They tell Hob that they were just attacked (hey maybe that scene was good for something) and that they’re just looking for a place to stay for the night.  Hob warmly greets them (a little too warmly) and these seasoned soldiers and torturers are given free reign of the town and yet not one of their “spidey senses” goes off.  Interesting.

We soon realize that the real village leader is not Hob but is in fact Langiva (Carice van Houten), a rather striking long-haired strawberry blonde.  Things quickly go from weird to really bad for the soldiers as they find themselves imprisoned and killed one by one for being Christians.  That’s pretty much it people.  The plot unfolds exactly as you expect it too.  There’s no curveballs or twists thrown at us and all the characters behave exactly as you expect them too.  Wanna know how the villagers over-power the soldiers?  At the nightly “big ass feast” that is so common in these types of films (you know is kind; women dancing around, music playing, large dead animals to eat) they drug their wine.  Really?  The soldiers’ mission is to investigate this very village after stories of cannibalism and necromancy have drawn suspicion.  So why, please tell me, do they let down their guard so easily and eat and drink everything put in front of them in such an “evil” village?  Yeah; I don’t know either.

The only interesting development is when Langiva raises Averill from the dead right in front of Osmund … or does she?  It’s an interesting scene that tests Osmund’s faith and just how important god is in his life.  The acting in BLACK DEATH is actually quite strong.  Redmayne (Osmund) does a terrific job and I always love Sean Bean in everything he’s in (yes; I even loved his performance in the dreadful James Bond film GOLDENEYE).  The problem here isn’t with the acting but with the script.  Nothing in the script pops or grabs you.  You sit through the first few parts of the plot waiting until they reach the village.  And when they finally reach the village nothing really exciting happens.  The most interesting part of the film comes in the “afterwards.”  The events that unfolded once in the village traumatized Osmund so much that over the years he ends up picking up a sword and becoming one of god’s soldiers who hunts down witches.  Every woman he sees looks, in his traumatized brain, like Langiva so he spends the rest of his days torturing and killing innocent women who look like the woman who killed his beloved Averill.  Interesting ending that was definitely the best aspect of the film.  But unfortunately it was too little too late.  It seems the message here is that no matter what religion you are, Christian, Wiccan, Islamic … whatever, no one is safe from death.  Death comes to everyone and no one is immune.  Valid message.

There are a couple scenes of mild gore and that’s about it.  The fight scene right before they reach the village is well-filmed but it’s over pretty quickly.  This is just one of those films that won’t leave much of an impression on you.  It’s not a bad film and it certainly isn’t a great one.  It’s a time killer.  You’ll forget you saw it a few days after watching it.  I caught it on my AT&T U-Verse MOD channel the other night when there was nothing else on to watch.  BLACK DEATH served its purpose but I can’t say that I’d recommend it.  Note to Christopher Smith:  You’re now 1 for 4.  Yikes.

My Summary:

Director:  Christopher Smith

Plot:  3 out of 5 stars

Gore:  1.5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

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Horror Shorts: Casting Call (2006) & Sinners (2010)

Monday, March 21st, 2011

I just recently watched two shorts by indie filmmaker Gary Lynch.  CASTING CALL was made in 2006 and comes in about halfway through Lynch’s career while SINNERS is his latest film (just completed in November 2010).  Lynch is also the writer-director of I WILL HURT YOU (2008), I WILL HURT YOU SOME MORE (2009), and four other shorts.  I must admit that I don’t know much about the man himself, but I like that Lynch has been exclusively making horror shorts since 2004.  I think most people think making short films is easy, but I can only imagine that they are in some ways more challenging than full-length features.  In a short the filmmaker needs to establish characters, plot, and conflict in a very short time.  I’ve seen a lot of shorts since I started up http://www.anythinghorror.com and they’ve run the gamut from the absolutely terrible (ESCAPE) to the absolutely fantastic (all of Devi Snively’s shorts).  So how does Gary Lynch size up?

CASTING CALL (2006) is, Lynch tells me, his “biggest film to date” and is still “playing at festivals in 2011.”  It’s a pretty easy set up:  A casting director (West Cummings) is holding a casting call for an upcoming horror film he’s going to make.  Five girls answer the ad and we watch them as they are interviewed on camera.  The interviews with all five girls are inter-cut as we watch them answer such questions as, “Are you interested in horror films, would you do a nude scene, are you immediately available, etc …?”  All the girls are extremely natural and it’s easy to forget your watching a short film and not watching an actual casting call reel.

At the end of the casting call interviews, the casting director (that’s his name in the cast) asks a few of the (unlucky) girls back for a second interview.  Then suddenly the film switches gears and goes from a film taking it’s time setting up the characters and getting to know them to a lightning-fast, violent ending.  It’s a really nice juxtaposition.  The strength here is how the viewer is able to really get to know the five girls in such a short time (the total running time is 10 minutes) knowing that things aren’t going to end well.  It’s also fun that Lynch shot this film in 8 hours at his house.  If you look close enough there’s someone on the carpet at the end wiping up fake blood out of the carpet … that’s Gary Lynch himself trying, I’m guessing, to not loose his security deposit!!

This is a fun short that you’ll probably figure out where it’s going, but that doesn’t take anything away from the punch.  Check this one out.

Director:  Gary Lynch (as well as writer & producer)

Plot:  4 out of 5 stars

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Lynch’s latest short, SINNERS (2010), is in direct contrast to CASTING CALL.  SINNERS has a bigger cast, different locations, more of a narrative story line, and even straddles two different genres (horror and mystery).

The short begins with us watching Missy (Tanya Fraser) filming a self-made TV commercial.  Missy is an “escort” and is reaching out to new customers.  When she goes home she finds the word “sinner” scrawled across one of her pictures and is then attacked by a stranger in her apartment.  Missy’s death attracts her cousin Nicky (Karli G. Brooks) back into town to try and find out who killed Missy.  Also pissed is Wanda (LaDonna Coward), Missy’s pimp/Madam, who is pissed that one of her best girls is dead.  There’s also a bit of history there; Nicky used to also work for Wanda before she decided she had enough and moved to Chicago to straighten out her life.

We’re then introduced to a few other supporting characters who’re also somehow involved with either Wanda or the whore industry.  There’s Megan (Niki Collier), an 18 year old girl just breaking into the escort business (and also works for Wanda); Tonya (Latoya Haynes), Missy’s roommate who also works for Wanda; and Nicole (Nina Nicole), another of Missy and Tonya’s roommates.  As more and more of the cast gets killed off, all with the word “sinner” carved into their bodies, the mystery builds as Nicky tries to figure out who the killer is.

Less than stellar f/x don't help matters here.

Lynch does a good job, again, of establishing the characters and letting the viewer get to “know” them.  But in this short (unlike in CASTING CALL) Lynch also has a plot to develop.  Lynch does a good job establishing the plot but there’s very little here in the way of plot development.  Girls are killed and one of them is trying to uncover the killer.  The short goes in the very predictable A to B to C progression and really doesn’t do much to challenge the viewer.  By the end of the short there are only two cast members alive, one being Nicky, so it wasn’t too hard to figure out who the killer was.  But sometimes the journey is what matters, and the journey here is pretty good.  We get strong performances from the entire cast (especially from LaDonna Coward who plays Wanda) and there’s a lot of good dialogue going on.  But besides the less than challenging plot, there is also no gore in the short.  All of the killings are done off screen; that was disappointing.

Gary Lynch is an indie filmmaker to keep an eye on.  His skill at crafting shorts makes it obvious that the “short film” is his choice of medium.  Besides a few problems with the plot development in SINNERS, Lynch is skilled at crafting short, interesting horror films.  Check out Lynch’s two blogs and get info on where you can get CASTING CALL and SINNERS.  http://garylynchproductions.blogspot.com/ and http://www.blogger.com/profile/06560747575754363376

My Summary for SINNERS:

Director:  Gary Lynch (as well as writer & producer)

Plot:  3 out of 5 stars

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

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