Review: Street Trash (1987)

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Director J. Michael Muro’s opus is also his only directorial credit. The rest of his credits have been either as a camera operator or cinematographer. It is so utterly amazing how and even that this movie got made. This movies started shooting in 1982 and took years of starting and stopping to complete, with a cast consisting of both thespian-trained and complete newcomers (think Bicycle Thieves).

It is gritty at the same time it is vivid. It is New York in its transitional phase during the 80’s. The director chose Long Island City on the other side of the East River in Queens as the major location. This area was one of the last remnants of New York City’s industrialized past. It is an area of warehouses and brick, the homeless, prostitutes, pimps and the criminally insane. With the choice of eerie electronica as the musical background, the time frame could easily be placed in a post-apocalyptic environment where everyone struggles just to survive. It is interesting how this “lifestyle” is juxtaposed right next to the “civilized/real” world. The real world intrudes into this hyper-real, deteriorating steel jungle. I can’t help but be reminded of Robot Holocaust in terms of the look (another movie filmed deep within the power station, in the shadows of New York) and Evil Dead/Dead Again in its spirit.

In a junkyard, two homeless brothers survive the rigors of the street. Introduce a $1 alcohol called Viper, which is like Drano in color and result. This is the other major recurring element, Viper. We follow the trail of the alcohol, like money or a disease/virus passing between various people. I knew there is something intrinsically wrong with with well-drinks at bars. $1 drinks have to be outlawed. In to the mix add a crazy selection of characters : a steroid-laden gung-ho cop, the criminally insane and violent ex-Vietnam vet turned hobo-overlord, a colorful mixture of homeless carny folk, the mob, a gas-mask wearing shoplifting hobo, a bald sweaty lecherous junk yard owner and the greedy alcohol peddler.

This movie is filthy enough to drive you to shower with a pumice stone and rubbing alcohol, and is hilariously graphic. Everything from hand-to-hand combat to decapitation and from castration to necrophilia. Add in full frontal nudity, exploding heads and acid peel (think of a rainbow version of the death from another 80’s cult movie, The Stuff) for an extra layer of added grime. It rubs the dirt on it’s skin. It does this whenever it’s told. It rubs the dirt on it’s skin, or else it gets the hose again.

As I stated earlier, this movie make its home in a vivid Cinema-scope Twilight Zone reality. A trans-realistic place where fate plays a role even on the dog-eat-dog and chaotic fringes of society. This is a place where the law or civilization has a minimal effect. It is a base and much reduced existence. There is no silver lining in this universe. It’s a caste system consisting of levels of blue collar rejects.

It is a tribute to the people and gung-ho independent film making that was and is still possible in New York City (in the same category as Mean Streets, Abel Ferrara’s Driller Killer, Toxic Avenger and other productions from Hells Kitchen’s own Troma). Watch this one solo or with a recommended wingman. Whatever you do, get your tetanus shot, drink orange juice and eat some Special K in preparation. It sure is a dirty world out there.

scythe000 on October 16th, 2013 | File Under Reviews | No Comments -

Review: Frankenhooker (1990)

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“A medical student sets out to recreate his decapitated fiancée by building her a new body made of Manhattan street hookers.”

Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker (1990) is a horror comedy starring James Lorinz as Jeffrey Franken, a young man who is extremely interested in medical studies and becoming a doctor. He performs creepy experiments in his house while his parents are little concerned as they think their son is little weird, understandably. Soon a horrible but incredibly comical accident happens to his girlfriend Elizabeth, so Jeffrey takes all the body parts he can in order to re-build his girl. But he needs various body parts in order to complete his love and he develops a drug which makes its users explode. He goes to the streets searching for prostitutes and you know what he wants from them. He gets the parts, but will the new Elizabeth, Frankenhooker, be the same as she used to be?

This film is a must for lovers of B cinema and films which mix horror, gore and comedy. Franken’s character is very mad as he talks alone all the time and inserts a power drill into his head everytime he is about to have some nervous problems under pressure. Usually when characters talk all the time without reasons in films it just shows how bad the script is, but in this case, the talking (especially for himself) is normal for this kind of crazy doctor and thus it doesn’t feel irritating and bad choice.

Henenlotter’s other films like Brain Damage (1988) and Basket Case (1982) are so fantastic as they mix humor and horror so uniquely. They are creepy and very funny (and clever especially in Brain Damage’s case) at the very same film. Frankenhooker isn’t an exception and the first lawnmower scene convinces the viewer what will the film be like. There are many severed limbs and body parts, but they don’t seem repellent as the tone of the film is so tongue in cheek and not wicked. The scene in which some ten hookers EXPLODE is as funny as possible, but not that gory, since the film had to get an R rating. It is even funnier now as crimson doesn’t fly all the time, they just explode!

The mutants and attached body parts at the end are really creepy and almost nightmarish, and reminded me of Brian Yuzna’s Bride of Re-Animator which has similar monsters. The effects work in Frankenhooker is fantastic all the way, and it all is now perfect, and wouldn’t work anymore if done with computers or CGI. The pace is fast all the time and the viewer doesn’t get bored. The Frankenhooker herself is also pretty outrageous and very deadly a hooker! The lady who plays her part is very talented with all her face expressions and movements. I like Basket Case and Brain Damage even more, but still Frankenhooker is a little classic by this talented and mad film maker genius.

scythe000 on October 14th, 2013 | File Under Reviews | No Comments -

Review: Death Sentence (2007)

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This movie stars Kevin Bacon as the father of a teenager who is gunned down during a gang initiation killing. More of a thriller then a horror movie, really, this movie surprised me somewhat. The violence is somewhat predictable for the first part of the movie, but there’s some really excellent camerawork. There’s a scene where he’s being chased and winds up in a parking garage, and the camera moves between various floors of it and it’s pretty well done. You can see that the cameraman actually was climbing between floors with the camera on his shoulder.

The movie doesn’t pull any punches, though. An hour into the movie, you’d think it’s all over when he’s shot and the rest of his family is killed before his eyes.

 

In the end, it’s a bit cliche, but an enjoyable action-thriller.

scythe000 on October 2nd, 2013 | File Under Reviews | No Comments -

Review: I Spit on your Grave 2 (2013)

I Spit on your Grave 2

Well…to cut to the chase, this was a little disappointing. The film starts out slowly, and Jessica, the protagonist, is, well, kind of a bitch. She’s a struggling model with grand aspirations. She answer’s and ad for free photos, and flips out at the end of the shoot when they ask her to show a little skin. Like, goes into hardcore bitch mode. Later, one of the creepy photographers, Georgy, tracks her down and rapes her. Except, he’s kind of mentally challenged and lovable, and the film spends time trying to make you feel pity for this character. Long story short, she’s drugged and wakes up in Bulgaria where more rape happens. They think they kill her, but she escapes into an underground tunnel and begins plotting revenge. There’s a whole somewhat pointless side-plot about an Orthodox priest who helps her. Once she starts taking revenge and killing her captors, which is at least 2/3s into the movie, the film really disappointing.  It doesn’t take much talent to be a stuck up bitch, or to be screaming in pain, but she fails miserably at all her revenge scenes. Corny dialog, poorly delivered, and no acting ability at all. There’s a pretty brutal scene where a dude gets his balls smashed in a vice, but besides that and some tits, not much point to this movie.

scythe000 on October 1st, 2013 | File Under Reviews | No Comments -

Review: Wolf Creek (2004)

Wolf Creek

Wow, Wolf Creek was a lot of fun! Campers get stranded, and a kindly redneck turns out to be a torture killer! The high def cinematography really captured the austerity and desolation of the Australian outback. It starts off a bit slowly, but after it gets going, it is actually quite surprisingly gory throughout. The acting is pretty good, insofar as scared chicks running around getting chased by a crazy man have to act. The soundtrack is a full orchestral score, which I appreciate very much. I think I’d definitely like to see more Australian pictures like this. I’ll let you know how the sequel is!

scythe000 on September 28th, 2013 | File Under Reviews | No Comments -

Goretorium review

navMetal Mike and I had recently finished a show in Vegas, and he had never gotten to see Eli Roth’s Goretorium before. If you don’t know, he’s the director of Hostel and Cabin Fever and such and made a sick haunted house right on the strip that runs 365 days a year. We got there at 11:30 am, shortly after we woke up from a night of madness and boozing, and found out that during the day, they don’t have actors in the tours. The very nice staff explained it was a ‘behind the scenes tour’, and we were prepared to be a bit disappointed.

We waited for the next tour, and it was just us. A small, older gentleman, with a thick Slavic accent greeted us. he took us though the house by the side entrance and began to give us a background of the fictional history of the place. It turns out, it was a totally fictional behind the scenes, and he was doing it in character! Well ,this was awesome. The guy had a great sense of humor and played it as straight as he could. We had a blast and he still worked some frights into almost every room. I think I actually enjoyed it more than the night time tour, as we got to take our time and enjoy it. Check them out!

http://bit.ly/goretorium

scythe000 on September 24th, 2013 | File Under Reviews | No Comments -