Review: Slaughtered Vomit Dolls - 2006

I first wrote this review during the summer of 2006 and put it up on my – then – new website. I then never got around moving it to the newer site/design and now it’s time again… I have decided to translate what I wrote back then and put it up on this blog since this is where it seems to belong best!

Slaughtered Vomit Dolls
Director: Lucifer Valentine 666

2006

Extreme

Angela Aberdeen (Amerara Lavey) is a nineteen year old bulimic and prostituted stripper. She’s on the verge of descending into a world of emotional pain of gigantic proportions. She suffers from massive nightmares and hallucinations and is made to witness endless maiming, sadistic torture and emetophilia.

I’ll have to admit that I looked up the word emetophilia in a dictionary. The meaning of the word is multiple but the common factor is sexual arousal of vomit. There are some forms in which this can manifest it self:

1. To watch someone else vomit in front of you.
2. To make yourself vomit.
3. To vomit on you partner during sex.
4. To be vomited on by your partner during sex.
5. To force someone else to vomit.

As a viewer of the movie it’s obvious that the first example stated above is the most frequent one. There’s not anyone that will jump out of your TV-set just to vomit on you – of course you can feel free to vomit yourself during the Watch! I nearly did but not out of arousal. This is a pretty disgusting film for most of us but I needed to see it for myself.

For the characters it’s more about making themselves vomit. It seems that they just can’t get enough of it sometimes and I fail to see what the films (shallow) plot has to do with anything. The hallucinations are more of an excuse to put as much vomit in there as possible. I mean, how lame doesn’t “a bulimic strippers hallucinations” sound? There are some things worth thinking about though! I just can’t figure out if there are intentional or if I just HAVE to find some saving grace beyond all the vomiting.

But enough of that. There are other scenes than vomiting too! Lots of sadistic maiming goes on and there’s a lot of torture. All of this is very realistic and I commend these efforts. I think it may be because of the films cinematography with a camera that’s NEVER still. There is also a lot of amateur feel to it which also may contribute to the realism. It’s kind of an oxymoron, the negative aspects makes it more realistic but less aesthetic to watch.

Something that may be of interest is the contract the director apparently sign for the Devil. He promises his soul to Hell and swears to raise his children as Satan’s offspring among other things. This seems to make a lot of people angry and not only deeply Christian believers as you might think but even the regular film viewer. I wonder how regular you are as a film viewer if you watch stuff like this. My own opinion of the subject is quite clear; it’s a way to create a mystic around himself and to make himself interesting. I think this sell merely as good as sex does really. I’ve seen similarities before and that it would be a totally serious pact with Satan sound a bit too improbable!

Finally I would like to warn all of you for this film. It’s the most disturbing and disgusting film I’ve ever seen but if that’s all that you’re after just go ahead. I didn’t get the point with it; I want something more that just disgust!

2/10

Review: Amateur Porn Star Killer - 2006

Amateur Porn Star Killer

Director: Shane Ryan

2006

Horror

Brandon looks nice and doesn’t have a problem to get the girls attention. Beneath the surface lies a secret though. Stacy, the young girl he just picked up and persuaded to accompany him to his hotel room, will soon be aware of his dark personality when he manipulates himself into her mind and she “willingly” takes her clothes of one by one for him while he films the events. She has a nervous smile on her face during the “voluntary” undressing which changes when he force himself onto her, humiliates her and rape her right before he beats her to death – all on camera!

The idea itself with a sole perpetrator that kidnap young girls just to rape, humiliate and kill them on camera might not be a new one but it’s certainly an attractive one when it comes to pseudo snuff, which is what this film is all about. I have to admit that I was expecting a stronger, more explicit tale of violence but this is really a brilliant imitation of a genre so concealed in mysteries that no one has been able to prove its existence – yet!

The quality of the picture is crap and you don’t se any naughty and/or violent details at all and I think that’s the main thing. What you get is a film that the perpetrator records and this is just about what it would look like if he has lousy equipment. Very realistic indeed! One might think that he should have concentrated on capturing more graphic details if he’s going to get something out of his own recording later but that is not the case here. There is somewhat of an explanation in the end credits about this but I’m not going to give it away here.

There’s a big problem with the sound though, it’s so bad from time to time that it’s hard to hear the dialog. This might partly be for accomplishing the same effect as for the crap picture – realism, but there’s also a problem with the soundtrack, the music drown the voices, more or less. I really like the soundtrack though; it enhances the pictures and creates an atmosphere for the movie. But at the same time it’s bad for the realism, I don’t think that a real snuff film would have had any music what so ever!

Brandon (Shane Ryan) behavior towards the young woman becomes more and more violent during the film and that’s exactly the image I have of a perpetrator of his kind in my mind. Obsequious and flattering at first so that she will give in to his perversions and then a change of personality! The camera shakes and moves all over the place and with the combination of the bad picture this successfully hides what really happens and we – the viewers, must just our imagination instead. I usually claim that this is the preferred way to tell a disturbing tale but I am not certain about it in this case. I would like to have more of the violence and sex in the frame instead of outside it. It becomes kind of tame and it’s difficult to keep interested even if the movie is just around 70 minutes.

Definitely an interesting movie worth seeing, but not the masterpiece I was hoping for.

Review: Easter Bunny Kill! Kill! - 2006

Easter Bunny Kill! Kill!

Director: Chad Ferrin

2006

Horror

Cine Du Monde

Remington claims that Mindy is his true love in life but he’s obviously a grafter luring his way into the family for whatever reason. Mindy also has a son, sixteen years old with Easter as his favorite holiday. Actually the kid is somewhat retarded and cannot really cops with reality. His greatest hero in life is his father and the Easter Bunny. When he gets a rabbit from a complete stranger he really starts to shine. Remington, only in for using Mindy, hates the boy – Nicholas, and the boy hate him back. Using threats Remington means to fool Mindy to believe that they can be on happy family. But when Mindy needs to get to work, Remington phoned a perverted man trying to sell Nicholas to him. No marks and no memory are the rules. In the meantime Remington goes out to get some prostitutes for the Easter party. But the party doesn’t go as he thinks, soon there’s a deranged killer on the loose killing of the people one by one…

It’s pretty obvious that this picture didn’t have a massive budget and the cinematography betrays its underground origin. I like underground cinema though and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it being obvious either. Especially when it’s done as nicely as here, it feels like you’re in the movie sitting like a fly on the wall rather than just seeing a picture on the TV. That’s always a good and intersecting thing in my home. I wouldn’t say that it’s exciting but it is somewhat suspenseful at times!

It takes a while for the movie to really get going but the characters are interesting and the acting is surprisingly good! I have some trouble believing the retarded kid as I think he overacts quite a bit but you can’t have everything and I don’t really know how retards talk anyway, it might be very accurate after all.

The intro shot (in a double sense) is quite disturbing and in your face. You get to see someone in an Easter Bunny mask robbing and killing a store clerk. It’s not a secret who did it for long though and we get to follow Remington on his was getting in to the family. At first we get the feeling that he’s only wants Mindy for sex, and she is rather good looking, but later, when he tries to sell Nicholas to a perverted bloke that seems ecstatic over getting the chance to abuse a retarded kid. At this point I thought this was the true meaning of the movie, an exploitation of perverted abuse of the boy. It really builds a tension but I was wrong. The next thing happening is that the Easter Bunny comes along and starts to kill people. It’s of course not the true Easter Bunny, just someone in the initial Easter Bunny mask and you can guess who it is, or at least try to guess. It seems obvious, but it’s not!

At this time Remington goes out hoping to get some pussy for his party. No problem since he knows his way around and picks up a couple of prostitutes. Here’s where the first nudity in the film takes place and I thought it would become somewhat sleazy. But there’s really no more than a few tits to be exposed. Not that I complain but I thought it would be a little bit more in that department!

Now the film takes its final turn and becomes what it’s been all along really. I wouldn’t call it a full scale slasher but it’s sure the main theme of the film. There’s also a lot more commenting on the nuclear family issues and mental disturbances. I had my doubts when watching it but when it’s finished I can see that this was a really good movie and well made with some thought put into it. It gives me so much more than just a basic exposition film and as for the killings; they’re done with some unusual tool. Well, at least it isn’t just knives and axes and things like that. We get to see drills, circular saws and stuff like that! And yeah, the ending took me by surprise and that’s unusual! Good Movie!

Bilder: © 2006 Crappy World Films © 2011 Cine du Monde (UK Licence)

Review: Re-Cycle - 2006

Re-cycle
Aka: Gwai Wik

Director: Danny & Oxide Pang

2006

Horror/Fantasy

Tsui Ting-Yin has written three bestselling novels with love stories which are all based upon her own experiences. Now she’s wringing a horror novel – Re-Cycle, but lacks all inspiration to continue to work with it. Strange events take place and an old boyfriend from eight years ago turns up. He tells her that he’s recently divorced his wife and wants to start over with Tsui-Yin. She won’t listen to it. At the same time a long haired girl from the new book appears and when she follows her, she’s suddenly in a world of nightmares. She doesn’t know what to do but meets a little girl that she starts to like. The girl doesn’t have a name and doesn’t know who she is. Ting-Yin gives the girls the name Ting–Yu. They both seek a way back to the real world but there is a price to be paid before any escape can be made. And the little girl has a secret, what might it be?

The original Chinese title apparently translates into something like ghost land. This makes sense when watching it but I feel it’s a little to easy a way to describe the film. There are nightmarish landscapes and nasty zombies but this isn’t a regular ghost flick and I don’t think you should treat it as such, there are far too many clever turns in the plot, multiple layers of storytelling and so on. I really appreciate that the Pang Brothers put some effort into it.

But even if there’s quite a lot of thought put into the story, it’s still scary – very scary! There are very few movies that I‘d consider to be genuinely scary but this get my vote on the matter! In addition to that, I would also like to claim that the suspense is top-notch and you can hardy wait to get the answers. Maybe some of the twists and surprises can be seen coming fairly easy, but they have a great timing that makes them work anyway.

Some scenes are pompous and beautiful and some makes you feel very concerned about Ting-Yin. The thin line between horror and fantasy is blurred out and that suits me like hand in glove! I feel this makes room for an ever broader story and understandable morals, the bottom line of the movie if you wish. You are even tricked to tremble by some unexpected sound effects. Speaking of that, the music is very good and is unusual prominent for an Asian horror film.

The main actress Angelica Lee is brilliant! She carries much of the movie on her shoulders. Everything revolves around her and there only a few smaller roles to give the illusion of a much larger cast. Apart from that this is a very visual movie. There are patterns that might be made in a computer but the look great anyway. The landscape obviously comes from the main characters subconscious. They look kind of magical, grand and thrills the imagination. They could really originate from any dark tale and they set the tone for all the suspense. There are riddles, zombies and powerful symbolism as clues for Ting-Yins return to reality.

It’s not my thing to praise movies with loads of superlatives but in this case I believe I have to! So as a complement to the above text I would like to add that this film almost scared the crap out of me!

Images: © 2006 Universe Entertainment © 2012 Cine du Monde (UK Licence)

Review: 5ive Girls – 2006

In the very begining of the movie, in the initial teaser even, my interest for the content of the movies awakens! It’s about deeply religious people and their contact with the dark occult side is always very interesting! And if you add Ron Perlman as a priest it becomes even more interesting. When the opening credits starts to roll we take a leap five years forward in time. That means that the story starts over somewhat as it usually does when you alter the time in that manner. Unfortunately this also means that the story gets less interesting in this case. It still interesting enough to keep watching though. But I’m sorry to say that it gets dumber and dumber as the minutes go by, and finally you lose interest all together. The religious potential that could have made this movie really good is lost in attempts to make it more frightening than it really is. Too bad.

5/10