Cult actor Bill Oberst Jr. plays a deranged struggling writer with insomniac. Bill’s lack of sleep drives him to extremely hallucinate to the point of being dangerous to not only himself but to others. His derangement wields a bowie knife, a rust colored hammer, and a sporting bow and arrow as the hallucinations get weirder, stranger, and more violent and everyone that Bill comes into contact with becomes a target of his severe breakdown into insanity.
Who doesn’t love Bill Oberst Jr? The veteran actor has a unique look about him and his acting method brings stage and screen acting together into one great performance in Trevor Juenger’s “Coyote.” Without saying much through the entirety of the film, Oberst interpretation of one man’s sleepless delusions sports no talking head explanation. Rigorously and physically involved in the role, “Coyote” could not have been possible if it wasn’t for Oberst serious role indulgence.
The film is described as a blend between “Taxi Driver” and “Videodrome.” That description is entirely accurate. Full of body horror and plenty of schizo to go around, the surrealism in the editing by Juenger is remarkable pitted against budgetary restraints. Hard to follow, lost in translation, yet somehow by the end of the movie you get it, you just get it. You might even feel lost for the first hour and by the time the last half hour comes around, you’re just as angry, confused, and disturbed as Bill. You might even want to take out a person or two with a bowie knife.
“Coyote” won’t break much cinematic ground like “Taxi Driver” or “Videodrome,” but “Coyote” will be a great embarkment to a honorable homage and a surreal look into fresh art-house horror. If you like this type of material full of masochistic mutilation, visceral carnage, and a visual look into the mind of lunacy, then Wild Eye Releasing’s “Coyote” is for you.
Category Archives: Just fucking awesome
Evil Is Only Skin Deep! “Skinless” review!
I’ve been following Dustin Mills and his films for quite some time now. From the ambitious, multi-role Zombie A-Hole to the from actual news to your for your home entertainment Bath Salt Zombies, producer, writer, and director Dustin Mills has all the makings of a great independent director. The latest indie feat for the ambitious director is “Skinless,” a fierce and grotesque body horror film that sparks a familiar resemblance to a certain David Cronenberg film but with more ooze and goo that will leave a sticky, slimy aftertaste sensation that makes the film difficult to look away from yet still hard to wash off once the credits roll.
“Skinless” revolves around brilliant scientist Dr. Peter Peele who suffers from a terminal condition of the cancerous melanoma. His only hope is a flesh-eating enzyme from an exotic worm. Peter’s research partner, Dr. Alice Cross, genetically modify’s the enzyme to attack only cancer cells. When Peter and Alice are refused backing funds for the project, Peter turns to a more radical approach to use his own body as a test subject even at Alice’s stern disapproval. The enzyme worked as the cancer cells were stricken from Peter’s body, but at the cost of losing all of his flesh and going through a metamorphose that drives Peter into a murderous monster.
It’s icky. It’s sticky. It’ll have your skin crawling literally of your muscle tissue. Dustin Mills and his body horror entry proves that heart still exists in independent films today. Brandon Salkil and Erin R. Ryan, a regular cast of actors used by Dustin Mills, star as Dr. Peter Peele and Dr. Alice Cross. These two have chemistry on screen making chemistry. Salkil co-wrote the script with Mills making his character, pre- and post- metamorphose, into completely separate entities. There is a serious tone change in Dr. Peele that results in Dr. Cross to change with him in the second act of this two act film. What I like about Salkil is his style of acting, much like his other roles in previous Mills’ work, resembles a “Dumb and Dumber” Lloyd Christmas from an alternative universe – fairly silly with a realistic handle and grip of tension and hostility.
Once you view “Skinless”, you might feel like you’ve had a dose of deja vu. I know I did. I started to compare “Skinless” to David Cronenberg’s remake of “The Fly” in which Jeff Goldblum plays an inventory who develops a transporter, uses himself as the first test subject, and has his DNA infused with a fly’s DNA. Much of the same qualities from “The Fly” are transposed to “Skinless” from the projectile digestive acids to the transforming fly-like-ticks each character develops through the metabolical change. Was “The Fly” a big inspiration for “Skinless?” I would like to think so since the evidence is hard to ignore, but is this an intentional homage or a re-write flying below the bar?
Any way you dissect it, one can’t deny the special effects from the crew with one name to mention in Brandon’s Salkil’s wife – Sherriah. There’s something to be said for creativity and invention in body horror films because without the transformation of Dr. Peele to this skinless, fleshing eating thing, you would literally have no movie. Some of the puppetry might some dated and cheesy, but campy and still can put a ripple up your spine to think and feel like you’re going through the flesh-deducing change yourself.
Whacked Movies and MVD bring you the latest and greatest of Dustin Mills Productions with “Skinless.” Check it out on DVD on November 18 and watch this sleazy take on a gory-glorified body horror film.
Evil Review: The Evil Within
So I was going to do a video review of this on our Youtube channel but I just haven’t had the time to record or edit so I’ll just write my review here. Before the review I’ll like to wish all of you a Happy Halloween! Watch horror movies or do what I’ll do tonight, play horror games! Anyway lets talk about The Evil Within, this game had to be my most anticipated game of the year. I was so excited when I heard that Shinji Mikami was coming back to horror, that I could hardly wait. For those who don’t know who Shinji is, he is the original director of the Resident Evil games, he pretty much created Resident Evil but unfortunately his last one was Resident Evil 4 and I’m sure you can tell it was his last because all Resident Evil games after that were terrible. So Shinji has put together his own development team, partnered up with Bethesda and gave us The Evil Within.
In the game you play as Sebastian Castellanos, a detective of the Krimson city police department. After a dispatch call, Sebastian and his team go to investigate a gruesome massacre at the Beacon Mental hospital but is later lured into a nightmarish world. The first thing you’ll notice in the game is that the graphics are very well done. The lighting is probably the best I’ve seen in a horror game and it sets the mood very well in the environment around you. Character and monster designs are excellent, environments were detailed and gritty, and the gore physics oh the gore physics were awesome! If you love blood and guts then this game has it, but If you can’t handle the sight of it well then there is an option for you lower the blood but wheres the fun in that?
Character development in the game is good but VERY limited, you won’t learn shit about the characters unless you collect documents scattered throughout the game. Sebastian’s back story only unfolds through documents and letters you find and the same goes for the main antagonist Ruvik, who may I add is my favorite character in the game. He is voiced by Jackie Earle Haley and he does a fantastic job. Ruvik also acts as the nemesis of the game, if you have played Resident Evil 3 and you remember that nemesis would chase you at random moments of the game, well Ruvik will do the same. He will randomly spawn in the world and chase your character. The story of the game is very unique but It is confusing as hell, you will not know ANYTHING about the game on your first play through. You will need to research and play through the game several times to understand the story.
Now this game is BRUTAL it is hard, if you think this game is easy and you can get through it without dying well your wrong. You will die a lot in this game, it is punishing and some times just plain out fucking you up. Minor enemies of the game can be difficult, even in small groups they can over power you, I can say that I have died a total of 65 times in the entire game and there is a total of 15 chapters. There is an upgrade system in the game where you can upgrade your weapons, abilities, inventory, etc. In order for you to upgrade your character you will need ”green gel” which you get as rewards for defeating enemies and bosses.
For everything that is good about this game there are of course some minor things I didn’t much care for. First thing is that there is a season pass. Now I hate when companies announce downloadable content before the game is even released and they try to sell us a season pass. You can thank games like Battlefield with it’s Premium passes and Call of duty for my hatred of season passes. But the good thing about the Evil Within’s season pass is that you get three upcoming expansions for $20 so I have to admit that’s pretty good. The second thing that isn’t really a bad thing but it just threw me off is that the game is always in a widescreen mode. Like when you play a DVD and it’ll ask you if you want to watch in wide screen, well that’s what the game is doing. It has a bar up top and a bar at the bottom, not sure why they added this, I guess for a more cinematic experience but either way I hope they patch it to where you can disable it. Now the the thing that I’m really getting tired of seeing in horror games, especially Resident Evil is the damn chainsaw enemies. I’m so sick of chainsaw enemies I know that they were scary in Resident Evil 4 but they just aren’t scary anymore because Capcom milked that same tactic over and over again. I hope Shinji doesn’t bring back these stupid chainsaw enemies in a sequel. The final problem I had with the game is it’s lack off true horror. It may have a creepy atmosphere but for a veteran horror gamer like me, it just didn’t deliver that feeling of terror and fear of what will happen next.
Before I give my personal rating of the game I’m going to change how I rate these games. So now I will rate them from 1 to 10 so for the The Evil Within I’m going to give it a very high 8/10. It is a very good game and it is worth playing, especially if your a big Shinji Mikami fan like me.
Shout Factory Brings “Destroyer” Back to Life!
Some exciting news coming out of the ever-glorious Scream Factory, aka Shout Factory, company and that is 1988’s “Destroyer” with Anthony Perkins from “Psycho.” The incredulous film will pari with another 1988 film – Scarecrows. The double feature will hit blu-ray in 2015!
A prison riot breaks out at the moment of a serial murderer’s execution by electrocution, and his fate becomes indeterminate when the prison is shut down. 18 months later, a team of filmmakers converge on the prison to film a women-in-prison exploitation flick, but find that a certain somebody is disrupting their shooting schedule…
Video Vileness: Lady Killers Delivers Sexy Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger!
Ladies! Listen up! If you need a last minute Halloween costume idea, than watch this Nerdist presented video where a very sexy and blonde Freddy Krueger battles a boobtastic brunette Jason Voorhees in a slasher showdown winner takes the nerdy, sleep deprived shop clerk. Adrianne Curry and Abby Dark-Star star as Freddy and Jason.
You’re welcome.
