If You’re Going to Kill Evil, Make Sure You…”Crush the Skull” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on September 26, 2016

Master thieves Blair and Ollie have known heists for most of their young lives but promise themselves one more job before a long overdue retirement with their stashed earnings. When the job goes South and Ollie gets pinched by the police, Blair has to use all of their savings and borrow on top from a ruthless crime boss to utilize his connections for Ollie be released from jail. With the first payment due in a week, Ollie and Blair have no choice but to put their lives in the hands of Blair’s brother Connor, a two-bit thief with a seemingly full-proof plan of scoring big at a vacant vacation home. The only problem is is that the home is a murder den for a deranged serial killer and with being trapped from the inside, Blair, Ollie, Connor, and their crew are being separated in a maze of murder with no way out.

“Crush the Skull” is a cleverly scribed 2015 horror-comedy from writer-director Viet Nguyen and co-star, co-writer Chris Dinh that was molded from the brimstone and fire of two successful short films, “Crush the Skull 1” and “Crush the Skull 2,” and a modest crowd funded financial backing that brought this witty and terrorizing film to fruition. Seriously, it’s been a long time since I’ve been entertained and jumpy with a film, especially one that’s working with a little more than a $75,000 budget. The superb character development and dialogue produces lively characters built upon an established dynamic group of tight knit actors whose on screen chemistry is beyond just a spark. Much of the character interactions are comical with a wrap around horror story and the mixture is purely potent and damn good that’s trying to pinpoint whether “Crush the Skull” is a dark-comedy or a flat out thriller.

The unconventional lead man Chris Dinh is Ollie, the quintessential good guy despite his lawbreaking thievery profession and Dinh provides a semi-serious, semi-standup comedian performance that makes Ollie likable. What also makes Ollie likable is the character’s main concern ultimately lies with concerning for the love of his life Blair, casted by the gorgeously talented Katie Savoy. Savoy’s Blair has fathomless compassion for Ollie and the Boston-bred, actress can imitate that affection, stating she would do anything for her lover. Both characters connect well within the context of the roles played by Dinh and Savoy, but connect them with actors Chris Riedell and Tim Chiou and you have a fearsome foursome of hilarity. The merciless jabs, the daunting quips, the pleasantly bad jokes, and the utter goofiness somehow manages to be experienced very naturally from the hapless heist team of Connor (Riedell) and his simple-minded, light-hearted crew Riley (Chiou). Though Connor is far more bright than Riley, their additions add colorful farce to production, causing more mayhem than mending to Ollie and Blair’s predicament.

“Crush the Skull” doesn’t strike as a very effective horror title at first glance with a slight vapidness about it. Yet, the title works as an appreciation to the series of events leading up the final moments when reformed do-gooders combat a demented and unspeakable evil and only then does the title reach out, grip tightly your neck, and slap you right in fat part of your cheek. Now, that’s a horror title! The horror portion inside this genre blend is an effective outer hull providing a superstructure of motivation and to stimulation. “Crush the Skull” doesn’t splinter at the first sight of blood, keeping the bones intact to scare the pants off edgy audiences when the diabolical game begins between naive robbers and a calculated killer until the instant of truth serves a fracturing blow that’s hard to reset. Nguyen and Dinh’s script isn’t overly gory; in fact, with a few blood splatters and a brief moment of a decapitated body, gore shouldn’t even be in the film’s glossary, but their script works diligently and brilliant along side amazingly gritty production design of the maze-like torture dungeon from Eloise Ayala to produce traumatic moments of gut-wrenching terror that’s hard to forget.

Breaking Glass Pictures absolutely crushes it distributing “Crush the Skull” on a not rated DVD. The 80 minute film is presented on a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio DVD9 MPEG-2 disc with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. No issues with video and audio qualities with balanced color hues and audible tracks though the David Frank Long score was generically clunky at times as I swear I’ve heard that particular score before in other microbudget films. A small band of powerfully punching bonus features include both shorts that I’ve mentioned prior to and an informative behind-the-scnes with the cast and crew speaking about their experiences of the 18 day shoot. “Crush the Skull” is one part “The Bone Collector” and two parts “Silver Streak” with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor – an entertaining cult inspiring horror-comedy that’s shamefully too far under the radar.

Buy “Crush the Skull” on DVD!

Watch “Crush the Skull” on Amazon Video!

Evil is Episodic. “Hell Town” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on August 4, 2016

Debbie Rochon presents a primetime television series event thought to be forever lost from the consequences of the utmost mysterious reasons, but buried beneath the Earth in a 6-foot grave laid to rest three surviving and untarnished episodes of Hell Town. Only episodes 7, 8, and 9 from the second season survived to tell the chilling, melodramatic macabre tale of Hell Town’s high school students in the throes of assorted teenage angst and in the epicenter of murder. One by one, the Letter Jacket Killer strikes the Hell Town’s fame football players, slaughtering them methodically, and ripping the embroidered letter from the victim’s team jacket. In the midst of dramatic backstabbing and popularity bouts, a crazed killer lives amongst the student body and deducting whom the killer might be is no easy task with motives stemmed from raging teen hormones and unquenchable greedy thirst that can mask any unasked villain.

Reading this review’s “Hell Town” introduction synopsis might have you scratching your temple wondering if you’ve somehow, someway, missed the small screen series that is “Hell Town.” Don’t worry, you sure enough didn’t. “Hell Town” is a faux series, the ambitious brainchild of Steve Balderson and then 15 year-old Elizabeth Spear, that aims to mock the daytime soap operas and the high school melodramas of life growing up, peppering the spoof with moments of slasher-genre attributes that pleasantly tone down the over exaggerated high school trope characters while, in the same instance, not diluting the ridiculously natured narratives, and their far reaching tangents, of the soaps.

“Hell Town’s” hostess Debbie Rochon mirrors a likeness to late-night TV ghoul Elvira sans the heavy theatrical makeup, sleazy-horror themed wardrobe, and large bosom. Rochon is in her true and natural dark humor state by thriving with a lively and grotesque-themed conversation in the introductions for each of the three episodes. The episodes themselves are smartly written to follow the episodes’ logic with an incorporated “previously on” background introduction from “season 1” and bits and pieces from scenes of the first six episodes of “season 2” which helped the story organically filter into the intricacies of the viewers mind, plugging up just enough of the story’s gaps where it needed to continue. Though by the time episode 9 comes to the climatic moment, that moment where the killer is revealed and the final showdown ensues, director Balderson writes in the archetypes of a soap opera and director Spear unleashes the adolescent angst to prolong “Hell Town’s” antics in a fabricated preview for episode ten, an episode that’ll never see the light of day from it’s claimed “vanished” existence.

Schematically, “Hell Town” is an anthology of sorts. A low rent anthology that speaks highly of the outlandishly creative and inventive crew behind it working hard on a microbudget production, especially with the keen eye of cinematographer Daniel Stephens. Casted perfectly with relatively unknown actors and actress to pull off an elaborate fake television series with such enthusiasm and confidence in their performances, the fictitious Hell Town’s fantasy world becomes one messed up reality. The only hiccup, if unintentional, was the noticeable cast change of the character Laura, who was originally portrayed by the thin and broad shouldered Beckijo Neill, and replaced, as a “special gust star,” with an opposite body image and fierce stage-like actress Jennifer Grace. To not wonder too much off topic, “Hell Town’s” cast comprises of actors and actresses whom run together in films before such as Matt Weight, Amanda Deibert, Pleasant Gehman, and Chris Pudio in Balderson’s 1014 film “Occupying Ed.” Toss in the recently discovered talents of Blake Cordell, Ben Windholz, and the super bitchy sassiness charm of Krysten Day and, by golly, you got yourself a horror comedy of self discovery.

Dikenga Films brings this independently funded 2015 indiegogo.com production to fruition that’s unique, purposefully corny, and unstable in all types of ways. With twists and turns and a sizable amount of gawky teenage anxiety, the direction of “Hell Town” will keep you guessing around every corner and make you feel good about your socially awkward teen years. I’m unable to review and critique the video and audio quality with a DVD-R screener, but I can say that the vibrant, natural coloring, from an only slightly noticeable trembling camera, greatly displays the triple episode drama saga and the audio’s crystal clarity shows no sign of distortion. In conclusion, “Hell Town” doesn’t quite feel like a series event, but dotes well as a three-act miniseries spawned out from raw flamboyant talent in front and behind the camera.

Strapped for Evil Movie Cash? Daily Movie: “Just Before Dawn” (1981)

Posted by Steven Lewis on March 30, 2016

Here’s a classic slasher for you!

Strapped for Evil Movie Cash? Daily Movie: “The Driller Killer” (1979)

Posted by Steven Lewis on March 26, 2016

Check out this Abel Ferrara directed and starring film!

Don’t Leave Evil On Hold! “Serial Kaller” review

Posted by Steven Lewis on March 1, 2016

Phone sex models broadcast their televised provocatively dressed bodies over the British airways while chatting with lonely customers. During their biggest broadcasting night, all the girls and crew become purposefully trapped in the sleazy studio, making the phone sex business a dead line. Disappearing one-by-one, each model falls viciously victim to a murderous psychopath who could by one of their most disturbed and perverted fans. With the power out and the studio on shambles, the survivors attempt to escape dead air by any means possible, even if that means coming face-to-face with their stalker.

The cast full of busty beautiful women enthralled to a murderer’s maniacal impulses sounds to be a bit of good horror movie fun untamed by the restrictive harnesses of big studio conventions. Director Dan Brownlie and his producing company Brand B Corporation develops “Serial Kaller” to be the limited budget archetype of the slasher films with an inkling into the very real world of broadcasting UK’s phone sex girls or better known as simply “babe shows.” Co-writer and star of “Serial Kaller” Dani Thompson once worked in the business, and appropriately proportionately so, that sparked the idea in her for a killer loose in the bare bones, deathtrap studio of a babe show. The diminutive budget project attached some B movie talent such as Suzi Lorraine and the iconic Debbie Rochon while rounding out the cast with top heavy talent in Jess Implazzi, Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, Suzy Deakin, and Zoe Morrell.

With all the dazzling, easy-on-the-eyes women in the cast and a sweetly promised premise coinciding, “Serial Kaller” squirms itself onto the independent slasher scene with barely a thrill to offer and a death to deem applaudable. “Serial Kaller” stands out as much as pig in the middle of a stable of horses with mediocre kills, colorless dialogue, and disjointed concept that resembles more like an unfinished thought than a complete work. Brownlie’s and Thompson’s film subtly whispers similarities to, or homages to, that of the England’s 19th century prostitute murderer Jack the Ripper, with the start of an undefinable and causeless figure stalking sinfully innocent sex workers that happen to be, coincidentally, English. Yet, somehow that hint of respect becomes lost in translation; with a title like “Serial Kaller,” one might be under the impression that phones with have a significant role in the story, such as in Bob Clark’s “Black Christmas.” In reality, the phones are just, well, phones, while the story takes a rogue route that’s far from the intentions of the title, losing the motivations and the inspirations of a modern day Jack the Killer.
The correlation between the model’s baleful setup and the murderer circling nearby doesn’t jive to build successful suspense and when the moment finally comes to fruition where a model is about to bite the inevitable dust, there’s no jolt of anxiety toward the situation. The kill effects, consisting of minuscule budget practical and CGI effects, fail to heighten the murderous affairs. Probably the best kill scene in “Serial Kaller” is the electrocution through one of the babe show tech’s genitals, zapping up into the girl that’s unenthusiastically grinding his crotch with her clothes on and exploding out her eye balls. Zany death, but still kind of cool, right?

My good friends at Wild Eye Releasing brought “Serial Kaller” onto DVD, presenting the feature in a director driven retrofitted 4:3 full screen aspect ratio to give homage to once praised VHS nasties. Despite the slight lean toward a grindhouse appeal in the aspect ratio, the picture quality is clean, naturally toned, and detailed. The audio goes without hiss and is well balanced. Extra content includes director’s commentary, behind the scenes featurette, and trailers. The overall, “Serial Kaller” is the epitome of big concept packaged small and can’t quite muster a snowball effect to wrangle in the much needed thrill rush to go along with the scantily-cladded women, but Brownlie’s film redeems a little with Debbie Rochon phenomenal joker-esque performance that, unfortunately, has very little screen time.