Tag: 2011

Bloody Bloody Bible Camp (2011)

It seems like comedy and horror seem to be melding together a lot in recent years. Typically I am not much of a fan of the 2 genres together, but recently a slew of comedy slashers have been peeking their ugly little faces out of the proverbial horror vagina. Not to mention they have been good if not great combinations of the 2 genres. Bloody Bloody Bible Camp (BBBC) is no exception. This fallen angel of a flick will have you rolling with laughter and cringing with disgust simultaneously…and its totally fucking worth it

BBBC is low budget horror flick by Vito Trabucco and Shelby McIntyre. Basically without spoiling anything, BBBC is about a Bible Camp in 1977 that is decimated after a crazed killer in a nun costume picks off the campers one by one. 7 years later (1984) another church decides to chance the tainted camp and take some new campers out for a weekend of worship and love. But someone is lurking in the woods waiting for the right moment to unleash terror on the camps bible thumping occupants.

bloody bloody bible campI really loved this movie, I laughed literally 75% of the movie. The comedy lines were well written by Vito and Shelby and the actors did a tremendous job of haming it up for the camera. If I had to describe the movie using other films it would be a combination of Friday the 13th and every 80’s sex comedy. The movie works, it does its thing and is highly entertaining, it does have its flaws but they are mostly minor and I’ll get to a few in a bit. I love that the movie is set in the 70’s and 80’s, you get a blast of lingo, style, and references that are sure to make any 70’s and 80’s horror/ film buff smile.

The film stars Reggie Banister of Phantasm fame, Ivet Corvea, Matthew Aidan, Jessica Sonneborn, Deborah Venegas, Christopher Raff and a few more. I think everyone did a great job in this film. Mattthew and Christopher were the stand outs for me, their little montage had me laughing hysterically. There is a surprise cameo from Mr. Long Dick himself, Ron Jeremy, that will leave you saying…what the fuck!?!

The special effects are great, there is a slew of awesome death scenes the will have may a gorehounds drooling at the mouth. You get some decaps, an axe to the vag, some nice stabbings, and a serious head crushing scene that you have to see to believe. The viewers also get a hefty does of skin and a sex scene in the beginning that will make you cry from laughing so hard.

As I said before this film is not without its faults. There are some editing mishaps, and the most tragic of the issues is the final 10 or so minutes. At a certain point the film goes from a happy meld of comedy-slash to completely over the top silliness that I could have done without. While it tries to redeem itself by finally laying out the killers story, (which had the view had been seeing glimpses of throughout the film) the overboard silliness really distracted from what could have been a great ending. However that still doesn’t completely take away from the overall success of the film.

BBBC is a hilariously bloody romp through cliches of the church and one hell of a fun ride. The film legitimately succeeds in the first 3 acts but falls a bit short on the 4th. Regardless the film is a much watch in the horror community. GLP gives this slasherriffic horror-comedy a 4 out of 5 stabs for overall story, look, and gore. You can check it out on Amazon, there are a few DVD’s available as well you can buy the digital copy there.

GLP Rating:

4 stabs

Cassadaga (2011)

The best part of finding a movie that is actually worth watching, is when comes in the form of something that you normally would not have given the time of day. With the film dabbling in such topics as murder, psychics, and self mutilation the film takes itself seriously and doesn’t let up until the final reel.

Directed by Anthony DiBlasi, Cassadaga is a film about a deaf woman who uproots her life after she experiences a devastating tragedy. Not long moving to a new town she realizes that something is not quite right when she starts experiencing unexplainable events. Written by Bruce Wood & Scott Poiley, Cassadaga’s strengths lies in its story. The tale is an intriguing one at that and guessing whos the killer is the best part. The film seems familiar at times but seems to come into its own as the film progresses.

Cassadaga Movie PosterCassadaga stars Kelen Coleman, Kevin Alejandro, and Academy Award Winner Louise Fletcher. The acting in the film is not bad, there are some parts that could be better. Overall the actors did a very good job with their respective rolesThe beautiful Kelen Coleman did a wonderful job as the deaf Lily, however I really wish the writers would have incorporated more barriers with Lily’s disability. The way the character was portrayed was like she wasn’t deaf at all. Kelen did a great job, and in the process showed off some pretty decent talent in the process. Kevin Alejandro (True Blood) did a decent job as Mike, although I feel his acting skill was best put to use in his time on True Blood. The other actors in the film did a good job with their respective roles and helped take the film to another level.

My favorite aspect of the film was that of the serial killer dubbed “Geppetto”. His story is twisted, dark and all around creepy which makes for good cinema. What makes Geppetto such a strong selling point for me is because i don’t recall seeing it before. As the amazing poster art implies Geppetto turns his victims into human marionette puppets! That alone would be creepy enough, but as it turns out, is a major selling point for the film.

When talking about the effects the film, the crew makes use of some decent film & sound editing techniques. As for special effects make-up the film boasts limb removal, self mutilation, some maggots, rotting corpses, and a pretty cool ghost makeup. Also for the subject matter in the film, its rather light on red stuff. Thats is ok because the film doesn’t need the gore shocks to get it point across. It mainly uses creepy imagery and atmosphere to get its point across. As for skin…forget about it…You get 1 or two scenes of the gorgeous Kelen running around in short nightgown, and on strategically placed camera angle during a love scene.

Cassadaga is a very good horror movie with ideas of its own. With solid cast, a great script, and a fine director the film stays true to itself and delivers of good original storytelling. A unique killer, with a pension for puppets brings the film to a whole new level of creepiness as well. GLP gives this indie gem a solid 4 out of 5 stabs for creative killer, script, and acting. If you are interested in getting the movie you can find the DVD here.

 

GLP Rating:

4 stabs

Frankenstein: Day of the Beast (2011)

When I think of the old universal monsters, I just smile. They take me back to a time where things were simple. As a kid the universal monsters were my first introduction to horror. Without even seeing a movie as a child I automatically knew who Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and The Creature were, I attribute the toy line “Monsters in my pocket” for this.

frankenstein day of the beastRegardless of how I feel about the classic universal monsters, times have most certainly changed in the case of horror. Torture Porn, Found Footage, and Remake films seem to be polluting the horror landscape these days. As a fan of local films, the early horror movie monsters and creature films this film interested me.

Frankenstein: Day of the Beast was actually very fun. I am by no means saying it was perfect, because it wasn’t, but I enjoyed watching the film. While watching this I kept thinking how much the style, and score reminded me of classic Hammer films and drive-in monster movies. The acting by supporting characters was at time hokey, and most of the digital effects were very obvious, but I felt it really added to the fun of the feature.

Michelle Shields and Adam Stephenson carry this efforts characters like the weight of the world. Miss. Shields plays Elizabeth the soon to be wife of Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Adam Stephenson). While she seems in the dark about why her soon to be husband has taken her to a desolate island to be wed she reluctantly complies. Soon they realize that they are being hunted by a gigantic creature that is picking off the group one by one.

Adam and Michelle were the best part of this feature. I felt they both did an amazing job with the characters emotions and development as the story progressed. My problem is more with the supporting actors performances. I felt most scenes were forced and unnatural. The story was ok, I felt there were some unnecessary scenes used, but that is usually the case with smaller feature length efforts. Generally those scenes are used to extend the running time, however at 1 hour and 30 minuets I feel some of the scenes could have been shortened to add fluidity to the movie.

The film really nailed the setting, while some of the rooms in the church were custom built it really felt like you were in the church from the ceremony. The island is a great setting for the film as well. The heavily wooded areas around the grounds were a great touch. The gore special effects were very well done as well. Some great shots of ripped off skin and entrails really set the pace for kills.

I really enjoyed the film. I think the supporting actors could have done better, but I think it added to that drive-in movie feel. GLP gives this independent effort 3 out of 5 stabs for retro feel, movie monster throwback, and strong lead performances. If you would like to know more about this film check out the official website and Facebook page. View the trailer below.

GLP Rating:

3 stabs

Paranormal Incident (2011)

Where do I start, Paranormal Incident is for all intensive purposes…not good. This film is just another casualty of the most recent found footage craze that Paranormal Activity revamped and capitalized on. I really tried to like this movie, I went into it with an open mind and all I got in return was boredom and regret for even watching it.

Long convoluted story short, Paranormal Incident is about 5 college student that travel to an “abandoned” sanitarium to investigate and prove the existence of the paranormal for their parapsychology final. The film starts with a young man in a hospital bed,  he is then interrogated for the death of his friends. While interrogated he is then shown the footage from the Paranormal Incidentinvestigation. The film periodically jumps back and forth from the found footage to the man being interrogated.

The acting is very forced and stiff, I didn’t believe that these kids were scared & I didn’t even believe they were college students. With that being such a distracting aspect, the character development suffered greatly. In my opinion in order to enjoy a film in any genre, you have to connect with at least one character in the film or have some emotion toward them…this film did not do any of that. All I could think about while watching this movie was “When are these people going to die!” I felt like I was watching a daytime soap opera rather than a horror movie.

Beyond the characters the “scares”, if you even want to call them that, are not scary or creative. The makers of this film pretty much telegraphed every scare so you could see them a mile away. The best part about found footage films are the scares, and the fact that most of them come literally out of nowhere and this film did none of that.

Collectively this film is garbage. I would not even wish this film on my worst enemy. The whole film just stinks of raw sewage and overacting. The “abandonded”  sanitarium wasn’t even abandoned. It was supposed to be vacant for 30 some years and some areas looked brand new! I cant even write about this film anymore as I feel like I’m wasting more of my life away. The only good thing about this film was the cuts of the dude cheating on his girlfriend with some random chick with amazing breasts. For that alone GLP gives this film 1 out of 5 stabs. Terrible acting, Slow moving plot, weak scares, and bad shooting locations were the death of this film from the start.

If for some reason you still want to see this atrocity you can purchase it here. View the trailer below.

 

GLP Rating:

GLP 1 Stab