Blu-ray Review: RED FLAG DOWN (1992)

RED FLAG DOWN

Directed by:  Christopher P. Smith

Distributed by:  Bloodsick Productions / MVD Entertainment

 Up for review today is another film I have never seen, nor even heard of before.   I assume this will be the case with most people as it seems to be a very obscure film.  It's so obscure that I can't even find a listing for it on IMDb.com!   The film is called RED FLAG DOWN.  It's a SOV film from 1992, and looks like a film that my friends and I made on our camcorder back in the 7th grade.  Although I will say this film has a much better story than our Jr. High action films!

Here is the basic plot of the film from the MVD website:

 

  From the makers of such cult classics as THE GIRL FROM S.I.N. and A NIGHT TO DISMEMBER comes an action-packed, bullet-ridden hell ride that rips down the walls between fantasy and reality! When the eccentric owners of a state-of-the-art paintball park invite a young city reporter to preview their genius, things get out of hand when one team realizes they've been tricked into using real bullets, and killing their opponents. Those who were forced to kill their own friends confront the crazed owners only to find they're trapped in the game - and the only way out is through the barrel of a gun! Revenge runs wild in a bloody kill-or-be-killed exchange of death where the final twist is the most shocking plot yet! A shot-on-video super rarity from 1992, RED FLAG DOWN is a wacky, violent, and raw regional action comedy bursting with blood-dripping squibs, quirky characters, and an army of bullet-ridden dead bodies. This hard-to-find SOV shoot-em-up is on target to delight every fan of backyard no-budget movie magic. Blood Sick Productions is proud to present this film in collaboration with Lunchmeat for the first ever disc release of this 1992 SOV classic!

  First off, let me start by saying this is a pretty quick watch.  The Blu-ray cover lists it at 1hr and 2 minutes, but my BD player marked it at 52 minutes.   I mention that because there are some really slow scenes here....which is funny to me considering how short the run time is.   There is a lot of "filler" of the actors just running through the woods looking for their targets.   I felt like the filmmakers had a good idea, but not good enough for a feature length film.  I think this would have worked much better as a 20-30 minute short film. 

  The movie is basically just scenes of people getting shot in slow motion with blood squibs going off.  I think the entire budget was spent on blood squibs, so they really wanted to use them all and show them off!   Unfortunately, this got really repetitive after a while. 

  One positive thing I have to point out was the nice plot twist at the end.  I thought the fact they were tricked into using real guns/bullets was the twist, but the filmmakers had one more twist for the audience that I did not see coming.

 Overall, this is a very underwhelming film.  I have to wonder how some of these films get such nice Blu-ray releases.   If you are a fan of the 90's SOV movies, you'll probably want to check this out, but for most people this one would be a bit of a let down, unfortunately. 

 RED FLAG DOWN is available now on Blu-ray and contains the following Special Features:

• *  Welcome To Florida Asshole!!! - A short film by James Hollenbaugh featuring Christopher Smith
• *  Liner Notes by James Hollenbaugh
• *  Commentary Track by Josh Schafer from Lunchmeat and Brewce Longo & Kasper Meltedhair from Blood Sick Productions

CLICK HERE to purchase the Blu-ray