DVD Review: HONEYSPIDER (2014)

HONEYSPIDER
Directed by Josh Hasty
Distributed by Brain Damage Films

  This is one of those films that can really grab your attention just from the DVD cover art.  I mean, look at that cover...looks pretty cool doesn't it?  I even love the font they used for the title.  But, does HONEYSPIDER the film live up to the snazzy cover art?  Well, before I give you my opinion, lets check out the plot synopsis from the Brain Damage Films website:

  It’s Halloween in 1989 and college student Jackie Blue wants to enjoy a quiet birthday in the midst of a chaotic semester. Her friend Amber persuades Jackie to come to the annual Monster Mash party on campus after her shift at the local movie theater. As murder plays out on the silver screen during the theater’s Horrorthon, Jackie begins to fall under a strange spell, all while a mysterious stranger watches her every move. As the night unfolds, Jackie slowly unravels. Everyone around her is turning up dead. Jackie finds herself helplessly trapped as the night comes to a shocking and gruesome end.

 From the looks of the cover, I was expecting this to be more of a "creature-feature" type film.  It turns out, spiders play a very small role in the film, and it actually a mixture of a slasher and occult film.  That might sound like a weird combination, but it actually fits together pretty well.  Now keep in mind this was a pretty low budget film.  For being such a low budget film, I think the filmmakers did a remarkable job with all aspects of the film.  There were some great sets and costumes, as well as a few pretty good gore effects (using all practical effects) that looked really good.   

  The plot of the film sounds simple enough, but I have to be honest about this...I had a hard time following what was going on.  The movie was kind of all over the place, and just when I thought I knew what was going on, something else happened that confused me.   Maybe I'm just easily confused, though!  Ha!  Either way, this did not keep me from enjoying the film overall.   There are a few dream/hallucination sequences that were very creepy and atmospheric, almost giving this film a sort of art-house feel to it.  Also worth noting is the acting.  I thought everyone involved did a great job, which is something you don't see a lot of the time with these low budget independent films. I especially liked newcomer Mariah Brown, who plays the main character of Jackie.  Her gorgeous smile and dimples were very nice to look at, and she did a remarkable job with some of the hard scenes she had to act in.

  Overall, HONEYSPIDER was a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend this one. The DVD is available now from Brain Damage Films and contains the following special features:

*  Director Commentary
*  Producer Commentary
*  "The Ghost in You" Music video
*  Menu with Poster Art
*  Trailer


CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD

DVD Review: CRAZY MURDER (2014)

CRAZY MURDER
Directed by Doug Gerber and Caleb Pennypacker
Distributed by Brain Damage Films

  Wow...so I'm not really sure what to say about this one.  This is one of those films that must be seen to be believed.  There is really not much of a plot to speak of, but here is the basic synopsis from the film's press release:

  A homeless man (Kevin Kenny) begins a killing spree on the streets of New York City. Completely deranged and barely aware of his own identity, he makes little attempt at concealing his actions. But in a city with 50,000 homeless citizens our killer finds himself effortlessly camouflaged. 

  Steel yourself for a non-stop onslaught of violence and disgusting imagery.  Blending horror, drama, and black comedy, Crazy Murder is a disaster film at its core -- featuring a tornado of death, a tsunami of blood, and a volcano of feces.

  Again, I'm not really sure what to say here.  This movie is just plain nasty.  Vile is a good word for it.  Some might like that, I'm not really into that for the most part, though.  I will say this, the gore in this film is excellent, including some stabbings that look so real they made me cringe.  The movie basically just follows this mentally disturbed man around as he does gross stuff and kills people.  That's it.  That is all there is, really, in terms of a plot.  Actor Kevin Kenny gives a remarkable performance as the crazy guy/killer.  If you didn't know better, I would have actually thought they just followed a crazy guy around and filmed him, his performance was that believable.  So kudos to Mr. Kenny on such a great performance.

  Like I said, If you are into gross out movies such as the Vomit Gore Trilogy and the August Underground films, you will definitely want to check out this film.   Other more classic/mainstream horror movie fans might need to be cautious going into this one.   I personally think there is something in this film that any horror fan will like, but there are other parts that could be quite a turn off.  Check it out for yourself and see what you think. 

  If you have seen CRAZY MURDER, leave a comment and let me know what you thought.  The DVD is available now from Brain Damage Films.


CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD

DVD Review: DEAD ON APPRAISAL

DEAD ON APPRAISAL
Directed by Sean Canfield, Scott Dawson and David Sherbrook
Distributed by  Brain Damage Films

  I have seen some crazy films in my life, but this one is up there in terms of crazy!   Here is the basic plot synopsis from the Brain Damage Films website:

  In this bizarre anthology, Infested Films tells the story of real estate agent John Dante, who can't sell his house. By reliving the house's sordid past, John discovers that there may be more lurking beneath the surface of this seemingly cursed abode.

  This anthology is made up of three tales:  THE MORNING AFTER, FATHER LAND, and FREDDIE AND THE GOBLINS.  I found the first tale and third to be a lot of fun.  The middle tale, FATHER LAND, was way too slow for me.  In fact, I found myself actually fast forwarding through that one....something I rarely do.   But as the saying goes, two out of three 'aint bad!

  DEAD ON APPRAISAL is extremely low budget and it shows, but what the filmmakers are able to do with their budget is pretty amazing when it comes to the effects and gore in this film.  The gore really is the star of the show here, with tons of blood and crazy effects, most of which are all practical effects.  Very little CG is used that I can tell, except for the scene where someone gets shot and you can see right through him through the hole in his abdomen.  That was a very cool scene, though, so we can let the CG slide for that one  (you can probably tell I am not a fan of the CG effects in horror films). 
 
  I couldn't do a review of this film without mentioning the puppets from the final story.  Yes, I said puppets.  Seems silly, but I can't help but like a movie with puppets, especially when they are as nasty and crude as these puppets are!  

  While not a masterpiece by any means, DEAD ON APPRAISAL is a fun film and definitely worth you checking out.   If you've seen it already, leave a comment and let me know what you thought!

  DEAD ON APPRAISAL is available now on DVD and contains the following special features:

*  Behind the scenes featurettes
*  Original Trailers


CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD

DVD Review: SLAUGHTER DAUGHTER

SLAUGHTER DAUGHTER
Directed by Travis Campbell
Distributed by Brain Damage Films

  I haven't seen many films from Brain Damage Films, so I wasn't sure what to expect from SLAUGHTER DAUGTHER, but what I got was very well made, entertaining slasher / drama film with some excellent gore!  Here is the  basic plot of the film from the Brain Damage Films website:

After being left at the altar, Farrah has a mental break. Now she spends her time flipping through the 24 hour news cycle, and fueling her obsession with serial killer Jackson Miles. When her mother announces her upcoming wedding, Farrah seeks help from her jailed love to plot out the perfect murder

  This was a very well made film with some great acting from lead Nicola Fiore, who plays the part of Farrah. She is a beautiful actress, but can play the part of a sadistic killer perfectly.   It's hard to describe what sub-genre off a horror movie this fits into.  It is part crime film, part slasher flick, part revenge film...all rolled into one.  Gore hounds will love the large amount of blood in this film.  There are some great gore scenes including a stabbing scene that is brutally realistic.

  SLAUGHTER DAUGHTER is available now on DVD from Brain Damage Films and the DVD includes the following Special Features:

*  Original Webisodes
*  Promo Video
*  Blooper Reel
*  Deleted Scenes


CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD

DVD Review: NIGHTMARE ALLEY (2010)

NIGHTMARE ALLEY is a film that was written, produced, and directed by Walter Ruether and Laurence Holloway and is being distributed by Brain Damage Films. Here is the basic plot from the Brain Damage Films website:

Turn down the lights, grab your popcorn and join your host, the master of the macabre Scarlet Fry, for a hellishly wicked fright-fest guaranteed to freeze your blood! Vengeful ghosts, walking dead cowboys, and other ghastly beings abound in seven tales of shock and terror from beyond the grave. Equally horrific and humorous, "Nightmare Alley" is an over-the-top exercise in shock. Presented completely uncut and uncensored, it will scare the living yell out of you!

I didn't know what to expect when I put this DVD in...the box art and screen shots on the back of the DVD case let me know that this was going to be a very low budget horror film. Sometimes that can be a good thing, but more often than not you end up with a horror film that falls flat. Luckily with NIGHTMARE ALLEY, we get a low budget horror film that is just as entertaining if not more so than many other bigger budget features.

The film is a compilation of 7 different short films, with an introduction between each one by Scarlet Fry, a creepy creature with a horror-ible sense of humor! This is very reminiscent of a film such as CREEPSHOW or a show like TALES FROM THE CRYPT. Scarlet Fry talks about each film you just watched and then talks a little about the next story, often with puns so bad, you can't help but laugh. I love these types of films. Mainly because you get a variety of stories instead of just one story like most films. With 7 different short stories, there is bound to be something here that everyone will enjoy!!!

The seven stories include some great ones, like "A Fistful of Innards", a western with Zombies! Finally a western worth watching! This story contained some great gore effects, all done with practical effects and no CG!! Thank goodness! Another great story was "Slash of the Blade", a slasher film where the slasher commits his murders in broad daylight in the middle of seemingly public areas...a nice twist on the normal slasher flick design, although a somewhat unbelievable twist. Still the story was good and the slasher himself was cool, looking like a weird, chubbier version of Jack the Ripper.

Other stories were good, but lacked something in one way or another. "Meat" was the story of a girl who chops up her boyfriend and feeds it to her neighbor. "The Great Damone" tells the story of a painter who uses the blood from his girlfriend he kills to create a masterpiece (a la Herschel l Gordon Lewis' COLOR ME BLOOD RED). "Rebellion" tells the story of a Devil possessed toy rat that can control whoever possesses the rat. "Death Chat" is a story that will make you think twice about cheating on your spouse. When a woman comes home and catches her boyfriend cheating on her, tempers flare and it ends with a great ax to the face gore effect. All of these stories had enough going for them to keep me entertained, but lacked something from being considered really great, mainly lack of plot or point, or in the case of "Death Chat" some really bad acting. I do have to say, though, for a low budget feature like this, the acting was surprisingly good overall.

Now, with the good comes the bad, and in this film....it is really bad. "Closet Case" tells the story of a punk rock guy waiting on a bench at a bus stop when an overly stereotypical homosexual guy comes up and starts hitting on him. The rocker gets tired of it and eventually takes the gay guy into an alley and stabs him. He finds a gay men's magazine on the guy he just killed, and takes it behind a dumpster and starts to....ahem..read it. That is it. That is the story. What made up for it was when it was over and cut to our host, Scarlet Fry. Instead of having something to say about the story, he just kinda looked at the camera, smirked and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "I'm not sure what that was all about". He then immediately started his introduction to the next film. This was a very funny move and more or less made the entire story feel like a set up just for that piece of humor. If that was the case, then it worked I guess!!

Overall this was an enjoyable film, if you enjoy low budget horror films. As an aspiring filmmaker, I love these kinds of films, as they contain a lot of cheap effects you can learn from. While not a classic Horror film by any means, it was fun and entertaining, which is what a cheap horror film should be.

DVD special features include Trailers of other Brain Damage Films titles, an Art Gallery, and Writer& Director chat.

CLICK HERE to watch the trailer

CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD