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SOV Week

SOV Week: Video Violence 1-2 (1987-1988)

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An early SOV series that bridges the cinematic gap between Snuff and Hostel. Gary Cohen, a video store owner back during the Mom & Pop glory days, noticed the glut of terrible horror movies flooding shelves on a weekly basis and decided to make his own cheap fright flick. So Cohen rounded up friends, actors from the local community theater, and folks walking down the street (literally) for a cast. Armed with an old camera and a script co-written by Paul Kaye, Cohen set out to make a film that would stand out from the average stalk-and-slash cheapie.

The Emory’s (Art and Jackie Neill) own a video store and discover living in a small town can be dangerous when they find a snuff tape in the drop box. The tape shows Howard (Bart Sumner) and Eli (Uke) chopping up and old mailman with a machete. Steve Emory rushes the tape to the police only to have the evidence erased by a bumbling sheriff (William Toddie). It soon becomes clear that Howard and Eli aren’t the only townsfolk butchering outsiders when a deli adds “hand” sandwiches to the menu. When more snuff videos are dropped off at the store Steve and Rachel decide to investigate the authenticity of the tapes.

If Retro Slashers had a rating system then Video Violence would get a double D for decapitation and dismemberment. A slow torture scene involving a woman chained up in Eli’s basement is particularly brutal. Sometimes cheesy gore and bad acting can doom a film but Video Violence actually benefits from having an overabundance of both. If the kills and actors were realistic, then Video Violence would be too intense for viewing. Fortunately, the overacting helps to take off the film’s nasty edge. Honestly, the calmest thing about William Toddie’s performance is the dead raccoon he uses for a hair piece.

With Video Violence 2, Eli and Howard (Uke and Sumner back for more fun) have graduated from underground snuff tapes to talk show hosts on a pirated tv station. Those loveable cut-ups dazzle their audience with bad jokes while stripping and torturing a young actress (Elizabeth Lee Miller). Commercials shown during the “Howard and Eli” show feature the old sheriff (Toddie again) promoting homemade electric chairs, a Christmas toy that eats children, and handy gadgets that can be purchased at Deli Dick’s. The viewer is also treated to scenes of three women seducing and killing a pizza boy and a return trip to the video store for a segment I like to call “Fun with plastic wrap.” A few surprises await the viewer after the credits for “The Howard and Eli Show” roll.

On a technical level, Video Violence 2 is a better film. Gary Cohen made this film with better equipment and gives the unique story a much needed sense of humor. A couple of segments could have used more editing as the “Death of a pizza boy” and “Greatest Hits” sections drag on forever for what are essentially one joke wonders. William Toddie’s commercial provides a gory good time as he electrocutes a hippie until the poor guy’s eyes pop out and his head explodes. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice a major flub when one of Deli Dick’s all purpose choppers breaks during a demonstration.

What really makes the the Video Violence series special is Gary Cohen captures the spirit of the Mom & Pop video stores during their last golden age. Hit the slow-mo button during the scenes set in the video store and marvel at the slasher and horror titles lurking on the shelves. Gaze in awe at the poster covered walls and cover art on the old vhs boxes. Art Neill gives a speech during the first Video Violence in which he proclaims his distrust of anyone who rents nothing but horror films and bemoans the fact that horror films are always the biggest renters. I heard the same speech from numerous video store owners during my youth. There’s plenty of blood, boobs, and bad acting in both films if that’s what you’re looking for in low budget slashers. But there’s also a heavy dose of nostalgia for those of us who miss the magic of those weekend trips to the local Mom & Pop just to grab the latest slasher.

SOV Week: The Ripper (1986)

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Prof. Richard Harwell (Tom Scheier) discovers Jack the Ripper’s ring in a Tulsa, Oklahoma antique shop. Wearing the ring unleashes Jack from limbo and allows him to increase his bloody body count. Only horror geek Steve (Wade Tower) and skeletal dance instructor Carol (Mona Van Pernis) can stop the two-hundred-year-old killer from completing his mission. But can they save Prof. Harwell’s soul before Jack the Ripper (Tom Savini… for the final three minutes anyway) takes over forever?

The Ripper is a Shot on Video gore fest that lies to its audience. The artwork and credits proudly proclaim “Tom Savini is The Ripper”, yet he only appears at the very end. The stuntman/stand-in featured for almost all of the film looks more like Long John Holmes than Tom Savini. When he finally appears as the Ripper, Savini spouts about five lines of dialogue and has a slow-motion fight. The End.

Director Christopher Lewis pads the running time with lots of talking and bad dance class routines. Writer Bill Groves’ characters’ stand around talking about Vincent Price, Alfred Hitchcock, and of course Jack the Ripper. We even get to watch parts of Blood Cult with the two main characters, now that’s padding. It’s easy to guess the company that helped fund this slasher when the camera zooms in on every Coke can that makes it on screen.

Gore hounds will love seeing slit throats gush blood and Jack playing with entrails, but be patient. The red doesn’t really start flowing until thirty minutes into the film. Sadly, Savini wasn’t involved with the creation of the effects. On the acting front, Andrea Adams gives the best performance as Cindy, girlfriend to the horror geek. Most of the cast lacks chemistry but Adams is fun to watch. Mona Van Pernis is on the other end of the spectrum. Seeing her gaunt, emaciated figure on screen is a distraction. When Pernis pulls those thin lips over those bone white teeth it reminds me of Mr. Sardonicus.

The Ripper, on the surface, should be a slasher fan’s dream; Tom Savini as the world’s most famous serial killer. Something got lost in the mix, mainly suspense, action, and the participation of Savini. Bad movie fans will find enough quirky moments (badly dubbed love scenes, motor scooters exploding into massive fireballs, ill-fitted latex flapping around in the breeze) to warrant a look. Gore hounds are the ones who will really enjoy the stomach ripping and throat slashing. During a time when the MPAA was chopping up every slasher released in theaters, The Ripper slipped uncut onto video store shelves across America.

SOV Week: Sledgehammer (1983) DVD Review

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In 1983 David A. Prior wrote and directed Sledgehammer. After languishing for a year, it found a distributor but slasher fans had a hard time finding copies at local mom & pop video stores. Fortunately, Sledgehammer has been saved from obscurity with a new DVD release from Intervision Picture Corp and Severin Films.

The movie opens with a mom locking her son in a closet so she can spend quality time with her lover. Just when things get hot and heavy between the two lovers an unseen killer bashes them with, you guessed it, a sledgehammer. Ten years later, a group of friends go to the same house to enjoy a weekend of food fights and madcap debauchery. When Ted (Killer Workout) Prior tells a ghost story, the spirit of the little boy is released from the closet. Now, the little boy’s ghost is a freaking giant in a scary mask. One by one, the friends are slashed, smashed, and trashed by the vengeful spirit.

The gore in Sledgehammer is low rent but effective so gore lovers will have something to wet their appetites. The acting is sometimes over the top but this is because the party scenes are real. Those cans of beer and bottles of Old Grand Dad aren’t props, they’re liquid motivation for some of the cast. What really hinders Sledgehammer, though, is the gratuitous use of slow motion to pad the film’s running time. We get slow motion scenes involving couples walking across a field, someone tumbling over bags, and the final girl trying to plug something into a wall socket. Despite the film’s flaws, there are some good chills to be had. The killer is a menacing looking individual and some of his scenes are genuinely creepy. David A. Prior gives the supernatural elements a punch with neat camera tricks that are pretty amazing for a first time director trying to learn his craft. Sledgehammer is rough around the edges but it contains enough laughs and chills to make it the overall viewing experience worthwhile.

Even if you were one of the lucky few to find it on VHS, there are plenty of entertaining extras on the DVD to warrant an upgrade. A commentary track with Bleeding Skull‘s Joseph A. Ziemba and Dan Budnik offers up theories about the killer’s identity and back story. The riffs on “Oates” and “Mr. 65”, their names for two of the characters, are pretty hilarious and their theories fill in some of the plot holes that plague the film. Sometimes Ziemba and Budnik drift off on tangents that have nothing to do with the film or anyone connected to it but it doesn’t detract from the entertainment value of the commentary. It’s obvious these guys love the film and have probably watched it one too many times.

Moderator Clint Kelley and writer/director David A. Prior are featured on the main commentary track. Kelley asks a lot of good questions, unfortunately, Prior can’t remember all the details about the making of Sledgehammer. Prior’s memory improves as the commentary progresses. He provides behind the scene anecdotes on the hazards of shooting food fights and gore scenes in your own apartment, tricks used to make the apartment look like a much larger building, and the educational value of writing and directing your first film. As for the killer’s origin, Prior explains he was inspired by “the Jason movies” and left out details about the killer’s supernatural powers on purpose. Kelley, a Sledgehammer super fan, offers his own theories about the film. The track ends with the two men discussing a possible Sledgehammer 2 in the near future.

Some of the stories mentioned on Prior’s commentary are repeated in his interview. During the interview it becomes clear the director is amazed his first film has a loyal following among horror and slasher fans. The biggest surprise in the interview is the film’s budget was probably less than $10,000. The SledgehammerLand featurette with Hadrian Belove and Tom Fitzgerald offers proof that some slashers are better watched under the influence. Belove and Fitzgerald, programmers for Cinefamily, describe what happened when they gave Sledgehammer its first theatrical showing a few years ago. Destroy All Movies!!! author Zack Carlson offers up his Sledgehammer theories during the Hammertime featurette. Horror fans will have a hard time focusing on Carlson’s words because he’s sitting in front of a wall of VHS tapes. On the third viewing I stopped reading the titles behind Carlson and concentrated on his thoughts about the movie.

Thanks to the efforts of Intervision and Severin Films slasher fans can finally see Sledgehammer, the first shot-on-video slasher, on DVD. The extras compliment the film and the commentary tracks add hours of replay value to the movie. It would be great to see every obscure slasher get this type of DVD treatment.

Sledgehammer is now available through Amazon and other DVD retailers.

In full disclosure, the back of the DVD box features a quote from Retro Slashers’ video review.

SOV Week: I’ll Spit On Your Grave Too (1995)

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By Richard Mogg for Retro Slashers
Was that a severed penis hanging from the woodchipper?!? I suppose I could have saved that line for the end of this review but I, like the filmmakers of this uber-cheap video production, tend to throw the money-shots up head first. Make no mistake, I’ll Kill You, I’ll Bury You, I’ll Spit On Your Grave Too is in no way a sequel to the 1978 rape/revenge classic I Spit On Your Grave. That film, while brutal, was arguably a beautiful piece of hardcore horror that took its time with its tension and then took even more time inflicting its pain. Understandingly, many even view 78’s I Spit as one of the greatest female empowerment films of the 20th century due to its strong take on vigilante revenge, enacted out by the main female character… I guarantee no one will say the same here.

Opening in a desaturated black and white, I’ll Kill You, I’ll Bury You introduces us to a horny couple in the back bed of a camper. It’s a typical scene for all us Shot-On-Video (SOV) lovers – she loves his beard, he loves her rock hard implants. A sound from outside sends our stud out to investigate, leaving his woman to be attacked with the chainsaw that comes buzzing through the camper walls. Her fingers are severed, which gush loads of blood all over her naked chest before she fades to black – cue credits! (This film had me at hello). In what amounts to the closest connection to that 1978 film which so inspired this slasher’s title, I’ll Kill You, I’ll Bury You really doesn’t begin until a van pulls into an isolated gas station and a few of the girls get out to stretch their legs. This of course, was the initial moment that introduced the main girl to her four soon-to-be rapists in I Spit… only here we take things one step further. The sluttiest of the girls (a title they all compete for) allows one of the gas attendants to follow her into the bathroom where they quickly get it on. Bumpin’ and grindin’ against a filthy bathroom wall with a Grease-Monkey might not turn every woman on, but this girl’s a slut so all is forgiven. The basic plot is that this group of 20-somethings are traveling to a cabin deep in the woods where they plan to do some nature studies. Of course it’s all just an excuse for sex and parties, and even the occasional nude photo-shoot from the resident photographer along for the ride. Basically, I’ll Kill You, I’ll Bury You has all the ingredients to make it the ultimate SOV slasher surprise. Taro cards! Booze! Mustache overhang!… So where does it all go wrong?

The title alone, while a joke, doesn’t do anything for the film. People that loved I Spit On Your Grave don’t want to see this because it’s too cheap, and people who hated I Spit don’t want to see this because they believe it to be closely related in terms of sexual violence. (The poster art also reinforced these notions). So, unfortunate as it is, I’ll Kill You, I’ll Bury You has yet to find a solid audience. Sure it was filmed in 1995 and (finally) released on DVD in 2000, but everything in the film screams mid-80’s. From the low-quality Hi-8mm camcorder, to the frizzy hairdos, to the abusive sheriff, to the neon clothes – it’s hard to believe this wasn’t made back in the glory days of SOV horror entries. It does contain a large amount of nudity (implanted and otherwise) and there’s even a healthy amount of gore. Unfortunately, there is also a strong current of sexual violence implied within the film… which does serve to separate it from other innocuous slashers. Women do get tied to beds, stripped, and have switchblades run over their bodies. No one is actually seen getting raped, but our main killer sure tries his best later in the last act. Overall, the film is a great SOV slash n’stash, and our killer dies in a sturdy slasher-true manner by having him fall into a running woodchipper. Which brings up a buzzling question – why try to connect this to another film? If anything, Friday The 13th would make for a closer comparison, only replace Jason with a greasy, booze-guzzling hobo who fakes paralysis from time to time.

So the real questions are, do you enjoy the cheesy wholesomeness of SOV nastiness? Do you like your screen victims running around topless? And above all, do you like a healthy emphasis on boobs, blood and gore? If so, then this is the flick for you! Take a stab and heed the warnings of the power-obsessed sheriff running loose in the woods… all men get their just desserts!

SOV Week: Blood Cult (1985)

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By Richard Mogg for Retro Slashers
Ahh… the glory days of Shot-On-Video (S.O.V.) horror. With six times the bad acting and ten times the charm, these camcorder classics were the ultimate fad during the up and coming years of the VHS. Think a couple hundred bucks isn’t enough to make a movie? Jon McBride proved otherwise. Don’t have any actors to be in your film? Convince your friends to do it. The point is, with the homegrown wackiness of S.O.V. films, most rules need not apply. As long as you pour on the red stuff and keep the action (reasonably) in frame, you’re on your way. So with all this nostalgia starting to seep back in, let’s rewind those clunky cassettes and give that old VCR another cleaning as we look back on one of the all-time greats.

Tulsa, Oklahoma. A young sorority sister bathes in the shower, caressing her soapy body behind a transparent plastic shower-curtain. She finishes and towels off, unaware of the intruder who’s quietly slipped into the house and is making his way upstairs. The intruder bursts into the bathroom, surprising the towel-wrapped girl and a struggle ensues. The intruder flashes a large meat cleaver and chops repeatedly at the defenseless, nubile Tulsanian. Finally as the screams fade, the sorority sister is dead and the killer has disappeared into the night with the girl’s severed arm. And so opens Blood Cult, the self-billed “first movie made for the home video market!” (The accuracy of this claim is ultimately debatable, as many people believe John Wintergate’s Boarding House to be the first real S.O.V. film, though that 1982 film DID actually play in theaters). The rest of the film then saddles up with the local Sheriff (and his librarian daughter!) as he investigates the ensuing murders, which lead him to a cult of hooded demon worshipers who want to reassemble the stolen body parts into a new vessel for their god.

So with a story like this and a killer who not only uses a meat cleaver, but also takes the newly-hacked off body parts with him after killing, one would expect this S.O.V. outing to include outrageous gallons of blood. Unfortunately though, save for the opening bathroom murder, Blood Cult is relatively bloodless. It’s really a bit of a head scratcher too, since the film openly advertises itself as a bloody slasher, a S.O.V. slasher no less, where there are no limits imposed by video censors. But perhaps the answer lies within as Blood Cult is certainly one of the more professional S.O.V. titles around. In contrast to some of the more amateur S.O.V. flicks like Cannibal Campout (1988), where it seems that the less money a production has, the more it excesses in gross-out gore, Blood Cult has the slick feeling of a full crew, the occasional trained actor, and some relatively sophisticated make-up effects. Here, we can tell that the cameraman utilized a tri-pod for the camera from the stable, smooth zooms and camera pans (which is far more advanced that most S.O.V. cheapies). Plus, while its focus is still on the average horror viewer, Blood Cult seems to strive itself into becoming more of a cheesy police investigation drama. But while these delusions of trashy new heights mostly fail to deliver, the results are often times hilarious and come off with a strong sense of corny fun.

Where the gory make-up does get to shine through though, is the opening murder. Not only do we get repeated shots of the meat cleaver swinging down and coming back up with blood splattering glee, but the sorority girl gets a few good bloody hacks into her while the bathtub gets literally hosed in red blood-sprays. And just when you think the bloodlust has ended, the girl’s gory, newly-severed arm comes falling straight into frame with a crashing thud! And the best part of all? The gruesomely severed, hacked, bright-red stump falls directly in the forefront of the frame. This, ladies and gentlemen, is true S.O.V. classiness! The rest of the film, while not as gruesome, still manages to keep us gorehounds interested by trying to reach our funny-bones, but settling for jabs at the ribs. First off, no one seems to want to get their heavily hairsprayed, poodle-curled hairdos wet… especially the opening girl in the shower (who obviously strives to keep her golden locks high above the shower head). The acting, while never tipping the scales into full believability mode, comes off more like a crazy aunt dressed up in a secondhand costume to appease their overly excited, filmmaker nephew. In other words, it’s often times exaggerated, but that’s half of the fun with S.O.V. titles. But the crème de la resistance comes in the form of the Sheriff’s librarian daughter. Dressed in the most dated, most outrageous, most hideous (not to mention, most inappropriate for working in a library!) red dress this reviewer has ever had the pleasure of viewing, it truly has to be seen to be believed. Couple all of this with the deep, swaggering, native Tulsa accents and we’ve got a recipe for legendary S.O.V. status here.

So is Blood Cult truly the first movie made for the home video market? Maybe not. But it’s still a homegrown blast in the illusive S.O.V. subgenre (which is currently making a resurgence with the advent of DVD – Hooray!). There are far gorier, far more outrageous, and (dare I say) far better S.O.V. flicks out there than this one, but in terms of notoriety, Blood Cult takes the cake and serves it up with a meat cleaver frenzy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM6RjB4pnFU

SOV Week: Phantom Brother (1988)

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By Richard Mogg for Retro Slashers
Oreo cookie delights! Three times I’ve come across this forgotten SOV (Shot On Video) sleeper and three times the tape’s video-box has been covered in mold. The dusty, fuzzy kind. The kind of funk that leaves your hands smelling like garden soil after you slide the cassette into that much-abused, rectangular opening in the front of your VCR. You’d think that after finding the same film from multiple different locations, all covered in the taint of mildew and decades of shelf life, I’d perhaps take this omen as a sign to beware… but I journey on the dangerous side of life. For I am on a mission; a hunt to track down every last SOV horror title I can get my cracked, filthy hands on and enjoy the ba-jeepers out of ‘em. So fill up that 4 gallon soda mug from AM-PM and pour yourself a bowl of that store-bought ‘white cheddar’ popcorn that went stale a week ago… tonight’s retro SOV slasher night!

Four teens go out to the woods to make out (and no, this isn’t the start of that joke about the chicken, the rooster and your sister). These are your older-variety teens however, as all of them are certainly of the age to buy beer… a drink they all seem well familiar with. During their stumblings of both night walking in the forest and their lines from the script, they come across an old abandoned house. The two guys try to convince the two girls to venture inside for a little heavy petting, but one of the girls is sober enough to refuse so we’re left with a couple going in and a couple staying out. Does it matter? Well frankly yes, since the couple inside end up stripped nude and sexed to the max while the couple outside talk and banter like an old married pair – but let’s go back where the business is. After a few minutes of eye-opening mullets and swaying mammary glands, a voyeuristic killer – dressed in all-back except for a half-white half-black mask (hence his Oreo namesake), rushes in and stabs the pair with a butcher knife. Turns out that the abandoned house is actually home to three killer-ghosts, one of which looks like a twisted Girlguides reject who ate too many cookies. There’s also a subplot about the teenaged man-child named Abel who is the only remaining (truthfully alive) survivor of a family car crash who, you guessed it, used to live in the abandoned house. But when you’re watching a slice of 1980’s SOV horror cheese, plot is irrelevant next to the gratuitous violence and camcorder craziness, both of which get their close-ups to really shine here.

It is doubtful that someone would argue for the SOV horror genre’s masterful use of subtle delicacy, but Phantom Brother REALLY forces its audience. Most supernatural slashers are taxing enough… but Phantom Brother is a slap-dingity SOV supernatural slasher-spoof shitfest (try saying that three times!) that shoves everything about it straight into its viewers’ sensory sockets. Dialogue is screamed with the same monotone, brain-seizure inducing force that a character’s death scene usually comes across as a video miracle. Fashions and hair designs are frizzed and hairsprayed directly into the decade the film emerged from, and some scenes stick out like a low limbo-bar for hitting WAY below the belt of acceptability, as when the mullet-sporting man-child utters “this… really… fucking… sucks” after being stabbed into a marinated meatpie. The fact that this guy identically resembles Peter DeLuise from 21 Jump Street is not lost on this reviewer, as this guy rambles and jambles his lines like some greaser punk from the south Bronx. As far as the subplot goes, it does supply the film with a handful of more physical fodder for our three ghosts to slash off, as the members of the inbred ‘family’ that adopted Abel after the car crash are really only interested in Abel’s long lost inheritance (which of course, must be hidden somewhere in the haunted house).

So is there enough here to attract interested viewers? Fate certainly was determined in my case, but I can’t say I’m not proud to see that same moldy box-cover sitting nicely on my VHS shelf (next to Shock Chamber and Streets of Death, naturally). Make no mistake – this is a BAD movie… but one that you’ll curse at through smiles of disbelief and absurdity. This is a slice of SOV horror-cheese history after all, so its freshness is already guaranteed at the moldy box-cover. Long live the Oreo slasher!