The Disco Exorcist

The Disco Exorcist follows Rex Romanski. A young stallion who bags more ladies in a month than you probably have in your life. Unfortunately he picks up quite a foul lady (Rita Marie) who is not so fond of his "hit it and quit it" behavior. Rex is a big fan of fuck flicks and his main attraction is certainly actress Amoreena Jones. Eventually Rex ends up with the actress he idolizes and they bump into Rita at a club. Upon seeing Rex with another woman Rita breaks down and puts a curse of Amoreena. Things only get worse for the couple from there.

In a world where the act of digitally aging a new film to make it look like an old "exploitation" film seems to be all the rage, the almighty Richard Griffin has come to save the day! Finally someone has created a film that actually comes close to offering us fans the feeling that those classy flicks had. This is not a way of saying that I hate all of these "Grindhouse" style movies. Most of them are enjoyable. The fact of the matter is that I never once find myself saying "this actually seems like it could be from that era". That is what separates The Disco Exorcist from these other films. It simply works. Everything. The acting, setting, plot, all the way down to the soundtrack. Richard Griffin really hit the nail on the head with this one. While I have been a fan of all his other work in the past this movie certainly wins its spot as my favorite.

The acting in the film is not necessarily award winning. Although, considering the budget this film had, there is a great amount of talent here. The entire main cast does an excellent job throughout and it is actually pretty impressive. The gore is good when it pops up and there is plenty of sleaze crammed into the short runtime (trust me, PLENTY). The Disco Exorcist knows its audience and has found a solid balance of story, nudity, and blood. There is not one moment in the film that failed to entertain. There is also a great deal of humor injected into The Disco Exorcist. Romanski's sidekick Manuel provides comic relief practically every time he is on screen. When the club janitor comes into play some hilarity assumes as well.

Overall The Disco Exorcist is the perfect example of what these throwback style films should be. All of these other flicks try so hard to be "edgy" and "old school" and meanwhile this low-budget film leaves them all in the dust and makes it look easy. Highly recommended to any fans of this throwback style movies, horror, sleaze, or just independent film in general. Richard Griffin just keeps hitting the horror community up with great flicks so consistently. He is quickly rising on the list of my favorite filmmakers. GET IT.

The Lost Realities Of Hog Caller

The Lost Realities Of Hog Caller is a found footage movie that follows the exploits of the elusive, Satan fueled group of outlaws that make up the band Hog Caller. Local news anchor Skip Jenkins is on the hunt to find the members of Hog Caller and gain more info on them. When he stumbles upon a case of VHS tapes that were supposedly owned by Hog Caller at a swap meet he is in for quite an insane viewing experience. Once the film kicks off and things get surreal it doesn't let up for a second. Prepare yourself for a roller coaster ride of insanity, and also, boatloads of pork.

What a mindfuck of a film. There are many memorable scenes throughout and this is mainly because of the extremely strange things going on. The section where Vomitorius is carrying a slaughtered pig around in a stroller and feeding it milk and ice cream was the first to stick out. From then on the film just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Eventually Osama Bin Laden, George W. Bush, and Elvis pop up in the story. Every moment where you start thinking things can't possibly get anymore strange, you will be quickly blindsided by something that completely outdoes anything prior. Also, in the world of Hog Caller it seems to be easy to catch psychedelic mushrooms while fishing (someone please direct me to this body of water). When these two start tripping balls things go even more off the deep-end.

The acting in the film is solid. Although the cast is fairly small they all hold their own. This flick has actually gotten me fairly interested in Hog Caller's music, which I'm sure is part of the goal. Upon experiencing this manic piece of cinema you truly get a decent insight on Hog Caller's odd brand of humor. While, their music may not appeal to everyone it would be hard to deny their shear ability to create excruciatingly strange, head-scratching moments.

Overall Hog Caller is an insane flick with some very odd, zany moments. The film gives an interesting take on the "found footage" genre and really just goes balls to the wall throughout. It really plays out like a long, well made music video. This is by no means a bad thing. I can't recall the last time I was this entertained by a movie that was music related. A fair warning should be left here for anyone planning on viewing the film. The music of Hog Caller is very abrasive and harsh and does play quite frequently in the film. Even if you're not a fan of this style of music I would still recommend the film because it is really something you should experience once. Fans of all things surreal, heavy, taboo, and just downright wrong should get a kick out of The Lost Realities of Hog Caller.

The Gardnerz- It All Fades

The Gardnerz are back for their follow-up to The System of Nature. An album I reviewed with much praise. This time around the release is in EP format. Fortunately for all of you fans it still clocks in at a healthy 35 minutes. It is clear when listening to It All Fades that The Gardnerz are no "one trick pony". These guys all have chops with both their instruments and writing abilities.

As mentioned in my previous review for the band's full-length, for a melodic death metal band these guys sure know how to churn out some kick-ass riffs. It All Fades is no different. If anything this aspect of the band has grown. Every single riff on this release sticks with you immediately after hearing it. I also see some influence of Death possibly leaking through in some of the playing here. One of the best moments on this thing would have to be when the opening track "Don't Look Back" slows down and goes into some clean vocals. This moment just builds and builds until eventually we break back into the fast paced riffing featured at the beginning of the track.

Each track on this release is really like a journey. The EP is almost impossible to not listen to as a whole. It all comes together very nicely and flows with a vast amount of perfection. Not one track here is skippable. It seems as though the clean moments heard on The System of Nature have been added a bit more often on this EP. That being said the heavy moments have gotten much more intense and I really believe the band has found the perfect balance of all of their elements on this release.

While I hate to dedicate an entire paragraph to a cover song I really think the cover on here deserves it. The Gardnerz rendition of the Darkthrone classic Transilvanian Hunger is simply astounding. The track features beautiful female vocals throughout, not a single harsh vocal is used. The instrumental has a very clean, full sound going for it. It is amazing how The Gardnerz completely changed the overall sound of the song, but even with that fact, this very clean, beautiful version of the song still manages to hold the same atmosphere of the Darkthrone track. It's an amazing feat and a very mind-blowing listen. When I first saw the tracklist I was worried about how this would come out. Upon listening that worry is completely gone and this has become my favorite track on the album, and possibly my favorite cover song of all time.

Overall It All Fades is an amazing effort from The Gardnerz. I thought The System of Nature would be an extremely hard release to follow-up, but they really outdid themselves with this one. Needless to say if you are a fan of the previous album pick this up. Also highly recommended to fans of death/doom metal. This release is truly the definition of what I want out of a release of this nature and it is very good to see The Gardnerz always taking steps in the right direction.

Warg- Below the Misty Mountain demo

Warg is a two piece black metal band from New Jersey. This is their first demo released on Horizon Productions. Below the Misty Mountain features three tracks of pure consistency. The production (as to be expected) is very raw. With that being said it isn't hard to listen to at all. This demo seems like it would actually be extremely easy to digest for someone just getting into the genre.

Upon first listen the main thing that sticks out is the guitar playing. When the guitars first kick in on the demo I was immediately reminded of Fester's album "Winter of Sin". This was an old school death/black metal release from Norway, a release where the guitar playing stood out to me in particular. Each riff variation feels like it is slowly building up to some type of climax. I was very fond of Fester's album and this demo is by no means any different.

While when looking on the surface this may just seem like the typical, run of the mill black metal release I really feel there is something deeper here. The title track features some sloppy melodies that actually give the entire track an eerie atmosphere. While on the previous track "Riddles in the Dark" a very epic, uplifting vibe is given off. These two tracks feel like a rather odd combination, but luckily it flows nicely. The vocals are everything you would expect on a release of this nature. They are not particularly raspy or wretched, more of a strained high pitched cry. The vocals are often drowned out by the instrumentals. This is not a bad thing, it actually sort of adds to the atmosphere of the demo.

Overall Warg's first effort is a great one. Even though there is nothing too out of the ordinary that I can put my finger on there is definitely something here that keeps me coming back. Highly recommended to any fans of black metal or anyone looking to get into the genre. Great gateway band that actually churn out some high quality music.

I Spill Your Guts

"ONE LITTLE LIE WILL COST SO MANY INNOCENT LIVES..."

I Spill Your Guts is James Balsamo's follow up to Hackjob. While Hackjob was not necessarily a bad film it did come across as quite underwhelming in every department that this film really shines in. So if you checked out Hackjob and didn't enjoy it I'd still recommend giving this a watch because it is a major improvement. Filled with blasting metal and packed full of kills this flick is sure to meet all of your foul needs. My hat is off to Balsamo & Co who have managed to take a gigantic step in the right direction with this film.

Dennis and Joe went into the military as friends but after a major mishap overseas Dennis ended up taking a bullet to the neck. The doctors don't expect him to make it through the night and his ability to speak has diminished. Taking advantage of Dennis's inability to communicate, Joe decides to tell everyone that he saved Dennis. This makes Joe a very decorated soldier and he believes when he arrives to his old friends he'll be swimming in pussy. Little does he know Dennis still has plenty of fight left in him and he plans to do everything in his power to pay Joe back for his lying ways. Dennis makes his way around New York slaying anyone with any relation to Joe, or anyone who gets in his way for that matter. With each innocent life taken, Dennis gets one step closer to getting revenge on this so called "Hero".

From the moment that Joe tells Dennis about his little lie the killing spree begins. This movie takes no time to get going. After a few minutes of dialogue it is just kill after kill. For a low budget flick like this that formula works perfectly. Seeing the fallen soldier lurk around the New York streets dead set on vengeance is a very thrilling experience. The acting is solid, the editing is good (and also a major improvement over the last effort), and the pacing is absolutely perfect.

As in Balsamo's last film you will see tons of familiar faces making cameos throughout. Also something will saw in Hackjob was a ridiculously huge soundtrack. This film also delivers that, working in great bands like Ghoul, A.N.S., F.K.U., and Cannabis Corpse amongst an endless list of others. Which leads me to my only complaint about I Spill Your Guts, the sound. The sound bounces all over the place on this thing. Some scenes of dialogue are insanely quiet while others are very loud. In order to hear most dialogue without going deaf (by the frequent, loud music) you'll have to work the remote a bit while viewing. That being said, this is by no means a major issue and doesn't really take away from the film itself at all.

Overall I Spill Your Guts really has me excited for James Balsamo's next movie "Cool As Hell". While I was not completely satisfied with Hackjob I was still looking forward to this, and it really lived up to my expectations and even exceeded them. There were so many things about Hackjob that could've been so much better and I truly think Balsamo tied up all of the loose ends with this one. Highly recommended for fans of low budget flicks or slasher films in general. This one has a little bit of something for everyone.