HI-8: Horror Independent Eight

"LOOK OUT V/H/S- THERE'S A NEW OLD FORMAT IN TOWN"

Hi-8 is an anthology film that is a homage of sorts to the shot on video classics of yesteryear. This underground answer to V/H/S features eight shorts from Tim Ritter, Marcus Koch, Tony Masiello, Ron Bonk, Chris Seaver, Todd Sheets, Donald Farmer and Brad Sykes. Since the announcement of this anthology I've been extremely pumped. Being a huge fan of the SOV horror classics myself immediately after seeing the list of filmmakers I had a fangasm (luckily blood-free).

The first short is "Switchblade Insane" directed by Tim Ritter (Truth or Dare, Killing Spree). Ritter's short starts this flick off right with one of the most ambitious stories of the bunch. A housewife who believes everything about her relationship is fairly normal comes to the realization that her husband is the serial rapist/murderer she keeps hearing about on the news. She follows him to one of his rituals with gun in hand. She's fully prepared to end it all until she sees his victim laid out and prepared for carving. Ritter manages to come up with a nice cohesive twist within his short stretch of runtime. "Switchblade Insane" proves to be one of the sleaziest of the bunch as well. Next up is "A Very Bad Situation" directed by Marcus Koch (100 Tears, ROT). An insane meteor shower has turned society upside down and we get to experience it in the claustrophobic environment of a garage. This segment features a tiny cast with a big amount of tension. This one flies by and goes out with an awesome face splitting bang. This is one that you just have to see. Very straightforward and well done. It delivers all the goods I've come to expect from Koch over the years.

"The Tape" is the third short and the directorial debut of Tony Masiello. I was unsure what to think of this one given that I'm not at all familiar with Masiello. Luckily this ends up being one of the best sections of the whole film. As a rabid fan Masiello really captures that love for SOV horror. An employee at a closing video rental store manages to snag an old VHS copy of an unreleased flick called "Bloodgasm". He goes home and pops it in the trusty VCR and is mesmerized by what he is seeing. So much so that he fucks his girlfriend without ever taking his eyes off of the hyper realistic gore. He soon decides that he must release the film. After trying to contact the cast he comes up empty handed until he finally reaches the actor who played the killer. Little does he know he may be getting himself into a shitstorm that he didn't anticipate.

Then we have "Gang Them Style", a hilarious romp directed by Ron Bonk (City of the Vampires, The Vicious Sweet). This segment had me laughing my ass off from start to finish. We're introduced to our 80's style badass Mongoose right out of the gate as he busts into a old folk's home to save his grandma. A zombie outbreak is at hand and Mongoose now has to save all of the senior citizens. Unfortunately for our hero the task of getting everyone to the van ten feet away may be too much to handle. This short KICKS ASS. It features so many great one liners with perfect delivery in such a short amount of time. Now the strangest of the bunch "Genre Bending" directed by Chris Seaver (I Spit Chew On Your Grave, Terror At Blood Fart Lake). This segment follows a woman getting stalked constantly by a local creeper. The stalker gets closer and closer in hilarious fashion (at one point he even appears between her legs). The short takes a turn when the stalker sneaks up on the woman while she's doing dishes. This one will definitely not be for everyone as it tries to put a humorous spin on rape. Not all the jokes here worked for me but it got a few laughs throughout.

The sixth short is "The Request" directed by Todd Sheets (Dead Things, Violent New Breed). Sheets shot the film in the radio station he uses for his Night Watch radio-show. The tale is of a radio host who is literally being haunted by his past. This short is easily the most traditional of the eight featured. "The Request" is a fairly subtle horror tale that would fit right in with Creepshow or the classic horror anthology shows of the past. Number seven is "Thicker Than Water" directed by Donald Farmer (Savage Vengeance, Scream Dream). It kicks off with a man trying to calm down his significant other. Crazy bitch would be an understatement here. He then discovers that she's pregnant and she leads him to the garage for a little surprise. She has his ex-girlfriend tied up and covered in blood and is ready to put an end to his past. The victim is played by Vanessa Nocera (Scaremaker, Wooden Stake), the metalhead in me had to mention this. Complete with Draino chugging this one delivers the goods.

The final short is "The Scout" directed by Brad Sykes (The Pact, Death Factory). Sykes conceived the idea for Hi-8 and also directed the wraparound along with this story. I've been a fan of all the Sykes films I've seen thus far but this short threw me for a loop. It follows a director and actress scouting for locations in the desert. After the car breaks down the sassy actress decides to go off on her own to find the road. She comes back and the director is gone. After finding the camcorder she discovers something very strange on the tape. I honestly just didn't really dig the ending of this one. I understand the idea of keeping the end open for an open interpretation, but throwing something nonsensical in with no explanation just didn't sit well with me in terms of how it meshed with the other shorts. On the other hand though I enjoyed the wraparound Sykes did much more. It really captures the essence of low budget filmmaking and takes a turn for the worst when the no budget filmmakers get a nice dose of real life horror.

Overall Hi-8 delivers the good stuff. You get eight great indie horror directors hitting you from eight different angles. The styles vary greatly from one story to the next. I was planning to accompany this review with a favorite to least favorite list of the shorts but in the end that proves to be more and more difficult the more I think about it. The shorts are all excellent for completely different reasons. In terms of humor "Gang Them Style" definitely takes the cake, but if I were to go with most well made I'd probably say "The Request" edged out the others. It's safe to say that "The Scout" and "Genre Bending" were the weakest for me but they weren't really bad by any means. All eight tales here blend together to create an extremely entertaining anthology and that's all that really matters in the end. Highly recommend this one for horror fans all across the board. Even those not into SOV or indie horror in general should be able to find something of value here. A fun movie is a fun movie, and there's no denying that regardless of your perspective. GET IT! I've got my fingers crossed for Hi-8 Part 2 with McBride getting in on the action!

ABOVE: AN ACTOR REENACTMENT OF ME WATCHING HI-8 

Fell

Fell is the latest film from director/effects guru Marcus Koch. Rather than serving up another fun onslaught of vicious kills and gore like his previous film he took the more psychological approach this time around. Fell has a little bit of everything going for it. It is very artsy at times but it never gets too self indulgent.

Our main character Bill is really going through a difficult time in his life. He's being pumped full of prescription drugs and is creeping slowly down the path to full blown insanity. Everything is falling apart right in front of him and his delusional mind is certainly not helping matters. Though things may seem bad enough they really take a turn for the worst when he awakens to discover a dead body in his bathtub. Bill doesn't remember much about the previous night and he believes it is just a random girl he snagged up at a club. He turns to his best friend for help when he meets his wits end and much to his surprise he isn't too frightened.

The atmosphere in this movie is extremely thick. From start to finish the feeling of claustrophobia is very prominent. Bill is confined in a house that is torturing his psyche every waking moment and as the audience you can sympathize with his mental unraveling. Going into this expecting a straight up horror film may be a little disappointing to some. While the movie does have a very creepy, odd vibe going for it this isn't your typical horror flick, it delves deep into the very real horrors of someone's mind withering away. The blood is very minimal and is never over the top when it makes an appearance. There are also a few nice shots, the best examples of this would be the camera lingering above the bathtub and Bill laying on the kitchen floor on his radio. Moments like this add to the already gigantic atmosphere the film possesses.

Fell is an outstanding film. It may not be for everyone, but those with a taste for this sort of thing will without a doubt be pleased. All in all Fell never really misses it's mark, it takes a depressing, downtrodden atmosphere and runs with it. Given the vast amount of difference between this film and his last (100 Tears), a jump this big in style is a huge risk for an independent filmmaker. Luckily in Koch's case it really pays off. This is the perfect testament that Koch isn't just a one trick pony and opens more opportunities in the future to dive deeper into more story/atmosphere driven films.

100 Tears

100 Tears is a killer clown flick directed by Marcus Koch. This was the first film Koch had directed in nearly a decade and he pulls it off like he has been doing it his whole life. It's not like Koch had stepped away from the horror scene since his last movie Rot. He has been credited doing amazing special effects in quite a few films. He wore many hats in the making of this movie and the hard work has definitely paid off considering this has become somewhat of a modern cult classic for fans of the genre. Highly sought after by gorehounds due to its overwhelming amount hacks, slashes and stomps, 100 Tears puts all other killer clown movies to shame.

100 Tears follows a killer clown named Gurdy that is known as the "Teardrop Killer" to the general public. He gains this moniker due to his habit of leaving tears of blood behind at the scenes of his many murders. He is still on the loose and causing chaos in the area and our two main characters (Mark and Jennifer) see it as the perfect opportunity to put themselves back on the map with their careers in journalism. After doing a little bit of digging around and chasing a midget, the story behind Gurdy's murderous ways unfolds. Soon after a couple of unexpected twists come along and it all ends in a climatic bloodbath.

As usual Marcus's special effects are top notch. The gore is served up in heavy doses and not one effect looks half assed. He is easily one of the best effects artists of this generation and this film is just further proof of that. The kills throughout the movie are executed with a great deal of intensity. For the most part they aren't the most inventive, relying heavily on decapitations and hacks. This doesn't work against the film too much though, because while these may be kills we've seen before the sheer vicious feeling more than makes up for it. Deaths like the decapitation at the top of the stair case come across as flawless because Koch knew how long to let the scene go. Seeing Gurdy towering above the wheelchair comes across just as iconic as Leatherface slamming his big metal door in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The casting for this film is excellent. Scream queen Raine Brown plays role that is very out of the norm for her. She pulls it off well and gives one of her best performances to date. The joking nature between Joe Davison and Georgia Chris works as solid comic relief. There seems to be a real chemistry between the two and I couldn't imagine anyone else playing their roles. Jack Amos does a phenomenal job playing the bruting Gurdy. He plays the role perfectly and whenever a killer clown is mentioned his character immediately comes to mind. Rather than being a bright clown covered in glowing colors, Gurdy is dressed in dull clown rags and is armed with an intimidating, emotionless face. Small touches like this really add to the creepy factor. While the colorful, joking clowns in many other movies don't come across as scary, Gurdy just seems like someone you'd want to keep your distance from even on a good day.

Overall 100 Tears is one of the modern greats when it comes to low budget horror cinema. Even those of you who aren't big on low budget movies should give this a watch. It really doesn't have a "cheap" feel to it and is actually driven by a solid story along with surprisingly good acting from everyone. It's packed with plenty of splatter to please the gorehounds and has enough plot to please average movie watchers. Marcus Koch is definitely someone to keep an eye on. This movie proves that Koch isn't just an effects guru, while this flick does rely on quite a few effects it also shows off some pretty damn good directing. Highly recommended, find a way to get your hands on it.