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 

The Story of Rock 'N' Roll Comics

The Story of Rock 'N' Roll Comics is a documentary following a comic series that released many controversial takes on old legends and crazy events in rocks history. Ranging from stories on Bon Jovi, The Sex Pistols, and Metallica the comics quickly gained somewhat of a cult following. The story shows us through the short life of Todd Loren (publisher of Rock 'N' Roll Comics), starting with the years leading up to starting publishing to the time after his death that led to the comics demise.

Throughout the documentary there are various interviews with people who knew Todd Loren. Many who hated him along with a few he loved him, the general consensus between them all seems to be that Todd Loren didn't care for paying and crediting people much. Many of the stories about how he went about business are extremely entertaining. My favorite happens to be the fact that he would put the contract on the back of checks so in order to get their cash they HAD to sign the contract.

 It is hard to argue that Loren didn't inspire some people out there during his short. Going from shipping out mailorder bootlegs to starting a craze with unauthorized comic books is definitely a big jump. The fact that the company died out shortly after Loren's death is certainly a testament to how important he was to the whole project. Controversy sells for sure and he belted it out like no other, whilst sort of sparking a debate on the First Amendment and an ever-growing list of people wanting to file lawsuits against him.

Overall this is a very solid documentary. I can definitely appreciate to the fact that I had little to no knowledge of Rock 'N' Roll Comics before popping this DVD in. Even with that fact I was sucked in and after viewing am considering tracking down some issues. Highly recommended for those into rock and documentaries. Todd Loren definitely created a rockstar persona for himself without even having to pick up an instrument. The disc is also packed full with special features, over two hours of them to be exact. There is plenty of extra material to dive into here after viewing the film itself.

Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag 69

Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag 69 is Keith J Crocker's(The Bloody Ape) low-budget take on Nazi cinema. Blitzkrieg, for the most part, takes place at a Nazi camp where the people being held are planning to escape. The Nazi community in this camp is beginning to have some serious problems amongst themselves about the way they handle their business. The uprising is being planned at the perfect time and it may just work considering the bond between the Nazis is at its weakest.

THE POSITIVE:

The last thirty minutes of the film really makes it somewhat worth watching. The violence gets cranked up. We see nipple cutting, castration, and some fairly sleazy moments that involve the sexy Nazi women. This whole section, leading to the conclusion, brings back that trashy feel that caused me to enjoy The Bloody Ape so much. Some scenes of dialogue are fairly interesting, and surprisingly the dialogue isn't completely ruined by the acting (which actually isn't too bad from most of the cast). The conclusion is very pleasing and is pulled off well. The writing for the film is certainly not bad, it just needs to be trimmed down in a major way.

THE NEGATIVE:

The movie shows a bit of both worlds while we are guided around the Nazi camp. It dedicates a major chunk of time to showing the shenanigans that the Nazis have from day to day in the camp, but at certain points we get to see things from the perspective of the people that are being held there. These sections are where the movie really shines most. Unfortunately these moments aren't utilized very often. This wouldn't have been too much of a con but due to the fact that the movie is heavily driven by dialogue seeing things through the eyes of the Nazis grows to be quite tiring.

The main problem with Blitzkrieg is the runtime and pacing. The flick clocks in at around two hours and twelve minutes. For a no budget film (with a few exceptions) this length is practically suicide. As mentioned before it is mainly driven by dialogue and fairly low on action. The pace of the film rarely changes up until the last thirty minutes or so. Once things do really pick up in this last section it is great but sadly the hefty section before that causes the overall film to suffer.

THE VERDICT:

Overall Blitzkrieg is by no means horrible, but it doesn't really have enough going for it to warrant any replay value. Popping this in right after viewing The Bloody Ape and going in with high expectations I can safely say I was left disappointed. On a rainy day with nothing to do this could possibly be slightly enjoyable. The main flaw is the fact that right when things begin to pick up the average viewers attention will be completely lost. I found the final half hour to be GREAT, but even at that point it couldn't save the film from falling somewhere below average.

The Bloody Ape

This is the first full-length feature from Keith J. Crocker (who more recently directed Blitzkrieg: Escape from Stalag 69 in 2008). An artwork tagline has never been more accurate. "100% PURE UNDERGROUND TRASH!", truer words have never been spoken. The Bloody Ape is an oddball sleazefest from start to finish and is sure to fulfill all of your trashy cinema needs. The film was shot on Super 8 for maximum drive-in style pleasure and sports the dirty look of many of the exploitation classics we all know and love.

A man running around with a carnival showing off his ape and bragging about how safe and harmless he is has been rabidly approaching his breaking point. After a series of unfortunate events he turns his ape loose to go on a vicious rampage. The ape goes around and takes out all of his masters enemies by following the scent of delicious bananas. Meanwhile a black man has stumbled into the bigot filled town, and naturally the law enforcement (even with the knowledge of the violent ape on the loose) concludes that all of the murders must be his doing. As the plot unfolds we quickly discover that the black man the crimes are being pegged on is actually the only half decent person that is located in this shithole town.

The Bloody Ape doesn't hold out on the violence and nudity. Crocker knew exactly what the audience wanted when making this flick. While the gore may not be the best in the world it is made up for with all the comedic elements throughout. One of the highlights would definitely have to be the castration scene early on in the film. This happens right when a change of pace is needed to keep the film interesting and kicks off the apes killing spree quite nicely. While the ape pillages the town we also get to see a few naked women whom he completely violates and kills.

What more could you ask for in a Poe "Murders in the Rue Morgue" adaptation? The cheese is cranked to the max and within the 77 minute runtime you will be introduced to some of the biggest scum of the earth. This town is crowded with racist people and you, the viewer, get to see them picked off by a giant bloodthirsty ape. Watching characters getting picked off has never been so satisfying (aside from that Bible thumping bitch from The Mist). The acting of course isn't the greatest but they isn't really anyone particular in the cast that makes it unwatchable. If you're a fan of cheese flicks there isn't much of anything here that will have you rushing for the eject button.

Overall The Bloody Ape is a solid trashy flick. It does an amazing job paying homage to an era of sleazy flicks packed full of offensive material. This film may not appeal to everyone and that is probably very apparent after viewing the coverart and/or reading the description on the reverse side. So obviously as long as The Bloody Ape finds the right audience complaints should be kept to a minimum. Definitely an extremely fun watch. Recommended.

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.