"Laura, Laura, my Laura? My God those ARE Laura's glasses! She needs those to see Teddy, she wouldn't just leave those behind!"
After ranting, raving and carrying on about BILLY CLUB on Cinesludge - A Mangled Media podcast's SLASHER EPISODE
I was really intrigued by the Troma released BLOOD JUNKIE, the first
film from director Drew Rosas. What I got was far beyond expectations
and a sign of the greatness to come and a damn fun, funny, and fucking
disturbing surprise twist film that definitely carries the same vision
as Billy Club and bears the same kind of repeat viewing experience I
enjoyed from the latest feature. Set in the 80s, you have two totally
rad dudes that engage in 80s homoerotic teenplay while trying to get
laid on a rad camping trip. It all goes spectacularly wrong when they
run into JUNKIES (Junkies? Junkies. JUNKIES!) hungry for blood. One
monstrous masked mayhem maker to be exact, and the groovy guys and boobs
baring babes are in for a bad ride. But did I mention the girls
brought along their slightly odd little brother, buying off his silence
for a 5 spot to buy more instruments of doom for the local ant
population. Andy is... a little off, and if you pay close attention,
when things start strobing in front of Andy's eyes (TV,
bonfire...KNIFE!) shit is about to get weird.
To be honest, I'm not going to spoil the twist to much, but what Billy
Club used to fuel it's finale, Rosas places into an epilogue that
changes the movie completely and left me shaking my head that, AGAIN, I
suspected what was going on, but got so caught up in the funny dialog,
refined period details, occasional gore and suspense and deft editing
that it still hit me like a Pet Rock!
The cast is excellent top to bottom (even the speed walker in the
background that totally jumped off the screen for me gets a credit!) and
Nick Sommer is once again VERY funny as the hyped up dickhead that you
have to root for because once his one liners stop the audience will
become very sad! Besides, rockin' a velour shirt like that is either a
crime against the eyes or an epic conquest of fabric to make cinematic
shirt art. I mean, look at that! As with Billy Club the tropes of the
slasher and horrors of the 80s are played with, but not mocked so much
as embraced. If you LOVE watching movies like Deadtime Stories, Scalps
or Killer Workout, you'll enjoy this while scratching your head how it
is so damn close to the vibe of the VHS era new releases. If you want a
bit more, and find lots of humor in groovy editing that feels as
familiar as a montage with weed and hair spray, you get that too. And
then...woah, it's off to the demented denouement for BLOOD JUNKIE.
And fuck it...it's worth it for this. Crack a BUNTZ BEER (tm Billy Club
Rules Inc) and enjoy some BLOOD JUNKIE, on DVD, from TROMA no less!
And of course...
No comments:
Post a Comment