|
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
Review
by
Doug Red
Film:3
:
DVD:7
|
 |
| Six
friends (Raine Brown, Vanelle, Billy Garberina, Nicole Blessing,
Jarrod Crooks, and Steve Golla) go on what is supposed to be a
fun trip at a remote cabin in the Wisconsin woods. Driving by
a crime scene just off the road where local law enforcement exhume
a mass grave, the friends stop and talk to the deputies as bodies
are coming out of the ground. Making no connection to the uncovering
of mysterious corpses and their remote destination being fairly
close to the carnal pit, the undaunted group finally arrives at
their love shack to let the bonding begin. In particular, pregnant
Talina (Brown) is concerned that her future baby will disrupt
the otherwise childless group of friends, who will shun her and
her hubby for having a baby. She didn't need to worry though,
because backwoods maniacs will soon descend upon them and carve
through their lives like so much pork, rendering a number of the
friendships into the past tense. |
|
While
it does have some moments that harken back to films like the original
Texas
Chain Saw Massacre (particularly an early scene
where one couple decide it's a good idea to investigate an abandoned
looking shed after finding bloody tent material nearby), Psycho
Holocaust is most like Deliverance,
since it's a film involving strange backwoodsmen who love to rape,
torture and maim innocent travelers. It also features a moment
of pure Grand Guignol involving a dude's pasty derriere, a coke
bottle, and a saw strapped onto a belt. Once seen, it's not easily
forgotten — no matter how much you wish you could. |
|
Besides
this grisly scene of rectal terror, the film does feature generally
well-delivered performances by the lovely ladies, Raine and Vanelle
in particular, showing the emotions of grievously hurt victims
who eventually get pushed to the edge of taking I
Spit On Your Grave-style action. On the male side, Trent
Haaga stands out as the psychotic, nearly mouth-foaming Buddy;
brave Billy Garberina makes an impression as a whiny fellow who
suffers the ultimate back door invasion. The humming synth score
by The Giallos Flame has a nice '70s Italian exploitation feel
to it, and the gore effects are well done. |
|
Unfortunately,
the rest of the film though suffers from many problems that detract
from the viewing experience. Many shots come out overexposed.
Some have strange color correction, so that colors change from
normal to green in a few places. Coverage shots in some scenes
are haphazardly edited in, possibly because there wasn't anything
better to cut with. Audio has problems too; for example, during
one scene in which Raine and Vanelle are talking to each other
at a gentle waterfall, Vanelle's dialogue is nearly lost under
the sound of running water yet Raine is easy to understand, with
noticeably less rush of water. Camera angles often appear chosen
because they seemed like it was something cool at the time, but
actually obscure the visual action and flow of the story. |
|
This
clumsiness can in part be explained by the extremely low budget,
but some of these errors were fixable in post with just a little
ingenuity. The bulk of technical mistakes in Psycho
Holocaust eventually overwhelm the goodwill of the audience,
even though there are scenes and performances worth catching. |
|
|
|
Independent Entertainment's DVD release of Psycho
Holocaust offers a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer and Dolby
2.0 stereo audio mix, which can only do so much given the limitations
of the film's original A/V quality. There are, however, an amazing
variety of extras for such a low budget project. |
|
The
feature commentary by director Krist Rufty is a more rewarding
experience than watching the film, because it makes one realize
just how difficult and threadbare this shoot was. Among revelations
are the fact that many scenes were lensed on a golf course, and
how they knew some shots were coming out badly but couldn't fix
them in the course of the very quick production schedule. It also
turns out that the outline of the film's action was to homage
Rufty's favorite horror tropes, so that it was intended to start
off as a slasher, then become a rape and revenge pic along the
lines of I Spit On Your Grave with
references to extreme Italian films like Cannibal
Ferox inserted throughout. It didn't quite make any of
those marks, but it helps; seeing the film through his eyes certainly
gives more meaning to the structure than is apparent when just
viewing. A Behind the Scenes segment concentrates on the
creation of the gore effects, all safely shown being constructed
in a suburban garage. Making Cheesy Movies in Wisconsin
is a professionally shot and edited filmmakers' documentary in
which the production crew and some of the actors talk about the
making of the film. On Set Interviews has each of the primary
actors talking about the film, their characters, and experiences.
Most memorably the sexy Vanelle does her interview in a sandbox
playing with toys, and pneumatic Nicole Blessing gets to show
much more of her fun personality in her segment than she did with
her rather dry role and short time in the film. At Home With
Billy Garberina sees the actor revealing his experiences on
set in a wacky video diary shot in bed (keeping himself partially
covered in a blanket was perhaps a way to hide from the overwhelming
horror and revelation of his fate in the film). A brief series
of outtakes are included, as are trailers for Defiled,
Diary of a Sex Offender, Faces
of Schlock, and Red
River. 10/14/11
|
|
HOME
| REVIEWS
| TOP
|
