The Bleak (2019)

The Bleak (2019) - United States

Directed by: James Bell

ABOUT THE FILM:

As of September 2020, The Bleak is the latest release from underground gore virtuoso James Bell. James first made his foray into filmmaking around 2010 when he made the infamous Dog Dick, also known as White Trash Holocaust. It was a surrealist film about a group of white trash folks who played with dead animal carcasses for entertainment. The film remains very controversial to this day and James has been under extreme scrutiny for that film alone ever since his debut. It was around 2014 when the man began to further pursue his filmmaking endeavors with bizarre and over-the-top underground greats such as Manuer, Nutsack and Tantrum.

The Bleak is no different from the aforementioned works, and stands as a surreal piece of experimental splatter. I personally was unable to understand the narrative behind the movie at first, but I will do my best to make sense of it throughout this review. So the movie starts with this room full of humanoid creatures that have large hairy vaginas in place of their faces, and the film showcases them tearing apart their patient, ripping off his appendages and body parts. We follow one of the creatures as they leave with a videotape, only to have their arm cut off and the videotape stolen by a deformed hooded figure. The figure makes off with the tape, goes home and is greeted by.. a female figure (presumably a family member?) with their face completely missing, leaving a massive gap of nothing but blood, tissue and viscera. The humanoid pops in the tape and we are then treated with this sequence of a man who kidnaps a woman and continues to brutally torture, rape and dismember her. Meanwhile, a lunatic goes on a killing spree after his girlfriend refuses to fuck him for watching gore videos.

REVIEW:

To begin this review I'd like to take a moment to try and identify James Bell's style. What makes a James Bell movie?

James Bell's movies could ultimately be described as experimental, and upon first viewings, the films may subvert the viewers' expectations of the movies having traditional narratives. The narrative is there however, and James Bell has a unique way of telling his story, mainly through gore and through visuals. But the narrative is never too clear, and this makes the movie more interesting overall as it's up to the viewer to interpret the meaning.

I've noticed James's films have a common theme of violence, nihilism, cynicism and drug abuse. When I first watched The Bleak I had a hard time trying to process the pussy-faced creatures, the over-the-top gore and the inexplicably melting bodies. It may sound a bit absurd or even pretentious to make meaning out of a creature with a labia for a face, but the way I interpret this movie, it is an overall bleak and nihilistic view of the things we do to advance and to satisfy ourselves. We like to entertain ourselves with violence, whether by committing it or just consuming it on a daily basis. We put drugs in our bodies to escape our troubles; when we aren't satisfied we resort to extreme violence and perversion and we let these things eat away at us until there's nothing left.

But that's just the way I interpreted it. You may interpret it differently.

The movie accomplishes a lot through its visuals and through its subtle and unique method of storytelling alone. But what about the rest of the movie? The acting? The technical aspects? Well the acting is as good as it gets for such a production, but the cast still does a pretty good job with what they're given. Another thing that I've noticed about James' works is that they have the air of an amateur film, with sometimes weird editing, weird lighting and a very cheap camera, but at the same time they remain quite professional. It's very polarizing and I don't quite know how to make sense out of it. However, I will say that the movie is always lit well and the camera work is consistently good. Never jerky, shaky or annoying. And the music, also composed by Bell, fits each scene perfectly and adds to the chaotic air.

Finally, let's talk about the gore effects. One of the trademarks of James Bell's filmmaking style are his gore effects. James is by far one of the most talented independent gore effects artists and is extremely adept at making realistic gore. His props have been used in various different movies in the underground scene, and his props even made it into an episode of Dr. Phil! What I like about Bell's effects is that they actually have this distinct style. His silicone body parts show an impeccable amount of detail, from every vein to every skin particle to every hair. Once you're familiar with his style of gore effects, it's impossible to watch a movie and not notice his props being used because his style is so recognizable. The gore in this movie is nothing short of amazing, and stands as some of the best I've ever seen in an amateur production. The blood is just the right color and consistency and flows realistically and every kill is drawn out; the camera never shys away from anything.

This movie is already worth checking out for the gore alone, but it's also an interesting watch for those interested in surreal experimental cinema. Bell's work never fails to satisfy and any of his movies are a must-have in any gorehound's collection. I can not recommend The Bleak highly enough.

RELEASES:

-The Bleak was released on DVD under Jame's label Very Fine Crap Videos in October 2019.

Violencia Gore (2005)

Violencia Gore (2005) - Spain

Directed by: Vick Campbell

ABOUT THE FILM:

Spanish cult filmmaker Vick Campbell got his roots in filmmaking when he made a handful of amateur horror films in the late 90's. It all began in 1997 when Vick made his debut with Prologore, a 9 minute short film about a psychotic murderer and a pair of zombies.

Vick Campbell would continue to make short films and features as years went by, slowly honing his craft and working hard to make better and more entertaining splatter shorts while keeping the trash factor intact. Violencia Gore is a prime example of Vick's work in making trashy splatter movies.

The short is about a mental patient who is set free from the psychiatric ward, as they have too many new patients and no longer have enough room to accommodate him. He is set free back into society with the trust that he won't commit anymore crimes. Big mistake.

REVIEW:

Violencia Gore is one of those amateur horror movies that very much plays out like an homage to Violent Shit and the works of Andreas Schnaas, and has everything it needs to fall onto that spectrum. A lunatic set free/escaped from psychiatric ward? It has it. The perpetrator stalking his victims in the woods? It has it. Victims who are either blind or dumb enough to not see the killer stalking them in plain sight? It has it. A rubber doll being ripped apart? It has it. A handful of grotesque and brutal slaughters, dismemberments and genital mutilations? It most certainly has it!

So addressing the elephant in the room, sure the story isn't the most original thing ever. But let's be honest, with a title like Gore Violence, who's really expecting storytelling in its prime? Most people are here for.. well.. gory violence, right? And at its near 30 minute run time, the movie has plenty of it. Each gore scene is pretty drawn out and some of the ideas here are definitely sick. A woman's breast is cut off, a guy has a knife shoved up his ass; pretty nasty ideas! The effects, however, are quite a mixed bag. Some of the effects look really good, but when heads have to be cut off or torn up.. well, let's just say the fake heads look pretty legendary.

Yeah.

But that aside, I very much enjoyed this little short. It's disgusting, it's funny and it's something I'm likely to return to soon.

RELEASES:

-Violencia Gore was recently released as part of "The Vick Campbell Short Film Collection: Vol. 1" from Toxic Filth Video. The set comes with four shorts including Violencia Gore, the equally trashy Cerebros Podridos, and then Exercismos en Sants and Barbarie Carnicera.

-The short was also included as on extra for the limited edition director's cut DVD of Derangement, released by Fusionator Productions.

Changing Life - Der Fluch Der Zombies (2001)

Changing Life - Der Fluch Der Zombies (2001) - Germany
Directed by: Ted Kaufmann, Jan Deichen, Dominic Schulschenk

ABOUT THE FILM:

Changing Life starts with a drug deal in the forest between two young men. After negotiating prices, the dealer leaves to take a piss and accidentally leaves a bag of weed in the chair, which his buyer steals. The dealer comes back to discover his weed is missing, and chases the buyer down to savagely beat and kill him with a stick, leaving his corpse in the open.

As the dealer meets up with some more of his buddies to continue doing business, they are interrupted by someone sneaking in their hideout who issues them a warning. Many years prior, a teacher and his students had supposedly gone missing within the woods, and it's alleged that the teacher killed all the students and himself, thus putting a curse on the forest. The dealers aren't quite buying it, cap the guy and flee. As they make their escape through the forest, the dead suddenly begin to rise and pursue them. The dealers get very lucky as they stumble across a car with an axe and a chainsaw inside. Will they survive?

REVIEW:

Sure, it's a story that's been done before with the old wive's tale about people disappearing into the forest, but the movie takes this cliche concept and manages to twist it into something fun and entertaining with a group of druggies with guns.

At only 45 minutes in length, the movie never wears out its welcome and displays some decent splatter scenes. Body parts are sawn and hacked off, zombies are shot several times until they're dead, the undead feast on the living and many organs and gallons of blood are spilled...

Despite being an amateur production, Changing Life is pretty well-made given the circumstances. The handheld camera work, while shaky in some spots, is decent enough and easy to watch. The movie is well-edited with good cuts, transitions and fitting music. The special effects, while cheap yet again, are just a lot of fun! Ridiculous amounts of blood spray and spurt out of every wound and cut, painting the dealers red practically. Some of the highlights include an axe to the arm and a zombie with a big afro.

The only thing the film could've done differently is maybe change up the ending a bit, as the ending is a little underwhelming. But I digress because I had a lot of fun watching this. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the filmmakers went on to do anything else. That sucks, because Changing Life certainly shows their potential!

RELEASES:

-Changing Life was first released on VHS by Sen Productions on October 19, 2001.

-The film was later re-released by Sen Productions, this time on Super Video-CD on September 24, 2003. The disc comes with animated menus and a handful of trailers.

-And finally, on October 31, 2004, Changing Life was released on a limited edition DVD with a slew of extras including an audio commentary, interviews, trailers, a photo gallery and English and German subtitles.

Check out their website to watch or order the movie:

http://www.changinglife-themovie.com/

Anale Geburt (1999)

Anale Geburt (1999) - Germany
Directed by: Leif Lorenzen and Sönke Petersen

ABOUT THE FILM:

Anale Geburt is the third and final (?) entry in a series of amateur German "splatter" films made in the year 1999 by amateur splatter label CUM Pictures. This is the last movie of theirs that would come into the public eye, as their films' materials were seized during the making of their fourth movie Fötus Gulasch.

So after Exhumed and Circumcised and Permanent Diarrhea and Hemorrhoids, what new could the colorfully-titled Anal Birth bring to the table?

REVIEW:

To be honest, this is more of a stream-of-conscience rant than it is a proper review.

What more can I say about Anale Geburt than was said about the previous two films? It's pretty much just more of the same old trash. It's a collection of short stories that have no connection to each other and are just more of the same thing. Shitting, eating shit, raping puppets, really bad amateur gore scenes, annoying camera work and really ugly video quality; the list goes on. 

The only things that remotely set this film apart from the other two is that the stories are much longer, and some of the gore effects are a bit more ambitious, even if not good. Probably the only decent effect in the film is when one of the characters is found laying in a field full of horse dung with his leg cut off by a spade. Even through the horrific quality, the effect looks halfway decent, and clearly had some effort put into it. I just wish it was in a better movie.

The problem with these movies is that they try way too hard to be shocking and gross, and have nothing else to really offer. The two shit on newspapers and crucifixes and stick googly eyes on the shit. They fuck their rabbit. They perform necrophilia on a corpse in their basement. They try to kill a puppet after discovering the puppet shits on them in their sleep. It's just pointless filth and depravity. And on top of that, the movie is way too long at about 90 minutes.

The end credits were pretty cool though.

RELEASES:

-Anale Geburt was distributed by CUM Pictures on VHS and sold through advertisements in the Gory News magazine. However, due to the scarcity of the film, it is currently only available on bootleg DVDs.