Followers of the Dead Light (2020)

Followers of the Dead Light (2020) - Canada
Directed by: Yan Kaos

ABOUT THE FILM:
Followers of the Dead Light is one of the latest feature length endeavors from Canadian sicko Yan Kaos, who is joined by a handful of directors from around the globe to bring us quite possibly one of the most demented and depraved movies ever conceived! Featuring work from Yan Kaos, Darren Ricci, Melissa Sapienza, Rob Ceus, Inge Vanleene, Jonas Bekaert, Alex Wesley, Maria Kostromina, Joe and Cid Meredith, Esa Jussila, Artturi Rostén, Nathan Hine, Bob Vresilovic, Tyffany Laskey, Splat, Camille Monette, Brian Paulin, Rich George, Ashley Valentine, Ronnie Kaye and Brian Garret.

REVIEW:
Followers of the Dead Light is quite a complicated beast when it comes to actually trying to review it. Usually when I review a movie I like to start by summarizing the plot, but the plot in Followers is very cryptic and vague, yet better off kept that way. Followers almost feels like an anthology, with different scenes and vignettes from different directors, but apparently Yan gave each director involved an idea for the scenes he wanted to bring out demonic spirits. Each scene is tied together into one giant conglomeration of extreme violence, brutality, blasphemy, necrophilia, Satanic imagery, nihilism, sexual deviancy; I could go on all day! Every single scene does its best in bringing out the ugliest and most evil sides of humanity, bombarding us with the most grotesque and heinous imagery possible while building a hell of an atmosphere with its soundtrack. Seriously, some of the stuff in this movie is the shit nightmares are made of.

In this day and age, there are many extreme films in the underground scene or out on the market that feel like they're either trying too hard to outdo each other in shock value, or like they're just trying to make a quick buck. Followers of the Dead Light isn't necessarily breaking any new ground but it breaks the mold of the constant pissing contest of who can make the more extreme movie. Followers is all about passionate underground horror filmmakers coming together to make a project they believe in, a project for fans of horror and extreme cinema alike to revel in. At a runtime of an hour and fifty minutes, Followers has grotesqueries, gore and depravity in spades and delivers to its fullest extent, and then some. Unfortunately, the movie feels slow in some spots and could've used a little tightening up, but overall the film is edited very well and greatly showcases the capabilities of every person involved.

The film has next to no dialogue and the acting is quite a mixed bag from scene to scene, but everyone turns in a decent showing and does the absolute best they possibly could. One of my favorite segments is by Finnish filmmakers Artturi Rostén and Esa Jussila, where a man being held hostage has his face brutally beaten and caved in with a hammer and a dumbbell, and the victim (played by Rostén) seems to be genuinely fearing for his life. Good fucking stuff.

But that scene is just the tip of the iceberg. We have endless gory scenes including (but not limited to) nails being shoved up dicks, decapitations, heads being split in half, faces chopped and peeled off, guts being torn into and eaten, castrations, bathtub abortions, throat slittings and a wide array of morbid and gruesome deaths. Some of these scenes are so graphic that they will make even the most seasoned gorehounds cringe!

The gore and makeup effects are very well done except for one scene where a hand is being chopped up on a blue tarp, and is obviously just a rubber hand with nothing in it. It caught me a little off guard and cracked me up but it didn't pull me out of the movie completely since every other effect was fucking amazing.

If you're looking for a traditional film with a linear structure then you're in the wrong place. Followers of the Dead Light is the product of the sick mind of Yan Kaos and can be described as the ultimate underground film. I can absolutely recommend it to all fans of extreme cinema as its a perverted ride you'll never forget.

RELEASES:
Followers of the Dead Light was released on DVD by D.I.Y. Productions in 2020 in three different editions, all three with different cover artworks and limited to 50 copies each. For extras we get a bunch of trailers for other releases from Yan Kaos.

My Lovely Burnt Brother and His Squashed Brain (1988)

My Lovely Burnt Brother and His Squashed Brain (1988) - Italy
Directed by: Giovanni Arduino

ABOUT THE FILM:

My Lovely Burnt Brother and His Squashed Brain is an Italian horror/comedy film that was created by Giovanni Arduino and Andrea Lioy, under the names "J.J. Hard" and "A.G. Stewart." The movie was made around 1987-1988, when the era of Italian genre films was slowly coming to a halt before fading away in the 90's. This was an era that left behind a treasure trove of Euro horror, gore and giallos (Italian murder mysteries).. and of course this little underground gem.

The story is told through a framing device of a bored customer who rents a tape from his local video store, much to the opposition of the clerk. He takes the tape home and pops it in, and then the real movie begins. We follow Jane, a woman who works at a dentist's office and is constantly being sexually harassed by her patients for being unattractive, and these patients can be pretty ugly towards her. She's even being followed by an annoying and condescending saleswoman trying to sell beauty products, who further lays into Jane for being an "ugly hag."

While at home, Jane has to watch after her brother Bernie, who was left so horribly disfigured from a car accident that he covers his face with a Ku Klux Klan mask. Why? Well.. because the car was black... Yeah. Bernie has been in extreme pain and risks dying unless he can shoot up some more junk. As she is officially fed up with the harassment from clients and the saleswoman and her handicapped brother, she snaps and replaces Bernies's morphine with her own urine. After injecting him, she finds that Bernie begins following her every command, no matter how extreme, and decides she can use Bernie to get bloody revenge against her disreputable clients...

REVIEW:

I remember first hearing about this movie when I was about 13-14 years old and just starting to get into obscure and underground cinema. I found clips of this movie on YouTube and despite the horrific video quality, I found myself quite intrigued by some of the oddities on hand. A handicapped morphine junkie being injected with piss? Said morphine junkie licking his sister's shoes clean and eating his own puke? A death by a dildo to the mouth? I had to see this movie!

After years and years of hunting for a watchable copy of this movie I finally managed to track down an official DVD release, on a compilation called VHS Generation 2. I have never been more happy to see a movie in good shape. The reason why, frankly, is because My Lovely Burnt Brother is one of my all-time favorite underground films and was an incentive for me to seek out more obscure movies..

When it comes to the movie itself, My Lovely Burnt Brother is one of those love it or hate it type of deals. It has everything from gross-out humor, to inventive, over-the-top deaths, really bad and corny jokes, random musical numbers, the list goes on. A lot of people criticize this movie for its humor and for its attempts to shock or to be as politically incorrect as possible, and feel like more could have been done with it. This is a genuine criticism, but in my opinion, it works because it has some bearing on the plot. Every shocking and offensive thing that happens does so for a purpose and has an effect on later events in the movie. However, the story isn't free from error.

In the movie, there is a side-plot about one of the detectives looking into the murders Bernie is committing. She had to give up her life of being a punk rocker to work as a detective, after her cowboy father was killed by ruthless gangsters. While this gives the character some depth, this doesn't have any real bearing on the rest of the plot, and it feels kind of contrived as a result. I feel like it would have worked better if the writer tried to expand upon that idea and make it fit the plot, rather than just using it as a running gag like it is. Aside from that flaw, the movie is decently-paced and the story is pretty easy to follow, although occasionally the story halts for a joke to be made.

Speaking of jokes, a lot of this movie's humor comes from the actors body language. The acting is so over-the-top that it compares to silent-era cinema and to slapstick comedies from the 30's. There isn't an awful lot of dialogue, and there are a lot of scenes that are only accompanied with music, so the actors have to really ham it up. The movie was shot on 16mm film, so all of the audio had to be dubbed in during post. The dialogue is mostly badly dubbed and often times the doesn't even match the actor's mouth, but this just further adds to that cheesy 80's horror feel. I'm also a big fan of the music. Whether you like the movie or not, we can probably agree that this movie has a solid soundtrack, complete with lo-fi horror synth music and grimy punk tunes that fit this movie like a glove. Even the main theme at the opening is pretty cool too! It's not as good as anything from Goblin, but it's still catchy.

On the note of murder scenes, while the movie isn't an absolute gorefest, we get a handful of very fun and memorable splatter scenes, including the dildo death, a face in a deli meat-slicer, death by electric eels, and a nasty forced drug overdose. When I first watched this movie in a 10th generation bootleg state, I was pretty impressed with the gore effects, and even when watching the movie in a very clean state, the effects still hold up! The make-up is very well done and adds to the movie's grindhouse-style feel, in addition to the grainy, damaged film stock.

When all is said and done, I'm just really glad that I watched this movie to begin with, because it was one of my first introductions to this side of cinema and is one of the reasons why I love underground horror. Even if it's sleazy, trashy and in bad taste, it's so much better than the vast majority of the stuff that is being regurgitated by major studios with millions of dollars. This movie continues to remind me of what people with very little money and a camera are capable of making and unleashing on the world, and I'm grateful that this movie exists. If you're a fan of underground trash, obscure Euro horror and cheesy 80's movies then My Lovely Burnt Brother is an absolute must-see!

RELEASES:

According to one of the actors, this movie was never officially released in Italy for decades but was floating around in the underground tape trading scene throughout America. According to co-director Giovanni Arduino, the movie was made as a love-letter to the films of John Waters, and was made with American audiences in mind. It was originally distributed in America by a company called Ark Films, but apparently, most of the bootleg copies floating around are sourced from a tape given to Donald Farmer, another independent filmmaker. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any records of an original VHS and I don't see myself finding one any time soon.

Thankfully, the movie was officially released in 2019, courtesy of Home Movies Italy. The movie came paired with a handful of other shorts, as well as an introduction by director Arduino and also an incredibly rare making-of featurette!

If you want to get a legal copy of this movie, look for VHS Generation 2 on DVD. There aren't any English subs like there are on the bootlegs, but the quality of the print on the DVD and the extras alone make it worth so much more than any crummy bootleg could offer.

Frankenström (2001)

Frankenström (2001) - Finland
Directed by: Markus Staaf

ABOUT THE FILM:
Frankenström is a 2001 independent horror/comedy film from Finnish film crew Bad Egg Films, who have graced the Finnish underground scene with classics such as Epäkuolleet and Bugi Fiction in the early 2000's. Bad Egg Films first made their debut in late 1999 with the 20-minute slasher short Sipolan Teurastaja and continued to make short and feature length films until they sadly went defunct in 2004 after their final endeavor, Maanantai.

Frankenström tells the story of friends Aleksi and Teemu who visit their friend Vihtori Frankenström on his birthday, and the two gift Vihtori with a DVD and a metric fuck-load of cocaine. The three party and indulge in endless coke-snorting, but things take an ugly turn when Vihtori overdoses and dies. Aleksi and Teemu panic and attempt to resurrect their friend with an adrenaline shot by needle, but to no avail. Luckily, their friend Aapo is a medical student who is also fascinated with resurrection, so they go to him to bring Frankenström back to life before his girlfriend Maikki or anyone else notices. The operation is a success, but after a chunk of Frankenström's brain is accidentally eaten by Aapo, Frankenström turns into a complete monster and kills a police officer. The hunt begins; special forces are on the gang's tail and events of epic proportions ensue.

REVIEW:
Frankenström is a ridiculous yet thoroughly entertaining horror/comedy that is sure to suck you in within seconds of turning the movie on. You will be amazed and enthralled by the over-the-top and cartoonish acting, the dodgy green screen effects, the overly fake wigs and costumes, and the sheer energy that the actors put into their characters. And the movie only gets better and funnier as the story progresses, never once becoming boring or overstaying its welcome and perfectly balancing its serious aspects with its comedic elements. As a comedy, the film does a good job of getting the viewer invested in characters you can laugh at. And while the characters do give their share of laughs, at the same time, you can't help but want to root for them and see them win when in peril. The actors do a fairly good job of getting the viewer invested in the characters, and even if their performances aren't Oscar-worthy material, they're still very enjoyable to watch and made me laugh a lot.

For an independent shot-on-video production, Frankenström has a lot working in its favor. Full on gore-effects, explosions, gunplay, elaborate (if dodgy) green screen effects, action-movie style stunts and even a well-done car crash scene. The movie is competently edited and scored with an array of metal tunes and classical pieces. The camera work, while not perfect, focuses nicely on the action and there are some very well-thought out shots such as the seemingly endless yet hilarious shot of special forces troops running out of a small van. While Frankenström isn't driven solely on its gore, there are quite a few bloody scenes and they're executed pretty well, minus a few effects that could have used more work. There are plenty of squibs and exploding faces and heads, heads are cut and drilled into, limbs are blown apart, it's all there.

If you're looking for a movie with a different, yet straightforward approach to the classic Frankenstein mythos, you're going to be quite disappointed. However, if you want to shut your brain off and just watch some good ol' mindless B-movie fun, I can absolutely recommend Frankenström.

RELEASES:

-Frankenström made its theatrical premiere in Finland in December, 2001 and would later see a DVD and VHS release courtesy of Bad Egg Films and Future Film. The DVD came packed with Finnish and English commentary tracks, Finnish, English and Swedish subtitles, three making-of featurettes, deleted scenes, a photo gallery, trailers, two music videos and a short film called El Pok Erimas Sacre.