Zombie Toxin (1996)

Zombie Toxin (1996) - United Kingdom
Directed by: Tom J. Moose

THE MAKING OF A BRITISH TRASHTERPIECE:

Tom Moose, Adrian Ottiwell and Robert Taylor began making films together in 1989 when they all met in their teenage years in school. They made a few amateurish comedies and short films together, some about chickens and superheroes. But it wasn't until 1992, when Tom was brewing his own homemade white wine, that he came up with an idea for a feature-length film; a film we would come to know as Zombie Toxin, but it was originally named Homebrew. Tom pitched his idea to Robert and Adrian, and they wrote a rather complex story. What started off as a simple yet absurd comedy would later devolve into a convoluted tale about Nazis, zombies with diarrhea, horse slaughter and killer, sentient wine bottles. Tom and crew never intended to make a "sick" film so they employed as much humor as possible when making the movie to keep it from being too dark.

A script was never written for Homebrew. The filmmakers would literally make up the dialogue and scenes as they went along, but this made for very confusing and tedious shoots. On top of the movie's ultra low budget, there were a few special effects and pyrotechnics involved that made for dangerous times on set, which resulted in a lot of the effects having to be done with computers. Homebrew began shooting in 1993 and wrapped up in 1996, and it was around this time that Tom and crew were really spreading the word about their movie. Tom wrote in to multiple zine publishers looking for help finishing the movie. 

Steve Lawson, a filmmaker and the author of the underground movie zine A Bag of Sand wrote a few articles about Homebrew in different issues and not only promoted the film, but also chipped in on production. Tom gave Steve ideas of what the film was like and Steve ended up making all of the music up without seeing any of the movie. Steve used an Amiga computer and a program called Pro-Tracker to score the film, and then sent the score to Tom via a computer disk for mixing. The film was shot entirely on SVHS and was edited together using video mixers and computer graphics, with the titles and effects being done at a video company where Tom worked at the time. After years of hard work and stress, Homebrew was finally completed later in 1996 and was lucky to get international distribution and a reputation as one of the most ambitious and sick amateur movies to ever emerge from the underground.

Now that's all well and good, but I've rambled plenty about the behind-the-scenes details. What is the movie about? Well it's very hard to say exactly, but I'll give you my best plot description possible. Two Satanists (who look more like KKK members) that run a torture and shoe-repair business employ one Mr. Nasty to slaughter a horse for a ritual they're planning. When the procedure gets too bloody and messy, Mr. Nasty is infected by the horse's innards, which spread a deadly toxin that will turn anyone into a flesh-hungry zombie. Mr. Nasty's goofy, unlucky assistant Benny dumps the horse's innards into the river. But things get worse when a farmer drinks from the river and turns into a zombie with chronic diarrhea. His diarrhea infects his yeast crops, which two Nazis harvest to make homemade wine in an attempt to take over the world. But the plan backfires, and the wine bottles come to life and start attacking everyone. Who will stop the reign of the evil wine bottles?

REVIEW:
So... yeah. Homebrew is a shot-on-video splatter comedy from Britain. It is also one of the most batshit insane movies I've ever seen, even to this day. This movie is pure non-stop madness, but it's one of the most hilarious indie movies I've ever seen. It's the greatest thing Troma never released! The plot is by far the most ridiculous and convoluted thing about the movie, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love how stupid it is. The story is so nonsensical and we are constantly introduced to characters who get hastily killed off or only exist to be running jokes. Every character's motivations are paper-thin and lack explanation, which would normally kill any other film. But in a comedy like Homebrew, you're so engulfed by its insanity that you're too entertained to care! 

The acting ranges from laughably bad to over-the-top and hammy like bacon. Every actor seems like they're using everything in their power to not burst out laughing, which makes things even better. I can't blame them when half of them are running around in ridiculous costumes, gaudy wigs and fake mustaches while singing corny songs (yes, there are songs) and spouting great one-liners about shitting their own innards out.

Speaking of shit, there's a lot of it in this movie. There are multiple scenes where we get graphic closeups of (obviously fake) shit spewing from zombie's asses, as well as a lot of green, glowing chunky vomit. Without meaning to spoil, one of the best and nastiest scenes in the movie involves two zombies, a lot of shit, vomit, and some really messy gore effects. For an amateur production, the camera, editing, and special effects are especially impressive. Granted, we do get a lot of very cheap looking digital effects that were clearly made with a low-grade computer. But the gore, makeup and other practical effects are pretty well done considering the obviously ultra-low budget. The camera work is very inventive and there are some very creative shots, such as a scene involving a character being run over by a train, POVs from the killer wine bottles, and so much more. The editing and sound mixing, while rough in some spots, is mostly well-done, and even the score is pretty cool, if cheesy and rough around the edges. So while this movie isn't ultra-polished or smart, it's a hell of a lot of fun and there's plenty of gore and dark humor for horror fans to enjoy!

I love this movie. It's one of my favorite shot-on-video flicks, and is also one of my favorite British underground flicks. Tom Moose, unfortunately, didn't do too much later in his film career. After Homebrew, Tom and crew began working on a parody of government-conspiracy movies called Viva Las Venus, but that project was never finished. Tom made a few smutty sex-comedies in the mid-2000's that did get distribution in America, but he never made anything else in the realm of horror-comedies, which is a shame. I'd love to see him and his crew take on making one more absurd dark comedy. But I'm at least content knowing he made this masterpiece of trash. Absolutely check this movie out!

RELEASES:

-Homebrew was originally self-released by Viscera International Pictures in 1996 on VHS.

-Homebrew was later re-released on VHS in the UK by Screen Edge.

-Finally, Homebrew was released on VHS in the USA by Alternative Cinema under its old sub-label Shock-O-Rama Cinema, but the name and title card were changed to Zombie Toxin for the American market. There's also another VHS edition from Shock-O-Rama with the name Zombie Brew on the box, but the opening credits have the original Homebrew title card. Alternative Cinema has teased a DVD re-issue of the film for years now, but the release has yet to materialize. Which really sucks. I would kill to see some bloopers, behind the scenes or interviews!

MORE PICTURES:

CREDITS:

Pictures and stills courtesy of Ross Snyder of Saturn's Core Audio and Video, Michael Raso of Alternative Cinema, John Bentham of Screen Edge and Steve Lawson of Creativ Studios.

Barf Bunny (2021)

Barf Bunny (2021) - United States
Directed by: Jonathan Doe

ABOUT THE FILM:

I would like to give Jonathan Doe a big thank you for providing me with a screener copy for review! This review is based on the "Fetish-Gore Cut" of the movie.

Jonathan Doe is a filmmaker and is the mind behind the Cinema's Underbelly YouTube channel, as well as the Uneasy Terrain Explorers Club Podcast and many other creative endeavors. Barring a few short films he made over a decade ago as school projects, Jonathan has only recently gotten into producing and directing short and feature films. Barf Bunny is not only Jonathan Doe's first (barely) feature-length film, but it is also the first entry in what will become his "Erotic Grotesque Nonsense" series.

Barf Bunny stars Felicia Fisher, a fetish-gore actress known for her roles in various A Baroque House films, as the eponymous barf bunny. We join the bunny in the garden as she endlessly stuffs her face full of berries, carrots and grapes, and then pukes everything back up on the table, all the while teasing and attempting to seduce us. She doesn't like to play by the garden rules however. She tells us she doesn't like being told to play with her food and disobeys orders, thinking she's not being watched. But unbeknownst to the little barf bunny, she is being watched and she's about to pay...

REVIEW:
Barf Bunny is Jonathan Doe's love letter to grotesque fetish cinema along the lines of Lucifer Valentine's Vomit Gore series and the notorious Terrible Meal. Not once does the camera shy away as Felicia gorges herself on fruits and veggies, gags herself with a huge rubber carrot and pukes up everything she eats into jars. At some points she even picks up food from the jars with her toes, sucks on them and then eats them. Occasionally she spouts a funny line of dialogue, but the first 30 minutes is just puking and carrot deep-throating. So with that said, if you have a vomit or a foot fetish, you will enjoy this. I don't care for puke, snot or feet however. Although I have seen far worse things with vomit, this movie was pretty gross at points. My biggest complaint (and this is just a pet peeve) is the sound. Felicia constantly talks with her mouth full and smacks on her food a lot, which I personally can't stand. If I'm in public and someone is loudly enjoying their food, I'm quick to plug my ears and/or move away. But obviously grossing the viewer out was the point, so good job there.

The entire film takes place in one setting. Felicia sits at a table before what looks to be a hand-painted background of a garden, which looks quite nice. The colors are also very rich and the scene is lit well. The camera work is all handheld and is very smooth and steady, intently focusing on the grotesqueries unfolding before us. And the camera man isn't afraid to get in the splash zone, if you will. Speaking of splash, let's get into the gore effects. The gore and make-up was done by legendary make-up artist Marcus Koch and Jesse Seitz. Alongside James Bell, Marcus Koch is one of my favorite indie make-up artists and once more, along with Jesse Seitz, knocks it out of the park with Barf Bunny. The gore is incredible, it's detailed and gooey and the blood shines a beautiful, brilliant deep red as it sprays from the Barf Bunny's open neck cavity. The gore is all shown in slow-motion, which is made even better by the choice of music. Barf Bunny's soundtrack consists entirely of classical music, which I'm a huge sucker for. The ending of the Fetish-Gore Cut is amazing , and it made wading through all of the puke and snot worth it.

This film is definitely not for everyone, as it fits into one of the smallest niches possible. But if you're a lover of vomit, or gore, or both, then I highly recommend Barf Bunny. After seeing this I'm excited to check out new films from Jonathan Doe and the rest of the Erotic Grotesque Nonsense series. In the meantime, I highly recommend you check out the Cinema's Underbelly YouTube channel and Jonathan's podcast as they offer tons of great content!

RELEASES:
-Barf Bunny was released on DVD by Vile Video Productions in 2021. The movie comes in a very high-quality 2-disc set with amazing cover art from Martin Trafford. This set comes with both the Fetish-Gore Cut and the Emetophilia cut of Barf Bunny. Both cuts are mostly the same, but each one has a different ending. We also get a Making-Of featurette, interviews and a few trailers.

-The 2-disc set also comes in the Barf Bunny bundle, signed by the cast and crew. In the bundle you also get an exclusive Barf Bunny barf bag signed by the director, a piece of the table cloth used in the film, and also an 11" by 17" poster. If you're interested, I recommend checking out the Putrid Productions website here!

-The film was also released on limited runs of VHS and Blu-Ray in the United Kingdom by Dead Format Films.

Pot Zombies (2006)

Pot Zombies (2006) - United States
Directed by: Justin Powers

ABOUT THE FILM:
After reviewing tons of underground German splatter and odd, obscure shot-on-video titles, I'm finally taking a jab at a Troma film! ...Even though the movie in question barely deviates from the kinds of films I've already reviewed.
Pot Zombies is a film made in 2006 by up-and-coming amateur filmmaker Justin Powers, and it was soon picked up and distributed by Troma as part of their "Young Filmmakers Series" line, a line that didn't last very long. In fact it's hard to find any other titles released under this line, but I digress.
I remember buying this movie in 2015 from Hastings (RIP), as an ex-rental. It hadn't been rented for years and years, so the shop sold it to me for $2. At the time, I was getting more and more into Troma flicks, and I was building a sizable collection. I've seen some of the best the studio had to offer, like the Toxic Avenger, Poultrygeist and Redneck Zombies, to name a few. I've also seen some absolute trash like Rock 'n' Roll Space Patrol, Madigan's Millions and anything from Giuseppe Andrews. But then, there are films that are so bafflingly horrible that I don't know how to feel about them. Undeniably, Pot Zombies falls into that latter category.

REVIEW:
The "plot" of Pot Zombies, if you will, is about a barrel of toxic waste that makes its way into marijuana as it's being shipped to a small town, and anyone who smokes this toxic ganja turns into a green zombie with bouncy green CGI eyeballs and with the munchies for warm human innards. Of course, this "plot" is nothing but an excuse to showcase some of the most ineffective and laughable gore effects ever captured on videotape.
The entire movie rinses and repeats the same scenario over and over again across its 54 minute runtime. Smoke weed, zombies, death. Occasionally they change it up a bit, like in a scene at a venue where the bands the Dwarves and Damage Case are playing. Secondhand smoke fills the air and turns the crowd into zombies, and then carnage ensues. There's also a very gratuitous lesbian sex scene, but that's kind of par for the course in movies from Troma.

I will admit that there are things I enjoyed about this movie. There's a lengthy scene where a cop pulls over a hippie after he suspects him of being high off his ass. The hippie tries to convince the cop otherwise, but this devolves into a pointless anecdote about how he thought a raw chicken wasn't actually a chicken (?), and then the scene dives right back into bottom-of-the-barrel splatter territory. Funny enough, the guy playing the hippie is the only "actor" who put in something close to a good showing. Almost everyone else's performances are on par with low-budget porn, except for Lloyd Kaufman, who hams up his performance as a mentally handicapped pizza guy. But then again, I wasn't expecting top-notch acting from a movie about toxic weed zombies.

The camera work is acceptable throughout, nothing too bad. The editing is okay, although some scenes could have definitely used trimming down. The digital effects are just as bad as the gore effects, possibly worse. And the gore effects are already the remnants of the bottom of the barrel. There's a few uses of green-screen that look awful, tons of CGI blood and smoke, and while the soundtrack is decent, the sound mix is really bad. Sometimes dialogue is mixed so low that you can hardly hear what the actors are saying. If you're looking for a serious zombie movie with good story, characters and awesome gore, definitely skip this one. But if you like movies that are so god-awful that they're entertaining, I can kind of recommend Pot Zombies. It's atrocious, but I think the worst part is I kind of enjoyed it.

RELEASES:
-This movie was released by Troma (of course!) in 2007. DVD extras are kind of sparse, but the movie does come with a drinking/smoking game option, plus two music videos, a bunch of trailers for other Troma titles, and a short romantic comedy called Fiancé, which Justin Powers made in 2002. This short is actually better than Pot Zombies, but that's not saying much.

Blutnacht: Die Rache des Dämon (1999)

Blutnacht: Die Rache des Dämon (1999) - Germany
Directed by: Jochen Stephan, Hermann Weller

ABOUT THE FILM:
Jochen Stephan is a big movie fan with an even bigger movie collection, sporting thousands of DVD's, Blu-Rays, VHS tapes and more. He's been collecting movies for over 20 years at this point, and he has one of the best collections I've ever seen. Tons of rare underground and indie releases, and needless to say, tons of German splatter and horror. Jochen actively spends his time and money on collecting all of the underground German movies he can, but Jochen has also made a few horror films, and it's time to check out his first filmmaking endeavor.

"Scary find in the cornfield"

Blutnacht has a troubled history behind its production and its release. It was filmed between 10 to 12 days in 1999. After wrapping up the movie, one day someone from within the city found blood, animal guts, clothes and vampire teeth scattered all over the cornfield, where Blutnacht was filmed. Alarmed, this citizen called the police, the news and the media got involved, and they even brought in a police helicopter to look over the field for more body parts or clothes. They later found out everything was part of a film project, and the filmmakers hadn't finished cleaning yet. Everything traced back to Jochen and his film, and his house was raided and all of the film's materials were seized and investigated before being returned later. Because of its violence and bloodshed, the movie was marked as "indiziert," meaning it was placed on a list of media that could be harmful to German youth, but it wasn't completely banned (but close to it). The film was eventually taken off of the list, and on a VHS re-issue in 2002, Blutnacht came with television news reports on the aftermath. This same footage was also later included on the DVD release.

"Rider discovers gruesome horror film props"

But what about the film itself?

Blutnacht is about Jo, an ordinary German man who likes to have fun. One day, Jo and his buddies decide to meet up and have a party, and Jo brings his girlfriend along for the ride. But before the party, Jo is shocked and angered to discover his girlfriend fooling around with his best friend. So he confronts them and they quickly flee. Feeling betrayed, Jo walks off and wanders onto the road, where he is hit by a car. The driver gets out and discovers that he killed Jo, so he quickly escapes the scene. But the intense anger Jo felt toward his girl and his best friend manifests itself as a demonic force and resurrects Jo as a pissed off bloodthirsty demon, who sets out for revenge against humanity. As he stalks and kills everyone he finds in the countryside, he is followed by a companion who assists him in the killings, rewarding him with new killing tools and also making the bodies disappear. The blood night begins!

REVIEW:

The movie starts and after 10 long, boring minutes of nothing but Jochen and one of his friends driving and talking, we finally get into the meat of the story and the fun begins.

Blutnacht is a love-letter to all things underground splatter and horror, and you can tell everyone involved had a lot of fun making it. Everyone in the cast basically plays themselves, so the dialogue and exchanges don't feel awkward or unnatural, but are still far from professional. Jochen puts on an entertaining show as Jo, a brutal killing machine who just wants blood and guts, and he mercilessly chops, guts, slices up and decapitates everyone in his path. The story is plain and simple, but still maintains some originality with the aspect of Jo being followed and assisted by the other demon.

The gore effects in Blutnacht are pretty good by amateur film standards, and the kills are plentiful. Arms and body parts are hacked up and stabbed into, guts and innards are torn out of torsos, heads are pulled clean off of shoulders, and bodies are lit on fire, all the while blood sprays everywhere like a firehose. And the camera doesn't shy away from any of the gore, it captures every last second of the kills in their nasty glory. However, this causes some issues with the pacing and the editing. The movie is very slow at points, even when stuff is happening. The camera lingers a lot, with few angle changes or edits. Another problem is the picture quality and the lighting. Blutnacht was shot on a cheap video camera and was recorded almost entirely at night with very little lighting. Everything is lit with cars or with small lights, and this makes it hard to see what's going on at times. At one point a bright light flashes during a kill scene, as someone was taking photos off screen. The picture quality is very fuzzy and grainy, as if the footage had been copied from tape to tape a few times during editing. There are also points where you can see the play button from the VCR it was recorded on and the picture lags occasionally. So the film isn't pretty to look at, but it's what I expected from an amateur gore movie made in the late 90's.

Blutnacht feels a lot like one of those underground movies that the filmmakers made only to entertain themselves, out of their love of horror and gore. I feel that if the police never got involved in this movie, it would have been long forgotten and buried. But Blutnacht's production history marked its legacy, and the movie has forever casted its shadow onto the German underground scene.

I had a lot of fun with Blutnacht, even if it is technically flawed on many, many fronts.

RELEASES:
-Blutnacht was originally going to be released in 1999, but the police seized all of the materials before it could be released. Currently, only one copy of the original tape exists, in Jochen's possession.

-The movie was re-released on VHS in 2002 by WeSt Pictures after it was taken off of the "indiziert" list. This tape came with bonus footage at the end of the movie, showing various excerpts from newspapers about the film, as well as news report.

-Blutnacht was later re-released on DVD-R by WeSt Pictures, with the same extras as the old VHS release. You can purchase a copy from Jochen personally on Facebook.

-Blutnacht was released on DVD-R in the United Kingdom by OldSkull Video, along with its sequel. This was the only release to include English subtitles.

-Blutnacht was released on VHS again by Rotten Cat Media.

The only existing copy of the original tape.

Zombarella's House of Whorrors (2019)

Zombarella's House of Whorrors (2019) - United States

Directed by: Tony Masiello, Tim Ritter

ABOUT THE FILM:

Zombarella's House of Whorrors is the ultimate love-letter to the shot-on-video, straight-to-video sleazefest movies of the 80's and 90's while also parading itself as an X-rated version of late night cable access television shows. Filmmakers Tony Masiello, Tim Ritter, and the elusive "Fred Olen Wood" were brought together after all having worked together on previous projects like the anthology Hi-8: Horror Independent 8. Tony approached Tim in 2019 and asked if he would like to make a short film for an upcoming anthology. Tim happily obliged and also sent Tony some old footage that had never been released before, with everything melding together into this tribute to b-movies and late-night television.

The movie plays out as if it were an actual late-night cable access show and does so quite convincingly, with more b-movie trailers and 1-900 number adverts than you can shake a stick at. But the main attraction is an anthology of three short horror stories by Tony Masiello and Tim Ritter, compiled into an anthology called Tales from the Mausoleum, as hosted by the sexy and well-endowed Zombarella! Held within this sleazy anthology are tales of killer dolls, horny aliens, cannibal vampire call-girls from space, a lunatic obsessed with castrating people and many more crazy lo-fi shenanigans!

REVIEW:

Zombarella's House of Whorrors proves successful as an homage to low-budget b-movies and to cable access television, however there are a few nagging flaws that bother me about it. The first time I watched the movie I wasn't a big fan, but after giving it another shot it grew on me and I began to appreciate it more for what it is.

All of the short films, fake advertisements and movie-trailers are a huge mixed bag in terms of quality, production value and entertainment factor. Most of them are solid with premises so ridiculous and cheesy (such as Cannibal Vampire Call-Girl Hookers from Outer Space) that they amount to being the film's best moments, even if they are just adverts and not part of the actual anthology. Some of the trailers and the adverts are compiled from really old footage so the picture quality may change a lot from scene-to-scene, but it's not detrimental and even gives the film more variety to aid the cable-access vibe it was going for.

But then a lot of the adverts get really repetitive and drawn-out, such as the gratuitous amount of 1-900 "adults only" adverts. It feels like they were being added a lot to pad out the runtime more, and they bring the pace of the film down as a result. If there were maybe 2 or 3 of these ads scattered throughout instead of how many are actually there, the pacing problems wouldn't be as nagging or noticeable.

The actual stories in the anthology are interesting and varied in terms of creativity, with my personal favorite being the Computer Date segment due to the writing and copious amounts of gore. Unfortunately most of the acting across all of the shorts is not good, so it was a little hard trying to get invested. I understand that most of these people were just friends of the directors who wanted to be in the movie and aren't professionals. There's nothing wrong with that, but it gets to be distracting at points. However, the acting isn't necessarily super important in a film like this, as the movie is fueled by its creativity. Hell, even a lot of the ads and fake trailers are very funny and well-made, like the one for Wee Willy Winky.

The movie is well-edited and put together, the camera, lighting and sound is consistently decent and a lot of the gore effects are pretty well-done! We get tons of deaths in here featuring castrations, decapitations, axeings, stabbings, guttings, more genital mutilation and so much more!

While Zombarella's House of Whorrors isn't perfect, it's a very entertaining viewing experience with so many different things to offer to its audience. It has sex, it has violence and over-the-top gore, aliens, killer dolls, laughs, and it does nothing more than aim to entertain. They weren't trying to make high art or anything, it's just a bunch of horror fans making stuff other horror fans would enjoy! And I would recommend any self-respecting fan of shot-on-video horror and b-movies purchases a copy.

RELEASES:

-Zombarella's House of Whorrors was released by Tony Masiello himself under his company SOV Horror in 2019. It was their second ever DVD release and is still available today for an absurdly low price at their website. Unfortunately that doesn't stop assholes from pirating his hard work and swapping it around on the internet for free. Not fucking cool, you guys.

I would highly encourage any fans of shot-on-video movies, sex, gore and trash to purchase the movie and anything else Tony has released because he puts in an endless amount of effort into every single release he does! You can purchase the movie here!

The DVD comes with an audio commentary from Tony Masiello, deleted scenes, a bunch of trailers for other SOV Horror releases and an episode of Tony's cable-access show Mondo Bizarro!