Cool as Hell

Director - James Balsamo (I Spill Your Guts)
Starring - James Balsamo, Dan E. Danger (I Spill Your Guts), and Billy Walsh (I Spill Your Guts)
Release Date - 2013
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screening DVD sent by director James Balsamo)

Rating (out of 5):

     A week or so ago I was checking out indie horror flicks on Facebook when I came across this little gem here.  I liked the page and forgot about it until the next day when I saw Nick Box talking about it.  He said he had a small role in the film.  I like Nick Box and support him in anyway I can so I sent the Facebook page a message requesting a screener.  The director was kind enough to send me a DVD to review.  Like I said in one on my recent reviews, I actually asked a few other horror film pages the same and a some sent me DVDs copies as well.  I personally felt like a bad ass when I got this in the mail but deep down I was slightly worried.  What if I did not like the film?  I promised myself when I started writing reviews that I would be honest.  I honestly respect any filmmaker, however, if I do not like the film my review will reflect.  So as I watched the film I promised myself I would be honest.
     The film follows the worlds unluckiest man, Rich (Balsamo).  Rich has no style and has problems picking up the ladies.  However, he is very kind and sincere which is a quality that goes unnoticed in the city.  One night Rich hears a lady scream and rushes to her rescue.  After rushing to the spot where he hears the scream he comes face to face with a demon.  He instinctively burns it with his cigarette before running for his life.  The demons follows him home and a game of cat and mouse ensues before Rich discovers the demon is not there to hurt him but to serve him.  The green demon, Az (Walsh), is now enthralled to rich because he burned him with his cigarette.  Rich and his foulmouthed friend Benny (Danger) use Az's power to score with the ladies but that falls flat after Rich falls for a gangster's comic reading hottie girlfriend.  The gangster is physically and emotional abusive to his girlfriend and is often hooking up with other women when she is not around.  Over time she starts to warm up to Rich, at least that is until all her friends start to turn up brutally dismembered.  She reveals that she summoned the demon to take care of her man but was unaware she had to burn the demon to enthrall it and has now unleashed a demon far more worse than Az.  It is up to the three of them to save the beautiful young girl from the bloodthirsty demon.
     I honestly had no idea of what to expect when I put this movie in.  I heard a few people talk about it on various horror sites so I decided to watch the trailer before watching the actual film.  I really liked the trailer so I had high hopes for the flick.  The acting in this one is pretty horrible even by b-movie standards.  Balsamo and Walsh are this films only saving grace, however, there was a few scenes where Balsamo just seemed out of place and awkward in is role.  Walsh was truly the star of the film and delivered an amazing performance.  I loved the character of Az and his portrayal.  Unfortunately, Az is not in the film as much as I expected or would have liked to see.  The story is very well written and is  reminiscent of an 80's coming of age story.  In fact, I think the film would have been a lot more effective if the role of Rich and Benny was cast to teenagers.  Balsamo is very convincing in his role as lovelorn Rich and often invokes pitty from the viewer when it does not fit in the film.  That brings me to the humor.  The movie is very funny and at times very hysterical.  I have seen my fair share of low budget horror comedies and I rarely laugh at them like I did this one.  Most of the time the humor completely catches you off guard and I love that.  Finally, the special effects are actually good for the most part.  The zombies look great and put me in mind of the zombies from Return of the Living Dead.  I also liked the way Az looked.  It was very simple but fit the film perfectly.  However, the film kinda skips on actual deaths and substitutes them with comical off camera gags.  I love horror and comedy combined but when it comes to kills no humor should be added.  Overall, Balsamo has crafted a hilarious flick that will leave you laughing.  The acting may not be the best but that only adds to the charm  I recommend checking this one out.