Easter Casket

EASTER CASKET
Writer/Director:Dustin Wade Mills
Starring:Josh Eal, Erin R. Ryan, Brandon Salkil, Dave Parker, Dustin Wade Mills
Availability: DVD (blu rays are sold out) available at dmp.storeenvy.com
Rating:

    Easter.  What a weird fucking holiday.  I come from a family comprised almost entirely of atheists, so as we were sitting at the dinner table tonight, I looked at my dad and asked him why we celebrate this odd, random holiday when none of us are religious.  Neither one of us could come up with a good answer.  It's just the way it's always been for us.  I mean, I suppose maybe we do it for the kids?  Who the fuck knows?  The point is Easter makes no sense to me, and I can't quite fathom why so many of us atheists celebrate it.

    Another thing that pisses me off about Easter is that there are basically no good Easter-themed horror movies.  That was, until about a year ago, when Dustin Mills unleashed this whacked-out little flick.  Now, Dustin Mills is a guy I feel weird writing about.  I've been following his career ever since The Puppet Monster Massacre hit the scene, and I'd say for the past year and a half, I've developed a pretty strong kinship with the guy.  So, you could say I'm a little biased.  I've also promised Dustin that I will always be honest with him when it comes to any of his films, and no bullshit, the guy just happens to be my favorite director working right now in the independent scene.

    Easter Casket was the last (and arguably best) of his early, goofier films before he took a turn towards more mature and darker fare like The Ballad Of Skinless Pete and Kill That Bitch.  It boasts to be the only horror film to actually have the Easter Bunny as the villain, and well, with as shocking as it is that nobody has done it before, the boast is absolutely correct.  Plus, the Easter Bunny is played a fucking puppet, which just makes it even more bad-ass.  Plus, Mills's voice work for the puppet is so over the top and hilarious, that you almost sort of love the guy despite being a vicious psychopath.  Mills hasn't done a lot of work with puppets since, which is why its refreshing that his next film is going to be a puppet snuff film (!).

    Easter Casket was just a true example of a director truly finding his voice.  The Puppet Monster Massacre and Night of the Tentacles (also known as Heart Attack) were both fantastic little movies with a lot of imagination and very little money.  Zombie A Hole and Bath Salt Zombies weren't quite as strong (Bath Salt Zombies was also a bit of a compromised film anyway), but they both had enough great moments to show that Mills was a director with an original voice.  This was the film, though, where all the elements came together to make what was, at the time, his best work.  You have all the Mills trademarks here: blood (a mixture of practical and well-done CGI), lots of graphic nudity, some colorful characters, and a potent blend of offbeat humor and effective horror.

    This was also the movie that introduced a lot of us to Erin R. Ryan, an incredibly strong actress who has gone on to be a muse for a good handful of modern indie directors, working on several of Dustin's films, as well as the films of Eric Widing, Henrique Couto, and Shawn Burkett.  She is a true revelation here.  Josh Eal is also quite good as the priest out for vengeance against the evil fucking bunny, playing his role incredibly straight despite all the ridiculous things going on around him.  There's also a terrific supporting performance from the great Brandon Salkil (a fixture of just about every Dustin Mills production), and a hilarious cameo from Dave Parker (affectionately known as Mr. Parka for those who have followed his internet reviews throughout the years.

    Now, I haven't really discussed much of the plot here, but why spoil the fun?  A lot of you have already seen it, and those of you who haven't, I've given you more than enough reasons to finally seek this bad boy out.  Mills is a true machine.  Since PPM first hit DVD in 2011, he's worked on 7 features (with 2 more on the way), worked on a couple anthology shorts, did effects work for numerous projects.  There's a reason I have nothing but mad love for the guy.  This is the first time I've watched Easter Casket in nearly a year, and watching it now, I can safely say I still love this fucking movie!  It's a rare holiday horror flick that works.

    Until next time, my fellow freaks and weirdos...