Lights Camera Blood

Director - Kevin Doherty (Black Bridge, Wild Turkeys)
Starring - Alan MacKenzie (Black Bridge, I Come in Pieces), Dan Baker-Moor (The Jogger, The Trainman), and Heather Russell
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "Prepare to shutter in terror"

Rating (out of 5):

     I've watched too many big budgets flicks in a short amount of time and needed to change that up.  I love all horror but sometimes I need the humor and absurdity that only no budget horror flicks can offer.  Recently, I've watched Mayhem, Brawl in Cell Block 99, and The Lawnmower Man.  All are great films in their own right but they just don't have the off the wall comedy and offensive humor that I like so much.  After looking through my review stack I came across the SRS release of Lights Camera Blood.  This indie endeavor immediately put me in mind of the early works of Herschell Gordon Lewis.  I tossed it in and I'm glad I did.  I want to thank MVD and SRS for sending this one my way to check out.

     The film follows low budget director Mandalor (MacKenzie) and his assistant Rodney (Baker-Moor) as they try to pitch their short to a film executive who rips it apart for its shitty effects and horrible acting.  Mandalor refuses to quit and attempts another film when his lead actress gets the best of him.  He kills her while Rodney records and then edits the murder in order to sell the film.  The film exec loves it and commissions a feature length film and Mandalor knows what he has to do.  He casts homeless people to slay on film in order to achieve that look the film exec is looking for.  Things take a bleak turn when Rodney falls in love with a young woman and casts her fiancé in the film to get rid of him.  Mandalor has him murdered on film but his disappearance sparks a police investigation by his fiancée.  Mandalor has to stay off the police's radar all while dealing with his unexpected fame.
     Lights Camera Blood is one of those films where you just know you are going to enjoy yourself.  I just knew the film would have the quirky characters and puns that I love in no budget horror.  The film did not let me down in the slightest and I am confident when I would recommend watching this as a double feature with any of HGL's classic gore flicks.  The acting in this one is over the top and brilliant.  The cast will won't be winning any rewards but they breathed some air into some larger than life characters that really made the film worth watching.  The entire cast made the film fun and I applied their efforts.  The story for this one is simple and one we've seen before.  There has been countless horror films, especially slashers, that follows a movie crew that butchered the cast in order to make the film feel authentic.  Hell, not long ago I reviewed the Joe Pilato lead horror film Special Effects that follows this same story.   What makes this one so much fun is the fact that the characters stand out and the film doesn't take itself too seriously.  Finally, the film is full of gore.  The effects are not that realistic but they fit the style of the film and adds another dimension to the overall enjoyment.  Overall, Lights Camera Blood is a no budget gore-filled horror comedy that needs to be seen.  Check this one out!