Assassinaut

Director - Drew Bolduc (Science Team, The Taint)
Starring - Shannon Hutchinson (A Story About Wendy 2), Vito Trigo (Pig Pen, Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1), and Jasmina Parent (District 31, Genesis)
Release Date - 2019
Genre - Sci-Fi/Horror
Tagline - "Coming of age at the end of the universe"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     Several years ago I started buying up as many obscure 70s and 80s action and sci-fi flicks that I could find to review for my blog.  This opened the door to some exploitation and so on but I soon found myself watching more indie horror than anything.  You can't help what you love I guess.  It was around this time that Drew Bolduc's The Taint was released.  I fucking loved the film and soon after befriended Drew on Facebook.  A few years passed and he released another highly entertaining indie flick Science Team.  This sci-fi flick was just as entertaining as The Taint which is saying something.  It's been some time since Drew released a new film but that changed a few months back when Epic Pictures released Drew's newest Assassinaut on blu.  I had to have it so I made sure to grab a copy to add to my collection.  Glad I did because it was a fun sci-fi and horror mash up.

     The film follows a group of children who are training as part of an astronaut program to visit a space station to meet the president.  The trip starts out innocently enough but soon an assassination attempt on the president forces the crew of the space station to flee to a nearby planet when a bomb was found on the assassins body.  They crash land and soon find their commander and look to him for help to survive.  He takes them all in and while fishing they find an unknown species but it is host to a parasite that infects the commander and forces him to kill the kids one by one before they can reach the president.    
      I absolutely loved The Taint and Science Team so I had a lot of high hopes for this one.  Drew is a phenomenal story teller and filmmaker.  His stories may be ridiculous and out there but they are fun.  Assassinaut is a bit slower than his previous films but it still worked for what it was.  The acting in this one is a little inconsistent.  Vito Trigo was fantastic just like every film I've ever seen him in.  This character lacks a little of the personality I'm used to seeing him portray but he still does a phenomenal job.  The main cast is great as well.  The cast is young but they show more promise than most who act as a career.  The story for this one is a little generic and by the numbers when compared to the previous films from Bolduc but it still has it's moments that catch you off guard.  The movie does start out on the slow side but once the action picks up you find yourself invested in the film.  We get some action sequences, some sci-fi elements, and then you git a good bit of horror tossed in as well.  Finally, this one has some very unexpected kills that catch you off guard every time.  They are brutal and mostly use practical effects. The practical effects we get are fucking fantastic and the visual effects are solid as well.  They do stick out some but not enough to ruin the shot.  Overall, Assassinaut is another must own for indie horror fans.  The film may look like a straight forward sci-fi flick but there is enough horror elements tossed in to satisfy even the most dedicated genre fan.  Check it out now on blu from Epic Pictures.