Toe Tags

Director(s) - Irene Baruffetti (6 Songs, Vore Gore), Cory DeAn Cowley (Phallacies, Patient 4), Domiziano Cristopharo (Ill: Final Contagion, Phantasmagoria), Jon Devlin (Erecting a Monster, Punching the Clown), Adam Ford (Torment, Analogies), and Peter Lankston (Phallacies, Analogies)

Starring - Irene Baruffetti, Cory DeAn Cowley, and Jon Devlin

Release Date - 2026

Genre - Horror

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Many years ago I befriended actor and director Jon Devlin.  He was looking for people to review an action flick he was in.  I was impressed by his acting skill and soon found myself reviewing other films he had appeared in and directed.  Sometime ago I reviewed the male membered horror anthology Phallacies featuring a segment from him and several other filmmakers.  He continued this theme with the recent release of Analogies before this most recent anthology about a sexualized body part, Toe Tags.  Devlin reached out to me to check it out and I couldn't pass it up.  Thanks Jon for reaching out!

     This anthology focuses mostly on feet.  We have a tale following a woman that inherits her mother's shoes, a trans-woman wanting the perfect pair of feet, a child gets revenge against their abusive father, a mentally il person suffering a break, a man dancing with a ghost, and a mermaid wishing she still had her majestic tail. 

     I knew this one was going to absurd but I was hoping that it would embrace the nature of the film a bit more.  A horror anthology trying to remove the sexual taboo from feet could have been something pretty funny in it's own right.  However, what we have is a movie that takes itself a bit too seriously at times and is not as extreme as they would like to be.  The acting in this one is fairly even throughout.  The cast in this one is very broad but they all have experience in front of the camera for the most part.  We get some solid performances throughout every segment which is fairly uncommon among indie horror anthologies where each segment is directed by someone different.  The stories for this one varies greatly.  We have some pretty solid horror shorts with some that feel a bit out of place.  Most of them all follow the foot theme in one way another but not all were created equal.  With that being said, the first and second stories were probably my favorite while the last two tales were not that enjoyable.  I hate to be that way but they just wasn't for me.  Some are original to an extent while others try too hard to feel complex and thought provoking without actually being either of those.  Honestly, I wish we had a horror comedy centered around a foot fetish.  Finally, the film has several shorts with some blood and decent enough effects.  Don't expect to see a movie with insane gore and memorable deaths but you will see some blood along with some fun animation.  Overall, Toe Tags will not be for everyone.  I enjoyed parts of it but the film as a whole was not for me.  Fans of Devlin's previous anthologies will dig it but someone looking for something new may not enjoy it.  

Ginger Snaps

Director - John Fawcett (Orphan Black, The Dresden Files)

Starring - Emily Perkins (IT, Supernatural), Katharine Isabelle (Freddy Vs Jason, American Mary), and Kris Lemche (Final Destination 3, Goosebumps)

Release Date - 2000

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "The don't call it the curse for nothing"

Format - UHD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (Out of 5):

     I was in elementary school when my grandmother introduced me to Tom Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead.  We followed that viewing up with the original Romero classic which would solidify me as a horror fiend.  My middle school years were spent moving from being a cinephile to a horror junkie and my high school years were fundamental to shaping my taste in horror.  The early 2000s were crucial with some seriously amazing genre films hitting shelves like Romero's Land of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Dagon, Bubba Ho-Tep, Jeepers Creepers, 28 Days Later, High Tension, Versus, and so much more.  Controversy aside, early 2000s horror really made me the person that I am today and one of those films that I would often watch over and over again is the John Fawcett film Ginger Snaps.  I was well into my DVD collecting at this stage but I had found the movie super cheap on VHS and couldn't pass it up.  I kept that for years before upgrading to DVD when I found all three of the Ginger Snaps movies dirt cheap.  It would be the first time I had the chance to see the sequels and I would hold on to them for years.  A few weeks back I was sent the brand new 4K release of the first Ginger Snaps film from Vestron Video.  I had just revisited the trilogy at the end of last year but will never pass up a reason to watch these films.  I want to thank Vestron for sending this one along for review.

     The film follows the Fitzgerald sister, Brigitte (Perkins) and Ginger (Isabelle), are two young teens in high school who are obsessed with death and gore.  They are outcasts and find themselves the butt of most jokes and school pranks.  That is until Ginger is bitten by something late at night.  As the month goes on, she finds herself becoming more attracted to the boys in her school while dressing more provocative.  Her mother suspects that it's because she's starting her period but Brigitte suspects that her sister may suffer from lycanthropy.  She tries to help Ginger but she refuses to listen at first blaming her sister of jealously but turns to her help when things turn bloody.

     It would be a lie to say that Ginger Snaps is a polarizing film because it's not.  It has it's fans and those that don't like it really hate it but it's not an even number across both groups.  The number of those that love this film is substantially higher but I still feel as if this one is a severely underrated werewolf flick.  Most guys I know skip over it because of how it focuses more on the female biology while intertwining it with the standard lore of werewolves.  Honestly, I love it and think most genre fans would dig this gritty werewolf flick if they gave it a chance.  The acting in this one is great.  The film's leads, Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabelle, are names that most genre fans were already familiar with prior to this 2000 release.  Perkins appeared in the first adaptation of Stephen King's IT and and episode of The X-Files while Isabelle was in episodes of Goosebumps and The X-Files.  Both had spent years in front of the camera by this point and deliver what I would consider to be the best performances of their careers.  They work so well together here and I've watched this one so many times over the years that I have to remind myself that they are not actually sisters.  The supporting cast is just as good as well.   Mimi Rogers and Kris Lemche do a wonderful job in their supporting roles.  The story for this one is not something overly complex or confusing to follow.  We have two teenage girls, one of which was bitten by a werewolf, who find themselves going through menstrual cycles, being bullied, and killing a werewolf.  Honestly, it feels like a more age appropriate spin on an episode of Big Wolf on Campus.  It's so damn simple yet brilliant.  Hell, the movie doesn't really do anything to date itself either and still holds up almost 30 years later.  Finally, the film features some great practical effects, as well as, great make-up effects.  We don't have a big body count here but the few deaths we get look great and so does the werewolf.  The werewolf is not one that will stand out among genre fans but it fits the film very well and works.  Overall, Ginger Snaps is one of the many great horror titles to come out of the early 2000s but I feel that it doesn't get the love that it truly deserves.  I can't recommend this UHD release from Vestron Video enough.  Check it out.  

Psycho Night

Director - David Rodriguez (Camp Murder, The Elder Hunters)

Starring - Charles Frith (Moonrocks, The Dark Stairs), Rouge Rose (Woods Within, Manhunt), and James Dijan Bonavia (Faces of the Dead 2: Exorcism, The Brawler)

Release Date - 2025

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "A bloodbath in New York City"

Format - Streaming (Tubi)

Rating (out of 5):

     Sometimes I see a movie and I just have to watch it to review it.  Something about it just catches my attention.  It could be the title, the poster, the cast.  Not long ago I received a couple emails for several films that were premiering on Tubi.  I absolutely fucking love Tubi and two of these films really peaked my interest.  The first was Steve Merlo's Unseen, which I just finished reviewing, and the second was David Rodriguez's Psycho Night.  The AI generated artwork was horrendous and I knew this movie was not one I could easily forget.  I made note of it and after watching Unseen, I quickly hit play on it.  

     The film follows a former criminal trying to break it big in the music scene when he is given a chance to participate in a brutal game for a contract.  This deadly game is put on by the wealthy who then make bets on the contestants with those that win get a chance at becoming signed to a record label.

      I have a lot to say about Psycho Night and very little will be positive.  I knew this was going to be a train wreck when I went into after every poster I found for the film, with the exception of one, was made by using AI.  I was hoping it wouldn't take itself too seriously and deliver on the so bad it's good films that I love so much from directors like Chris Seaver.  Sadly, that was not the case with this one taking itself way too seriously and the unintentional laugh wasn't enough to save it.  The acting in this one is extremely uneven and not very consistent.  We have some fairly solid performance mixed with cast members with little to no experience.  It makes most, if not all, of the scenes extremely awkward to watch.  The movie could have been a little more enjoyable if the acting was a bit more even.  The story for this one reminded me of Rob Zombie's 31 meets Knights of the City.  We have a deadly contest held by rich people where the participates hope that winning will grant them a record deal.  Honestly, this could be a fantastic premise to a blaxploitation flick with some influence from brutal games like Battle Royale and The Condemned.  With that being said, the film is a series of incoherent scenes pieced together resulting in a story that is difficult to follow and is difficult to finish.  Finally, the film has some of the worst visual effects I have ever seen in a movie.  Usually, I can look over something like this is they try to give us some solid practical effects but the film doesn't have any for us to enjoy.  Overall, Psycho Night is a difficult one to finish.  The movie feels rushed, unfinished, and a chore to finish.  Honestly, this is one I would recommend skipping.  

Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon

Director - Jason Lei Howden (Guns Akimbo, Deathgasm)

Starring - Milo Cawthorne (Blood Punch, Wolf Man), Kimberley Crossman (Stream, The Almighty Johnsons), and James Joshua Blake (Dangerous Game, Jackals)

Release Date - 2026

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "Evil cums again"

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I tend to go against the grain, so to speak, when it comes to horror movies.  I often like the no budget backyard flicks with a ton of imagination and lack of resources over the bug budget films that lack imagination. However, there is a few movies that pop up from time to time that offer up a bigger budget than I'm used to and delivers.  Over a decade ago the Milo Cawthorne lead film Deathgasm was released on the world and immediately became a hit.  I've watched this one many times since it's release and always find myself glued to the screen like it was a first time watch.  A few weeks ago I received news that a sequel was getting released very soon so I reached out to Raven Banner to see if I could review it.  They were kind enough to send me a link for Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon.  I want to thank them for being so kind as to let me review the film before it's release.

     The film picks up many years after the events of the first film.  Brodie (Cawthorne) is struggling with his music career after two members of his band died the night he saved the world.  Unemployed and an alcoholic, he finds himself living with Giles after Medina (Crossman) left him to further her music career.  He decides to use the pages from the first film to resurrect his bandmates in hopes of winning a battle of the bands competition.  His spell works but they are unpredictable and their appetite for flesh is uncontrollable forcing Brodie to once again reverse the spell while trying to get Medina back.

     Sequels rarely live up to the original but Deathgasm 2 is a fantastic follow up to a film that that I've loved for sometime.  Is this review a bit biased?  Absolutely, but I'm still going to be as honest and fair as possible.  The acting in this one is great.  Most of the cast returned for this sequel a decade later and bring the same energy that made the first film so damn fun.  Cawthorne carries the film as the metal head turned reluctant hero while Crossman was not in the film as much as the original.  I assume it was due to her rates, scheduling, or something of that nature.  The entire film features some seriously fun acting with no weak links to be seen.  The story for this one is a rehashing of the first film but it still finds a way to mix it up a little.  We have music to summon his dead bandmates only for one of them to steal the pages and then they try to raise an army of the dead to take over the world.  It's equal parts Evil Dead and Stan vs. Evil which I'm here for.  While it does rehash a lot of the original story from the first film, it adds some new things that make it just as fun as the first.  Finally, the film has just as much blood and gore as the first films.  We have some seriously fantastic practical effects and a lot of severed penises, peeni, penis's, whatever the plural of peckers are.  The deaths are a lot of fun and these effects look absolutely amazing.  Overall, Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon is a worthy sequel to a film that I absolutely adore.  Metal, blood, and the undead is all I ever wanted and this movie, along with the original, delivers.  Check it out.  

Mystics in Bali

Director - H. Tjut Djalil (LAdy Terminator, White Crocodile Queen)

Starring - Ilona Agathe Bastian, Yos Santo (The Devil's Sword, The Warrior and the Blind Swordsman), and Sofia W.D. (Teen Idol, Fatima)

Release Date - 1981

Genre - Horror

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     The last few weeks have truly been eye opening to me.  I've had an eye for foreign and international horror for several years now after discovering Japanese splatter but I never really ventured into the world of Indonesian horror.  Severin opened the door with their Suzzanna box set but Mondo Macabro took me further with their releases of The Queen of Black Magic and Mystics of Bali.  Mystics of Bali is one that I had heard about for many years but never actually had the chance to see it.  I want to thank Mondo Macabro and CAV for sending this one over for review.  I'm glad I was finally able to check this one off my watch list!

     The film follows a woman writing a book on black magic with the help of a local.  He takes her to the cemetery late at night and they find an old woman with long nails laughing.  She offers to help her with her book and give her some of her black magic power.  However, she is tricked and turned into a penanggalan at night.  The penanggalan is a disembodied head with the organs still attached that feeds on the blood of the living.  She begins terrorizing the locals who are then forced to stop her.

     I went into this one assuming it was about a penanggalan from seeing some of the artwork for the film.  I was only familiar with this creature due to Dead by Daylight and I'm not going to pretend like I'm an expert on the creature.  However, I knew enough about the basics to appreciate the film for what it was.  The acting in this one is a lot of fun.  Sofia W.D. made the film for me as the old witch.  Her performance stole every scene she was in and really stood out from the rest of the cast.  It was on the campy side but I enjoy the theatrics in horror films with great atmosphere and tension.  The supporting cast does a decent enough job but no one else in the film delivers a performance like Sofia W.D.  The story for this one is a lot of fun.  It doesn't really offer up anything we haven't seen before but it does give it a unique spin.  Black magic as the center focus in an Indonesian horror film is nothing new and was already done several times in 1981 alone.  However, adding the penanggalan angle made it stand out from the crowd.  It does get a bit dull and repetitive as the film moves on but it still finds a way to work.  Finally, the film has some fun effects.  We get some classic camera tricks and some fun make-up effects.  While the kills are not that imaginative and gruesome, they do fit the film.  Overall, Mystics in Bali is a fantastic film with a creature that many genre fans have never seen before.  I highly recommend this one and this release from Mondo Macabro looks fantastic.  Check it out.  

Unseen

Director - Steve Merlo (The Sawyer Massacre, First Annual Barbecue)

Starring - Mike Ferguson (Night Patrol, Dracula Eternal), Brett Wagner (Desert Fiends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Douglas Vermeeren (Fresh Meat, Black Creek)

Release Date - 2026

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Shrouded in the shadows of our minds is an unseen killer"

Format - Streaming (Tubi)

Rating (out of 5):

     I don't always review movies that were sent over for review.  Sometimes I find a movie that peaks my interest and I decide to review it just for the hell of it.  Several weeks back I received a press release that the indie horror flick Unseen was hitting Tubi.  I fucking love Tubi and often check out a movie on the streaming platform when I'm not watching something for review.  However, Unseen really caught my eye and I decided to review it when I saw that it was directed by Steve Merlo.  Merlo was responsible for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre short fan film that I reviewed a long time ago titled First Annual Barbecue and while I remember not liking it, I do remember that it wasn't necessarily a bad film.  

     In the aftermath of an unknown disaster, a mentally unstable man attempts to satisfy his conscience while tormenting a woman with an abusive past.

     I see a lot of positive reviews on imdb and letterboxd and I'm confused if I watched the wrong movie.  The movie I watched was difficult to finish.  I always try to be positive with all my reviews regardless if I liked the movie or not but I don't see a lot of positives with this one.  The acting in this one is very uneven.  Some performances are solid and fit the film very well while others were very awkward and stiff.  The cast features a mix of experienced and inexperienced members which does not work together that well.  The story for this one is nowhere near as enjoyable as many of the previous reviews made it out to me.  The film follows a twenty-something as she finds herself stalked and tormented by someone with a mental illness.  I wanted to like this but this is easily the most mindless story I've seen in sometime.  The In a Violent Nature moments were solid but nothing that stands out as we've seen slashers before from the P.O.V. of the killer.  The movie is painfully predictable and offers up absolutely nothing for the viewer.  Finally, those wanting a movie with a body count and plenty of blood will be very disappointed.  The film spends too much time trying to build some sort of weird relationship between the girl and the mentally ill man instead of giving the viewers some fun kills.  Overall, Unseen wasn't for me.  I have no idea if the movie I was meant to watch was swapped with something else but the movie I saw was a tough one to finish.  Skip it.  

     

Aatma

Director - Deepak Ramsay (The Fridge, Ramsay House - The Fantasy World)

Starring - Kapil Jhaveri (Ishq Vishk, Saawan... The Love Season), Shabana Raza (Karam, Fiza), and Ranjha Vikram Singh (Hostel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

Release Date - 2006

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Death walks at midnight"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I owe a lot of my love to Bollywood and Hindi horror to Mondo Macabro.  They were not the company that introduced me to these films but this company single handedly kept me in supply of them.  I love their library of Bollywood films and look forward to every release sent over for review.  A few weeks back Mondo Macabro sent me several of their new releases to review and one of them just happened to be the Hindi horror Aatma, or The Ghost, from 2006.  This is one I had heard of before but never had the chance to check out until now.  I want to thank Mondo Macabro and CAV for sending this one along for review!

     The film follows a young woman from a wealthy family who finds herself married to a well renowned doctor.  Sometime after their marriage he is confronted by some thugs and forced to sign a falsified death certificate.  The spirit of the deceased vows revenge and possesses the young woman in order to get to her husband.

     I went into this one very excited only to find myself extremely underwhelmed.  I seriously wanted to like this one but it was clear that the charm that made the 80s and early 90s Hindi horror so much fun was long gone by the 2000s.  The acting in this one is not campy or cheesy as the other Bollywood horror that I've reviewed.  These performances are serious but not necessarily better.  The characters are severely cliched and generic which made the characters very unlikable.  The cast does very little to give these characters any sort of personality.  The story for this one is very predictable.  It reminded me a lot of the previous Bollywood and Indonesian horror films that I recently reviewed.  We follow someone young and pretty that is possessed by something evil due to the sins of someone else.  It's predictable and not that thrilling.  I seriously wish the film had more originality.  Finally, I really did like the make-up effects that we get along with the look of several scenes.  With that being said, the deaths, at least the ones we can see, are not that fun.  Much like most of the film, we have zero originality and amazing effects.  Overall, Aatma is a forgettable film that gives the viewer absolutely nothing.  I wanted to like it but it was a tough one to finish.  Skip it.  

The Queen of Black Magic

Director - Liliek Sudjio (Jaka Swara, Dendam Jumat Kliwon)

Starring - Suzzanna (The Earth Gets Hotter, Pact with the Forces of Darkness), W.D. Mochtar (Revenge of the Ninja, Hell Raiders), and Teddy Purba (Ratu Buaya, Sengatan Kobra)

Release Date - 1981

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "A chilling tale of magic battles and terrifying demons"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Several weeks ago I was introduced to several films that featured Indonesian horror queen Suzzanna when my friends over at Severin Films sent me a box set featuring several of her films.  I was impressed by most of the films and could see myself actually revisiting a couple of them in the near future.  Not too long after I got them for review, I received a few films from my friends over at Mondo Macabro one of those films just happened to be another film featuring Suzzanna.  The film, 1981's The Queen of Black Magic, was the movie that continuously popped up while I was researching movies for her which really made me excited to check out this release.  I want to thank Mondo Macabro and CAV for sending this one over.  

     The film follows a woman who is suspected of being a witch when her ex and his soon to be bride suffer several inconveniences on their wedding day.  They toss her off a cliff where she is left for dead when she is rescued by a stranger.  He nurses her back to health and teaches her in the way of black magic so she can get her revenge on those that accused her of being a witch in the first place.  

     Honestly, I don't have a lot to say about Suzzanna that I haven't already said in the previous reviews of her films.  She was an extremely talented actress that is severely underrated when it comes to the horror genre and cinema in general.  The Queen of Black Magic is easily my favorite film starring the Indonesian treasure.  It may not be her best performance, which it's not, but it's easily her most enjoyable film.  The acting in this one is solid enough to make the film work.  The characters are very bold which gives the cast a lot to work with.  However, they are not as campy or exaggerated as a lot of the other films I've seen of hers with the Bollywood inspiration.  I very much enjoyed the story but I would have appreciated it a lot more if it was the first Suzzanna film I had reviewed.  Instead, it was very similar to several other films of hers where someone was wronged and came back with the help of demons, the supernatural, or magic.  It's not that original by today's standards but I'm sure it was a lot of fun for early 80s Indonesia.  Finally, we have some blood and make-up effects but the deaths are not as memorable as I was hoping for.  I did like the look of them and how they fit the film but they just did not stand out as I would have liked.  The potential was there but not capitalized on.  Overall, The Queen of Black Magic is the film that made Suzzanna a household name in Indonesia and an underrated horror star.  While the film was underwhelming after binging half a dozen of her films weeks prior, I still enjoyed it and highly recommend adding this release to your collection.  Check it out.

     

Grunk the Smasher

Director - Darin Wood (Badass Monster Killer, Planet of the Vampire Women)

Starring - Chris "Superbeast" Crotte (Hell's Coming For You), Marylin Monroach (Smosh, Lady Hyde), and Rae Wright (Smosh)

Release Date - 2026

Genre - Fantasy/Adventure/Horror

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Several years ago I was lucky enough to review Badass Monster Killer from Darin Wood when my friends over at Wild Eye sent it over.  I fucking loved the movie and would recommend it to people that would visit the Wild Eye table whenever I was working it at a convention.  I loved the blend of blaxploitation, creature feature, and crude humor.  Sometime around this time I was sent news of Wood's newest project which was a fantasy adventure film titled Grunk the Smasher.  I grew up on sword and sandal epics of the 80s and couldn't wait to check it out.  Sadly, several years had passed and I completely forgot about this one.  I was reminded about it when producer Christy Savage sent me an email to review it.  I couldn't wait and added it to my list to check out as soon as I could.  Thank you Christy for reaching out!

     The film follows rough barbarian Grunk the Smasher (Crotte) who finds himself tricked by an evil sorcerer and left to die.  However, with the help of a few unexpected allies who seek revenge against the same sorcerer, he sets out on an adventure for payback.  

     I went into Grunk the Smasher completely blind.  I had not seen a trailer, promotional images, or the synopsis for the film aside from what I could remember about my original post five years ago.  While I didn't enjoy it as much as I did Badass Monster Killer, I still had a lot of fun with it and I can see myself revisiting it sometime soon.  The acting in this one is a lot of fun but it's not something I would consider award winning performances.    The characters are cliched on purpose and a lot of the performances felt like they were part of a well established play but it's not bad.  It adds a lot of fun to the film but none of the performances stand out like other films from Wood.  The story for this one is a loving tribute to classic fantasy adventure films like both Conan films, The Barbarians, Ator, and so on.  We follow a hulking womanizing barbarian who find himself doing a job for an evil sorcerer only to be tricked and left to die.  He lives, obviously, and partners with others seeking revenge as well.  We have dark elves, witches, creatures, and so much more to enjoy scattered throughout the film.  It's not a compelling story but it is mindless fantasy fun.  Finally, the film has a lot of different effects to enjoy.  We have some puppets, practical effects, stop motion, and visuals.  They all do a wonderful of elevating the film and are visually appealing.  Overall, Grunk the Smasher is not going to be at the top of anyone's list but a lot of gen-x and millennials will enjoy what Grunk has to offer.  It delivers on exactly what it set out to and I really respect it in that regard.  Check it out.  

Gator Face

Director - Padraig Reynolds (The Devil's Dolls, Rites of Spring)

Starring - Tabitha Brownstone (NCIS, Domino), Amariah Dionne (Dead Souls, Saturnalia), and Nikolas Kolasinski (The Republic)

Release Date - 2026

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Real alligators.  Real teeth.  Real terror"

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I refuse to pass up a slasher or zombie flick.  I don't care about the budget, who is involved, or what the film is about.  If its a slasher or zombie flick then you damn well guarantee that I will check it out.  I've reviewed a lot of slashers over the years ranging from no budget backyard films to several million dollars and I noticed a few things after watching all of these.  A budget cannot buy passion.  I've seen movies made by teenagers in their parents basement on an iPhone that had more passion and originality while the million dollar films sold in Walmart were dull.  In fact, there is how I came up with the term Walmart horror.  These films look great but are very mediocre at best.  A few weeks back I was sent a review link to check out Gator Face from Rites of Spring director Padraig Reynolds.  The trailer, which I usually avoid, pulled me in and I couldn't wait to check it out.  

     The film follows a young woman who goes into a coastal home after reading a warning of "three dead inside" on the outside of it.  She goes in with her friend and discover an alligator with a taste for human flesh and a man wearing a gator mask ready to cut them to ribbons.  She flees but her friends are struck down by the masked maniac.   She eventually crosses paths with another group of twenty-somethings and tries to warn them but they don't listen.  Soon they start to fall victim to the masked man and his gator before they learn he is part of a cult that sacrifices tourists to the gators.

       I was pretty excited going into Gator Face.  Honestly, I was hoping that this slasher was going to more of a hixploitation flick but that wasn't the case.  Instead, it was a slasher centered around a cult which is something I am all for.  I fucking love movies about cults and Gator Face seemed to be the perfect set up for a solid slasher but I found myself really struggling with it.  I wanted to like it but it clearly wasn't for me.  The acting in this one is not the worst I've seen but the cliched characters and zero chemistry between the cast makes many of the scenes a bit awkward.  We have a lot of yelling when it's unnecessary and a lot of the emotions you would expect for the scene is nowhere to be seen.  I hate to be this negative about a movie but the acting made these unlikable characters even more unlikable.  The story for this one is pretty straight forward for the most part.  A cult that worships an ancient alligator god sacrifices tourists to the gators in order to appease them.  I dig it for what it is but it would have been way more enjoyable as a short rather than a feature length film.  Too much time was spent on the cat and mouse portion of the slasher than the story building and back story.  I found myself wanting to turn it off by the mid-way point.  Some serious editing needs to be done to improve this one.  Finally, the film does boast some pretty impressive kills with some great practical effects.  The kills fit the film very well and the movie makes great use of the practical effects.  Overall, Gator Face is a missed opportunity.  It could have been a southern fried slasher that embraced the hixploitation films of yesteryear.  Instead, it's a middle of the road slasher that is only saved by it's impressive practical effects and the cult aspect.  I seriously wanted to love it but I can't.  This is Walmart horror at it's finest.