Starring - Dan Ellis (American Guinea Pig: Bloodshock, Retardead), Sindy Faraguna, and Nathan Durec (Hitman 101, Detention Night)
Release Date 2010
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Dying for a ride"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I've slowly came to the realization that the late Ryan Nicholson and I didn't really see eye to eye when it comes to his films. I knew him before he passed and often shared news of his work on the site. We had a working relationship, so to speak, but I had never really ventured into his films. That was until Unearthed Films started putting out his work posthumously on blu. I really dug Gutterballs and Famine but the others I had seen wasn't for me. When Unearthed announced the release of Star Vehicle, aka Bleading Lady, I was looking forward to it. I had actually owned Bleading Lady on blu for sometime when Breaking Glass released it but I never had the time to see it. I reached out to my friends over at MVD and they were kind enough to send over a review copy. I'd like to thank them and Unearthed for always supporting Horror Society and myself!
The film follows a drive for an indie production that becomes infatuated with the film's lead. He has a history of violence and once he is with his scream queen crush he finds himself going over the edge. The film's director embarrasses him in front of everyone and this becomes the tipping point for him. He murders the director and takes over the set turning it into his own snuff film.
I had heard polarizing things about this film. Genre fans praised it for the blood and gore but complained about it's lack of story and acting. I try to form my own opinion about movies and I usually have different tastes in film than most but what was said about this film was pretty much true. It had some aspects that I enjoyed but the overall film was a huge miss for me. The acting in this one is very inconsistent. Dan Ellis has delivered some seriously impressive performances in several unforgettable indie horror productions over the years and he doesn't disappoint here. He does get a little goofy at times where his intensity feels out of place but his overall performance was not a let down. The supporting cast is where the acting in inconsistent. Sindy Faraguna has only one other credit to her name on imdb and that is providing her voice to a video game. However, the remainder of the cast delivers day time soap opera quality performances. They were unintentionally funny and made the film lose any sort of atmosphere that it was going for. The story for this one is short, simple, and stretched to a feature length running time. A guy on an indie horror production set in the woods snaps and kills people on camera. That's a pretty cool premise, and one that I've seen in other films that I've reviewed, but I was looking forward to seeing Nicholson's approach to it. However, the way the film was shot made it feel rushed, chaotic, and struggled to properly develop the characters. It gets straight into the bloodshed with little regard to actually making an entertaining film aside from a practical effects highlight reel. Which brings me to my final part of the review. The practical effects in this one are fantastic. Nicholson was not only a competent filmmaker but he was one hell of an effects artist. The kills are brutal, bloody, and very enjoyable but the film around it was lacking. If you read my review for Terrifier then you know exactly what I mean. I feels like a highlight reel for his effects instead of a film with an enjoyable story. Overall, Star Vehicle is a film that doesn't try to be anything other than violent. If you love blood and amazing kills then you are in the right place but if you are like me and like a well rounded horror films with solid acting, a decent story, and great deaths then you will be disappointed. Collectors will want to check out the release from Unearthed but if you are looking for a first time watch then I highly recommend digging through some other Unearthed releases.
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