The Half-Life Horror from Hell or Irradiated Satan Rocks the World!

Director - Mark Mackner (Evil Brew, Daisy Derkins: Dogsitter of the Damned)

Starring - Sarah French (Pretty Boy, Blind), Jimmy Snuka (WCW Monday Nitro, Queen City), and Christian Hess (Return to Sleepaway Camp)

Release Date - 2014

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "Welcome to Personburg. PA! Where crime, corruption, incest, voodoo, Satan, and heavy metal reign supreme"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     I've been lucky enough to review several films from indie filmmaker Mark Mackner over the years.  I started my journey through his films several years back when I snagged a copy of Daisy Derkins: Dogsitter of the Damned.  I enjoyed this one and kept an eye out for his other films.  Since then I've reviewed three more Daisy Derkins flicks which were hit or miss with me.  Sometime last year I found an Etsy shop selling blus of Mackner's 2014 horror comedy The Half-Life Horror from Hell or Irradiated Satan Rocks the World!  I snagged a copy for my collection and tossed it on my shelf where I forgot about it until recently.  A few weeks back I received an email from Mark asking to review that film which was streaming on Tubi.  I used this as the perfect excuse to finally crack open the blu release!

     The film follows a small town gripped in fear as a glowing monster starts attacking people out of nowhere.  As a small group looks into the the monster and where it came from, they learn of a conspiracy behind a cover up and it's ties to a mayor who is refusing to postpone a metal show.

     The Half-Life Horror from Hell or Irradiated Satan Rocks the World! is the kind of movie I can see myself getting behind but I couldn't.  There is several things I did like about the film but the negatives far outweighs the positives.  The acting in this one is exactly what you would expect from a no budget indie flick.  I'm not calling it bad, because it's far from it.  However, the cast does show a great deal of inexperience.  I did enjoy Sarah French's performance and a few others that pops up here and there but the overall film did lack experience and it showed.  This included the late Jimmy "Supafly" Snuka who was extremely stiff during his scenes.  Honestly, I would have loved to see him bring the energy and charisma he did when he was shooting his wrestling promos.  The story for this one is one I was fully behind.  At times it felt like a tribute to the atomic age monster movies of the 50s which I'm a huge fan of.  At other times it felt like a Troma film of the time which I'm also a fan of.  However, it was other times in the film that it felt like it forgot where the story was going.  A lot of the scenes are dialogue heavy, which I don't mind, but in this case they do very little to progress the story.  A lot could be trimmed off this one to help the tone and flow of the film.  Finally, those of you looking for a flick with a huge body count and gore will be disappointed.  We do have some cheap effects that fit the film very well but the few deaths we do get are not that imaginative or fun.  Overall, The Half-Life Horror from Hell or Irradiated Satan Rocks the World! is one that I really wanted to like but couldn't.  The story is something straight out of a wet dream of mine but the way it was done made it difficult to follow.  I seriously wanted to love it and couldn't.  It is currently on Tubi if you want to check it out for yourself.