1 out of 5

Director: Nick Palumbo

Pointless. 1. This is the edited version of the movie (at least the streaming version was.) The runtime online is listed at 105 minutes, which should correspond to the directors cut – so perhaps that is the version of the physical disc thats is sent out – but the streaming version is the Lionsgate 87 minute version, which is cut down to almost PG-13 levels. However, Im sort of happy for watching the edited version, because it revealed JUST HOW POINTLESS the movie would have been. I have no problem with gore, and I love horror. Recently, two very violent movies come to mind: Laid to Rest and Martyrs. Both grisly pictures with different intents. The key to both of these movies being so amazing is that, while the gore is part of the movie and certainly highlights it in a way, the characters and pacing and dialogue are all entertaining, to the point where the violence ADDS to the film, instead of – as in a movie like M-S-P – where youre just watching it and waiting for it to get past the boring parts to the violence. Director Nick Palumbo has some compositional skill, and the lead actor had a good face for the role, but it never goes anywhere, and never does anything. And for anyone trying to read subtext into these Toe Tag Productions (the company behind the gore effects, responsible for a small niche of extreme horror films), suggesting that the go-nowhere narrative combined with gore is trying to make some kind of commentary on culture (or, in some meta way, on the viewer for subjecting themselves to watching it) – give me a break. Plenty of other films have done that much better and much more intelligently. This is heavy metal kids who like blood. If you want to see extreme gore effects, fine. This film is for you. Just dont claim its about anything else, and be prepared to fast forward through moments involving talking or acting.

UPDATE:

After having watched the uncensored version of this, my opinion… hasn’t changed.  If anything, with the gore added in, several things become more apparent:

1. The surreal editing style that speaks to some compositional strengths on Palumbo’s part becomes questionable as a purposeful tool and seems like it might be a lack of skill

2. The “point” is even less clear as the violence and nudity becomes more widespread.

3. Now that I’ve watched more of the shock genre, Toe Tag isn’t really great at special effects so much as making good looking corpses.  Their “after” effects are really gross looking, but they’re lacking in the practical effects department.

4. The movie is really boring.

Again, I would like to point out that there is a tad more artistry here than one would expect.  I know that the August Underground flicks were made to look like handheld affairs, but there’s still something to shot composition and editing and Palumbo puts some thought into it at some points… but, see update #1 – his bag of tricks feels limited and gets quickly repetitive.  Also, I noticed the music more this time, which definitely takes a page from giallo stuff.  When it rocks out, it highlights the stupid heavy-metal kid feeling again, but the moments where he’s wandering around the city with wacky psych playing shows awareness of his genre.  Whaaaateverrrr