Movie Review: Mutilation Mile (2010)

Ron Atkins’ Mutilation Mile is a freaking trip! I’ve been watching Atkins films for almost a decade now and, granted, they are not everyone’s cup of tea. Gonzosploitation is a term I’ve attached to his work before and I firmly stand behind it, especially some of the older work. Films like Necromaniac, Schizophreniac and Eat the Rich are cult favorites that have seen a wide range of success. They are gritty, they are down and dirty and, most of all, they are a unique take on the genre. Atkins’ greatest attribute, though, is the fact that he is truly independent and doesn’t appear to have grandiose aspirations outside of that. He routinely, despite distribution offers, handles the sale of his own films as well as writing, producing, directing, editing, etc. Atkins Entertainment is a one-stop shop, one of the last one-stop shops, and it is refreshing to see a filmmaker that is so in touch with the vision of his work that he will only trust himself to give it to the public. Such is the story behind Atkins’ newest film, Mutilation Mile. The front page of the Atkins Entertainment website reads, in large, red letters, “The films sold on this site contain scenes of explicit violence, sexual situations, language and drug use.” I don’t think I could have put it any better. Mutilation Mile is all of the above and a little bit more.

Buy Mutilation Mile ONLY at Cut Throat Video.

Throwing back to the real grindhouse experience of the 1970s where filmmakers were pushing boundaries and mixing in a little genre art house (akin to a modern Jodorowsky), Mutilation Mile tells the sordid tale… let me stop there, I want to amend the statement. Less a straightforward narrative and more a hyper-violent stream of consciousness poem, Mutilation Mile details the exploits of Jimmy (Daniel McCabe) and Jack (Lawrence Bucher) DeGrasso who, after the murder of their Uncle Sal (Paul Dalleluche) go on a killing spree of truly epic proportions. Fueled by drugs, hookers and scumbag after scumbag, Jimmy and Jack cut a red wide swath through the underbelly of Las Vegas. Apparently, the film is based on actual events from 1993. If so, that was a bad year to live in Sin City. Like most of Atkins’ films, Mutilation Mile is incredibly violent and explicit. Where some films shy away from depicting brutal imagery, or squander the screen time by turning away, it is very clear that Ron Atkins doesn’t care if you like it or not. Lawrence Bucher’s performance as Jack DeGrasso is emotionally intense and he wears his character’s depravity like a suit. Daniel McCabe’s Jimmy DeGrasso is just the opposite, but equally effective. A drug addict, the character is unpredictable and, scarily enough, I think that McCabe may be a little more like Jimmy than anyone wants to admit. The pair eventually do get to the truth of their uncle’s murder… but it isn’t for the faint of heart. The degradations that Jack and Jimmy force the people they run across into make the act of viewing the film and uncomfortable experience. It amazes me, after watching so many of Atkins’ films that he can convince performers to do what they do.

I really liked this film but I want to say this again, it is definitely not for all tastes. Modern horror fans, including the Twilight crowd, will defecate themselves in front of this flick. In order to survive Mutilation Mile, one must not only be stout of heart, one must also realize that it’s a dangerous world out there. Atkins, and other filmmakers of his ilk, would be doing an injustice if they did not portray that world as accurately as their perception of it is. Let’s hope, though, that Atkins’ art doesn’t imitate life too often… especially when I’m around.