Movie Review: Killing Spree (1987; SRS Cinema)

...way too easy...yes, folks, it's way too easy!! Way too easy, these days, to meander through the specializing websites, find that rare and obscure underground cult film from days gone past, click on 'pay', and wait a relatively short time for that cult film goodness to make it's way to the mailbox. Hardly the patience-testing chore that it once was...say, back in the window of opportunity of about mid '80's to mid '90's, when the Internet was in it's infancy, and considered pretty much exclusive 'geeksville' territory. Oh, yes...those splashy one-page ads, in one's favorite horror magazine (...oh, thank you, Fango, for taking a chance on those)...with the advertising, creatively barnstorming the small-time, minor-league video distributor and it's enticing wares...said advertising, taking up a good chunk of the overall cost of whatever film it was toting; oh heck, sometimes there wasn't even an advertisement, to that full-blown extent...just a mere squeak of a few words, tucked away in the back-paged classifieds. But oh, for the purveyor of shoestring budgeted, independent cinema, those 'few words' stood out and shone like gold...well, make that 'gold' that's been dipped in maggot-populated putridity, and reeked of still-festering 40-year old snot from a 20-year old corpse...

Movie Review: "Sheriff of Contention" (2010; Rock Wayne Org./High Frontier Vent./Lionsgate)

...from studio to studio...from distribution company to distribution company...they say that for every great film script, pull out from the endless sea of extensive literary meanderings & cinematic hopefuls, and given it's due, there are at least two dozen or so others...some good, most bad...left to languish, lost and unnoticed. Occasionally, the cinematic powers-that-be, do take a gamble on a forlorn concept...one of those thought lost and discarded scripts, which most have turned their discriminant nose up at...save for that rare and singular moment of unconvention, who keenly eyes a laid-aside script of potential...something which elicits a thought-provoking 'hmmm, that's interesting'. A story interesting enough to warrant engaging, even in the midst of what might be considered muddled thespian in performance, and untried in direction & editing. Such might well have been the case, with the respectably thrilling and intriguing 2010 old-westerner, "Sheriff of Contention", which sat collecting dust on a shelf...that is, until Liongate, of all surprising distributors, recently saw fit to shed an indiscriminate and opportunist spotlight on the little film...to the delight of us devotees of the type of period Wild West melodramas, which in this case, unconventionally assume contemporary conventions, albeit on a forgiveably less-than perfect level of presentation...

...Sheriff Peavy is in the throes of almost overwhelming pressure; the people, whom he serves in the dusty frontier town of Contention City, have expressed a growing loss of faith in his abilities, saying that he is 'used up and burnt out'. The sheriff's gun-happy right hand man, Deputy Conley, has made no secret of his ambitions, in possibly replacing the sheriff, in view of his seemingly diminished stature...and even the town's mayor himself has expressed and encouraged such a prospective changing of hands. And in the midst of such personal turmoil, the sheriff...as well as the townspeople...are horrified and perplexed at a ever-increasing series of heinous and ruthless killings, which have targeted the town's womenfolk...

Movie Review: Sledgehammer (1983, Intervision)

The folks over at Intervision have tackled some eclectic titles over the past couple years. Their line of oddities includes some of the craziest shot-on- video epics ever made. The Canadian flick Things is one film (err video) of note that made me question a lot of “things” about myself. First and foremost, why am I watching this fucking movie and why am I enjoying it.  B-movie maven David A. Prior (Killer Workout, Future Justice) started his storied movie career off with his take on the slasher genre that was huge in the early 80’s with Sledgehammer. Intervision has some obvious love for the movie and just like with Things has released it onto DVD with all the trimmings.

A mother is shown abusing her young son by locking the moppet in a closet so she can get busy with her boyfriend. The kid’s a crafty fellow so he’s able to MacGyver himself out and track down mum and her beau before they can even get sticky. Junior grabs a hold of a sledgehammer and plants the tool in the back of their melons in cheesy but gory fashion.