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"Death By VHS' is a new anthology film from directors Jacob D. O'Neal, David Sabal and horror host Walter Ruether aka Scarlet Fry.. This is a film that has been talked about for a while now, I remember the press release from a few months back.. I've been kind of wanting to check this movie out for sometime.. I wasn't sure what to expect going into the flick, as most of you know... Indie projects can sometimes go horribly wrong.. Usually by poor acting, FX or even trying to knock off bigger budget flicks... I've never been one to harp on poor special effects though.. I completely understand, not all independent films have the budget to pull off the FX... I can forgive that..
What I can not forgive is poor acting, it can distract and completely take you out of the story.. Directors must understand if you put a bunch actors in your film that can't act, it will put the death nail in your movie and totally destroy it.. That being said I can safely say for the most part 'Death By VHS', has pretty good acting.. I felt that some stories were stronger than others... I really got into the opening song at the beginning of the film, I believe it was titled "Scream Machine", very rockin - Fair *WARNING* there will be spoilers in my run down.. Over all I gave the film a "B", for an independent film as a whole it was very enjoyable to watch.. Btw I will also grade each segment..
The film consist of five horror shorts with an odd but entertaining wrap around story that involves a couple of teen potheads that meet up with this dealer guy on the street to buy a duffel bag - that contains an old VCR and a bunch of VHS tapes.. The reason you ask? There is an urban legends going around town that by watching the tapes you will experience a new kind of high.. As the teens watch tape after tape, the young potheads began to sink deeper and deeper into a hellish nightmare..
Plot: A battered and mysterious VCR... A bevy of lethal videotapes... These are the building blocks of horror in DEATH BY VHS. A mind-blowing descent into madness and death. Five shocking vignettes, designed to take your sanity and devour your soul! Mild curiosity leads to severe consequences when a couple rents a supposedly cursed video cassette recorder. An urban legend renowned for leaving a trail of agonizing and torturous death. Unbelieving, they take the plunge... And another legend is horrifyingly born... Do you dare give fate a winning hand and test yourself against the hellish consequences of the VHS machine?
SEGMENT 1: This was my favorite story (Suburban She Freak) *Spoiler Alert* The story is basically about this young girl 'Mary' with a deformity.. Mary lives with this other chick named Ingrid btw Ingrid reminds me a lot of Roz from the TV show Frasier.. Wonder if the actress has ever heard that before?
Anyways Mary is all alone, no real friends, no guys want to date her.. She decides to order beauty supplies from an online witchcraft store.. The potion turns Mary into this beautiful young woman.. Feeling all confident, Mary agrees to go on a date.. But we all learn very soon that Mary's black magic beauty supplies are starting to take their toll and what should have been an awesome night on the town, ends in a bloodbath..
I really liked this story, I thought both actresses did a great job.. Courtney Morgan was very convincing as Mary.. To me it was just an all around creepy vibe to the story.. Grade B+
SEGMENT 2: This story seem like it was very short *Spoiler Alert* It appears the zombie apocalypse is under way - we follow a man with a baseball bat picking off zombies one by one.. He returns to his home.. After a while he decides to commit suicide, I'm assuming he did not realize he would become one of the living dead... So not long afterwards he returns as a zombie - He leaves his home and before the day is over he encounters another member of the living dead (once a hot chick) the two start feasting on the carcass of a young woman..
As I said, segment 2 felt very short - there really wasn't much of a plot here.. But the special effects were very good.. Most of the gore effects appeared to have gone to this segment... Grade C
SEGMENT 3: (Christmas Krampus) *Spoiler Alert* The story is centers around the Christmas season and a mentally handicapped boy who has two deadbeat parents from hell.. They treat him like crap, his mother is verbally abusive and his father is an alcoholic loser..
The mother is sick of taking care of her son, who is kind of a large young man.. The boy hears his mother talking to his father about giving him up for adoption.. The father seem kind of hesitant at first, but ends up going along with the plan.. The boy starts praying that his parents would just freaking die already.. Lets just say the young man gets his Christmas wish!
Over all I enjoyed this segment, The acting was very good.. The parents were horrible and got what they deserve... Losers to the end! Grade B
SEGMENT 4: (Regenerate) *Spoiler Alert* We find a very similar situation we had in the last segment.. The story centers around Jenny a beautiful woman in a wheelchair who suffers domestic violence from her loser boyfriend Paul.. Her best friend works for a company that does medical testing..
She decides to steal some medication for Jenny that will make her walk for a short period of time, so she can escape from asshole Paul.. But things do not go according to plan - Paul hits Ginny in the back of the head and kills her, before the drug can take effect... What does Paul do after hitting her? Does he try to help her? Nope he parks his lazy ass and finishes off a bag of potato chips or was it watching tv or both? I can't remember.. But later on Ginny's body starts to re-animate - she gets out of her wheelchair and exacts her revenge on this sorry excuse for a man..
I thought the acting was really solid, my only complaint.. I really wanted to see Ginny beat the living hell out of this guy! Grade B
SEGMENT 5: (Lepus) *Spoiler Alert* Lepus is by far the strangest of all the segments - The story is about a man dressed in Easter bunny costume that slaughters the innocent or any poor soul that ends up in his path of homicidal rage on Halloween.. The man in the bunny costume finds his way to a Halloween party were he starts picking off the party goers one by one..
The only person who seems to have the ability to stop him, is a man dressed up like Jesus.. The man is wielding a shotgun and seems to have divine intervention on his side..
Over all I found this segment to be very entertaining.. Hot chicks dressed up for Halloween, you can never go wrong.. I just wish the story had more going for it, and maybe some boobs? I'm just sayin.. Grade B-
Written By: Scarlet Fry, Laurence Holloway, Jacob D. O'Neal, David Sabal, Brian Everet Smith And Richard Stoudt - Directed By: Scarlet Fry, Jacob D. O'Neal And David Sabal..
The flick Stars: Jay Bennett, Brennen Benson, Sierra Benson, Tara Carlton, Tyler Gallant, Kat Garcia, L. Hotshot, Courtney Morgan, Rosario LaMontagne, Hannah Ramirez, Josiah Spargo And Kelsee Benson.. Death By VHS will land on DVD September 17..
