Deathgasm (2015)
Horror, Comedy
Directed By: Jason Lei Howden
Brodie (Milo Cawthorne) is a loner, he hates school and he hates people even more. He finds his only release in playing and listening to heavy metal, until he meets Zakk (James Blake). Zakk is a metal head just like him and Brodie seems to have finally found a real friend in his crappy little town, so naturally the two start a band. When they stumble upon some sheets of what seems to be ancient music, they decide it would be a cool idea to incorporate into one of their bands songs. What they don't know is the notes they are playing are specifically written to summon the king of demons. When people start getting possessed by demons all over town they quickly find themselves on the verge of their own rapture. They must now fight to survive and save their crappy little town, and possibly the world, from total damnation.
The first act of the film moves a bit slow, introducing our main characters and giving background as to how they all came together. As soon as it moves into the second act however the excitement is nonstop as our band of rebels begin to fight back against the impending doom of a demon apocalypse. Jason Lei Howden uses his experience as a visual effects artist to blend amazing practical effects with great CGI almost seamlessly and because of that he is able to really pour on the gore. Each death scene has its own specific style and tone to make it stand apart from the others and to make each and every kill as unique as possible.
As mentioned before, the film is playing as a love letter to The Evil Dead and heavy metal and the blending of the two make for a hell of a ride. The demon design is a direct ode to what Raimi did with his classic films and he uses just enough to keep it from feeling like a cheap retread. The film is basically posing what would happen if the deadites took over an entire town rather than a single cabin and in that respect it is a complete success. The blood is heavy and the violence is off the charts, and to make it all better, the characters are having a blast doing it.
What makes Deathgasm so much damn fun is the fact that it is totally self aware and looking for laughs. Blending slapstick and dark humor this movie will keep you laughing throughout and at often times during scenes you wouldn't typically find yourself laughing. The characters in the movie adapt to their situation in the blink of an eye and instantly accept their roles as the demon killers. When the people you are watching chop off heads and cut the throats of demons are having a great time, it makes it that much easier for us to do the same at home. Not to mention, watching a town full of demons get slaughtered to a banging metal track is pretty awesome.
This film isn't necessarily a break through or game changing horror comedy but rather it takes what is best from the past and blends it with what we love about modern horror to create a cool little love letter to the genre. As a first time feature director, Jason Lei Howden shows he has some serious potential in the future. Everyone knows that pulling the punches for horror or comedy is one of the hardest things to accomplish and to blend them both together is even more difficult. Howden is able to do this surprisingly well for a first timer and I am excited to see where he goes from here. Deathgasm is available now on all major VOD outlets and just in time for Halloween, it is totally worth the $6.99 and genre fans and metalheads will have a blast with it.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
No comments:
Post a Comment