Exploitation

Reviews

Mad Heidi

In the grindhouse tribute Mad Heidi, a maniacal dictator (Casper Van Dien) aspires to phase out the lactose intolerant with his firm laws for dairy consumption, which will then lead to world domination. This fascism leads our titular swiss miss (Alice Lucy) to be permanently distanced from her grandfather (David Schofield) and her hunky, underground cheese peddling lover Goat Peter (Kel Matsena).  Heidi is later thrown into an all-women’s prison where everyone exchanges intimidating looks and…

Reviews

Alice

Alice has been inspired by interesting stories of enslaved black Americans making an escape and discovering what era they’re currently living in.  For the titular Alice (Keke Palmer), the same exposure happens when she runs away from her plantation and is startled when she doesn’t recognize the environment around her.  With her “master” Paul  (Jonny Lee Miller) hot on her heels, she meets working-class driver Frank (Oscar-winning musician Common) who takes her in and realizes…

Reviews

Ravage

Ravage is essentially a campfire story for mature audiences: there’s a lot of build up, an unsettling suggestion of what could happen, and then a freaky follow through.  What we learn throughout the film, however, is that writer/director Teddy Grennan and the film’s nincompoop producers are incapable of closing their set-ups.  This is demonstrated by some earlier mini murders, making us apprehensive about its grand finale when a ludicrous torture chamber is invented and utterly…

Reviews

The Road Movie

Starting this month, Dmitrii Kalashnikov’s experimental doc The Road Movie begins a theatrical tour that will last over a year.  Toronto’s Royal Cinema is the first stop, and the journey continues through the United States before heading back to Canada next February;  it concludes in Boulder, Colorado the following month.  That’s impressive for a shoestring indie, especially one that would be “TOO HOT FOR TV”.  Twenty years ago, Joe Francis would’ve sold this at 2:00am…

Reviews

When Your Flesh Screams

By: Addison Wylie “Have you ever exceeded the limits of pain?”  Now, I have. When Your Flesh Screams is in need of more lighting, more rewrites, more experienced actors, and more time in an edit bay.  Most of all, Guillermo Martínez’s low-rent ode to exploitation-horror is in need of someone to show it the door. This is a film made by people who have seen raw works like Last House on the Left and are only interested in the…

Reviews

Ms. 45

By: Addison Wylie In an attempt to bounce back from mediocre midnight madness with The Visitor, Drafthouse Films returns with another remastered cut of a cult movie.  Maybe the third time will be the charm for these cinema aficionados who are desperate to shed light on obscurity. In the meantime, we have this re-release of Abel Ferrara’s robotic Ms. 45.  It’s grindhouse exploitation through and through, and maybe movie goers will get some sort of…

Reviews

Machete Kills

By: Addison Wylie It’s always a bad sign while watching a movie when you realize the first three minutes are probably going to be the best moments the film can offer. Machete Kills kicks off with a trashy trailer for a third Machete film – appropriately titled Machete Kills Again…In Space.  The insane trailer shows audiences which characters have returned and what battles ensue, essentially giving away spoilers about the film you’re about to watch….