Ski Wolf (2008 d.Chris Seaver)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Description (from the box): Ski Wolf mixes 'Ski School' and 'Teen Wolf' into a garbage plate of wacky, bloody, boob-filled tomfoolery that is sure to make you howl with retardation! This is the exclusive pre-release screener copy!

Major Cast:
Casey Bowker as Scott Bateman / Ski Wolf, Trent Haaga as Ralston Zabku, Billy Garberina as Uncle Bill, Alix Lakehurst as Fantasia Snow, Saetia Lareoux as Katie McCormick, Jesse Ames as Marge Baglione, Josh Suire as Corn Dervish, Bob Heckman as Enore, Heather Maxon as Bunny, Dom Luongo as Tad

Written and Directed by Chris Seaver

I know a lot of die-hard long-time LBP fans are going to disagree with me, but I truly feel that Ski Wolf may just be the best LBP film ever, ever. Yes, I know that Ski Wolf is much more reserved than the average LBP flick (no demons feeding on menses or anything like that), but while being more accessible to the average viewer, Ski Wolf is still very obviously LBP. It's still cheese, but instead of Velveeta, we're talking aged Brie – better, more refined cheese. And Chris Seaver is the King of Cheese.

Ski Wolf has a lot going for it. On top of the funny-as-hell script, LBP anachronisms, and the hot and heavy pop-culture references, Ski Wolf also brings two b-movie regulars (Trent Haaga and Billy Garberina) together with the LBP family to great effect. On top of the quality acting Haaga and Garberina bring to Ski Wolf, (and really, there is a sizeable difference between good quality camp and getting some people you know to read funny lines on camera) the LBP regulars get better and better with each successive film they are in. You can tell the ease in delivery by LBP veteran Casey Bowker, and while there is just a wee bit of Teen Ape in Ski Wolf, Bowker's performance was much more Scott Howard meets Spicoli.

In addition to the ever-higher evolving quality of acting, the production quality has gone up leaps and bounds. Low Budget Pictures got a SKI RESORT??? The wolf effects were pretty damn near what was in Teen Wolf, and while there was still the gore effect or two, (and there is still some really shocking stuff – all I'm gonna say is baby eating???) overall Ski Wolf's pint count was much more reserved than the average LBP film.

One of the things that has always drawn me to LBP – and coincidentally, also to the work of Quentin Tarantino – is that while you are watching, Chris tells you exactly where the story came from. Seaver was very much inspired (not only in Ski Wolf, but many other films in the LBP catalogue) by the 80's, and Ski Wolf may be one of the best cheesy 80's movies ever made. Even though it was made in 2008. A perfect example: Billy Murray's Carl Spackler (from Caddyshack) is reincarnated as Enore, reminding the viewer of the films (other than the really obvious ones) that inspired this film.

Trent Haaga plays Ralston Zabku, the preppy asshole cool kid from (insert name of your choice of many, many 80's films here) who is going to taker over the ski resort from Uncle Billy (Garberina). Bowker, as Scott Bateman, comes to party with his friends and Uncle Billy, but instead finds the peril the ski resort faces. In classic 80's movie fashion, Ralston surrounds himself with the requisite cronies (including porn actress Alix Lakehurst) that agree with every word from his mouth.

Also adding to the 80's feel was Ski Wolf's first appearance. Seaver weaves together Ralston and cronies 80's cool & crazy conversation and Casey Bowker as Michael Jackson in Thriller, but instead of a zombie, in this version he's a werewolf. For my money, this was the single best stand-alone scene I have ever seen from LBP, and I've seen quite a few LBP films. *

The only part of the film that I really thought could have been cut down shorter – and again, a bunch of LBP people are going to hate me for this, but – was the sex scene. I thought the idea behind it was very funny, and the scene its self WAS funny, just not THAT funny! I think if it were trimmed a bit, it wouldn't slow down the film so much. Then again, I guess if you have a porn star in your b-movie, you write a long sex scene.

Overall, I feel that Ski Wolf is the most easily accessible LBP film I've seen. This is the film I can show my friends that I think MIGHT be interested in LBP, but I'm not at all sure. With Ski Wolf, you get the spot-on cheese acting, the pop-culture references, the semi-parody humor, and even some tits and gore (but not LOTS of tits and gore!) without going into the extremes that much LBP aims for. Like I said before, it's still cheese, but it's much better, more mature, aged cheese… the stuff that costs more then ten bucks a pound, no more Velveeta.

Overall 9 / 10

Ski Wolf is not on the imdb.

Ski Wolf will be for sale at: http://www.srscinema.com/

Ski Wolf site: http://www.myspace.com/skiwolfmovie


*I've seen: Heather and Puggly Drop a Deuce, Heather and Puggly Crucify the Devil, Mulva, Mulva 2, Filthy McNasty, Filthy McNastier, Filthy McNastiest, Blood Trim, Ghoulish Chronicles From Bonejack High, Carnage for the Destroyer, Teenape Goes to Camp, Wet Heat, and Ski Wolf. I think that's it.

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Wet Heat (2007 d.Chris Seaver)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Description: None – screener

Major Cast:
Casey Bowker as Teen Ape, Billy Garberina as La Femme la Douche, Meredith Host as Scooter, Kurt Indovina as Huck, Jesse Ames as Barbeau, Josh Suire as Leo, Katherine Indovina as Mrs. President, Chaz Voltaire as Mr. President, Heather Maxon as Robot C-cup69

Written and Directed by Chris Seaver

Every time I watch a new LBP film – well, almost every time – I am quite happy to see the step up in quality from the last LBP film I watched. Sometimes the differences are minute, sometimes the differences are amazing (for example the step up in quality achieved upon the release of Carnage for the Destroyer). As far as production quality, there is not a giant leap between Teen Ape Goes to Camp and Wet Heat – the lighting, sound, etc. is pretty similar – but I did notice a step up in a couple of categories: props and acting.

While I don't think I really need to discuss the props – they're better than earlier LBP films (except the mustaches), 'nuff said – the acting in this film really is a step up from earlier LBP. Yes, it is still very much the tongue-in-cheek, face-in-cheese style of acting that I have come to know and love in the years I have been eagerly consuming more and more LBP, however in Wet Heat everyone just seems to really "get it." I know that Seaver creates most of the performances himself, through particular pronunciation (LBP can make pretty much any word into a punch line), pre-produced ticks and body language, and an overall aesthetic of camp that is very much LBP's own. In Wet Heat, the LBP regulars are all spot-on with the aesthetic, and LBP newcomer Billy Garberina's La Femme la Douche is way over the top – in a really good way… think Dr. Frank-N-Furter on acid. Or maybe ecstasy.

Wet Heat is Seaver's Escape from New York (with some Terminator 3 thrown into the mix) meets the satire of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. Teen Ape is the Snake Plissken character (even going so far as having multiple people remark "I thought you were dead" upon Teen Ape's appearances), recruited by Peter Billingsly ("Ralphie" from A Christmas Story, if you didn't know that) to rescue the President of Movies from the evil La Femme la Douche and his minions fresh from the local "school for slow kids." The South Park feeling comes in as we see that this film is a rip on the Hollywood system – instead of ripping on the MPAA like in South Park, Wet Heat rips on the crap that Hollywood regularly serves up as "entertainment." One of my favorite bits of dialogue between Mrs. President of Movies and Teen Ape: "…to see the anguish and disgust on the audiences faces as they walk out of things like Wild Hogs or Tobelrone, the Cotton Candy Robot." "Shit girl, Tobelrone was a tour de force…"

Overall, Wet Heat is a great addition to the LBP canon. If you enjoy silly situational parody of pop culture, campy acting, self-referential jokes, bloody jokes, boobie jokes, and basically what makes LBP, well, LBP – you will find much to laud in Wet Heat. Classic LBP, but just a bit better than before! Plus, the music (while mostly ska) is great, and a week after watching the film, I still have The Highgears' Wet Heat theme song playing in my head. I will leave you with this, probably the line that made me laugh the most in this film: "My neck's broke – I'll see you in hell." As long as hell is showing LBP.

Overall 7.5 / 10

Wet Heat is not on the imdb.

Wet heat for sale: http://www.lowbudgetpictures.net

Wet Heat site: a href="http://www.lowbudgetpictures.net">http://www.lowbudgetpictures.net

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The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971 d.Riccardo Freda)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Director: Riccardo Freda

Original / Alternate Titles: L' Iguana dalla lingua di fuoco

Rating: UR

Running Time: 92m

Description: Riccardo Freda is probably not a name on the tip of your tongue, even if you are an avid giallo fan. From doing a little research, it appears that this may be his only entry into the genre (a couple of other Freda films could arguably be considered gialli, but you would have to argue your point), even though like many other gialli directors, Freda has entries in most of the popular Italian genres of the time (spaghetti western, sword & sandal, spy thriller, etc.) To add to his lack of gialli experience, many critics feel that Freda's only really good movies were I, Vampiri (which has later been mostly credited to Mario Bava), The Frightening Secret of Dr. Hichcock and its sequel, The Ghost. I personally can't comment on any of those films, because The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is the first and only Freda film I've seen.

Truth be told, TIwtToF will also probably be the last Freda film I'll be watching. I wouldn't rule out his films forever and ever – nothing like that – but I most definitely will not be having a Freda Film Festival at my house this weekend! TIwtToF has a lot of good stuff going for it – a giallo killer that uses acid as a main weapon, creeping & peeping killer POV, red herrings, "weapon POV" on some killings, some really funny and absurd dialogue, and really: how cool is that title?
Unfortunately, even with all that good stuff, TIwtToF is just average at best.

I really wanted to get on board for TIwtToF, but I just couldn't. I felt that the film was just Freda's stab at trying what was the dominant genre of the time, and that his film was very formulaic for this genre. Black-gloved killer sneaks around in the dark and kills women with acid (cool) and a razor (cool, but very common); policeman on the verge of retirement tries to stop aforementioned killer. Red paint blood ensues.

I guess if you had never seen any gialli before, TIwtToF would be a decent place to start, but if you are familiar with the genre, the only real appeal this film holds is in the very strange dialogue throughout. Some of my favorite lines: "What did you expect… the murderer's name and address, and an invitation to drop by for tea between 5 and 6?" "If you wait a couple of years, you can read the book I'm writing about my life." And my favorite: "When will you learn that if you don't wear your glasses you can't hear anything? Somebody could come in and kill you!" I'm not joking. There is a grandma who somehow goes deaf when she takes her glasses off. I actually had to rewind the film just to be sure I heard that right: no glasses = deaf. Wha???

If you were hanging out with your gialli buddies, and one of them decided to put The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire on, don't storm out pissed off or anything. It's not that bad. But if you're at the video store with your gialli buddies, and it comes down to choosing between TIwtToF and something else, chances are you should go with something else (unless something else is Knife of Ice…)

2.5 out of 5 Old Ladies that Can't Hear Anything without Their Glasses On

Not Commercially Available
DVD Available for Trade

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Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972 d.Dario Argento)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Director: Dario Argento

Original / Alternate Titles: 4 mosche di velluto grigio, The Four Velvet Flies

Rating: UR

Running Time: 104 Minutes

Description: Why isn't this movie commercially available? It makes no sense to me, when you can get much lesser Argento fare like "Phantom of the Opera" or "The Card Player," why the final film of Argento's famed animal trilogy (along with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and The Cat o' Nine Tails) would be unavailable. More so than the fact that this completes one of Argento's trilogies, 4FoGV is also a great Argento film from early in his career, and it has a component rarely seen in his canon – comedy!

4FoGV opens with a band in their recording space, rocking out. After the session is over, Roberto (Michael Brandon) leaves the space, and notices that he is being followed… again. He confronts his stalker, who claims to not know what Roberto is talking about. The stalker pulls a switchblade, which ends up in his own gut after a scuffle. Roberto is horrified by what has happened, but is quickly more horrified by the fact that there is a man in a creepy mask photographing the whole event. The next day, the murdered man's ID shows up at Roberto's house, and the cat and mouse play begins.

I know that there is the occasional quip or funny situation in Argento's films, and I do not mean to imply that the man has no funny bone, but 4FoGV is a weird hybrid of Giallo and comedy, unlike any I have seen. There is Roberto's attack on the mailman (he thinks it's another stalker), and the mailman's subsequent preparedness for battle. Also, there is a very funny, very gay private detective, Gianni (Jean-Pierre Marielle), who likes to point out his sexuality, and would be considered "flaming" today. Not to mention Roberto's friend, God (short for Godfrey), who's name being called incites a quick "Hallelujah" from the score! 4FoGV is the closest to a Giallo-comedy hybrid I have ever seen.

Unfortunately, as mentioned before, 4FoGV is not commercially available. Therefore, the version I saw was cropped incorrectly (there's obviously a bit missing on the side of the screen), very dark and murky, and the sound was bad. Even with these shortcomings, I highly enjoyed 4FoGV, and would highly recommend it to fans of the Giallo genre, and especially to fans of Argento himself. The film has many elements that come up later in Argento's films – the surrealistic feel (especially when an entire park full of people just disappear!), the stylish camera work, the suspense – but may be more striking for what is not present – the gore is minimal, there is nearly no sex / nudity, and the comedy that is rampant in this film I have never seen in any subsequent Argento flicks.

Now Paramount, why won't you either give up the rights to this flick, or give it a good release? Maybe you can help, here's a petition to have the film properly released: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?4flies&1

3.5 out of 5 Friends Named "God" (if this were a better quality copy, I do not doubt I would have rated it at least 4 out of 5)

Not Commercially Available

Currently watching : FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET - Dario Argento - WIDESCREEN DVD - OOP

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Torso (1973 d.Sergio Martino)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Director: Sergio Martino

Original / Alternate Titles: I Corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale, Carnal Violence

Rating: R

Running Time: 92 minutes

Description: The first time I saw Torso, I was less than impressed. This was back when, as a video store manager that often closed the store, I was first discovering the Giallo (and watching them by myself VERY late at night). I'm not quite sure what it was about this flick; it just rubbed me wrong.

I recently re-watched Torso, and I can't figure out what it was I didn't like the first time! Torso is a classic Giallo, with nearly all the elements covered – the flick opens with a boobie-filled three-some which identifies the killer's penchant for eyes (eyes and sight unseen being a big part of many Gialli), there are red herrings a plenty, lots of good stalking killer-POV, Americans in Italy, red-paint blood and gore, prostitutes, drugs, the list goes on and on! Torso even features an element that I have felt is lacking from many Gialli – suspense.

The story starts out with an American student studying in Italy (foreigners in a foreign land is a very common theme in the Giallo genre), who decides with some friends to head up to a villa away from school, as some madman (as they always are in Gialli) has taken to killing young women. This is a bad idea, as the killer also heads for the hills, and works on emptying the villa!

The story is very basic Gialli territory – black gloved killer stalks and kills women. But where Torso shines is the huge amount of twists and turns (supposedly even the female actresses weren't told who the "real killer" was during filming), good uses of the red herring (did the killer use a black scarf with red details to strangle the girls, or was it a red scarf with black details?), lots of chances to decide who the killer is (and be wrong), and the addition of the aforementioned suspense angle.
Many Gialli have a character being stalked, and yes that can be made suspenseful, especially through the use of killer-POV. Torso takes the suspense t a different level, as our heroine Jane (Susy Kendall) sits in a closet with a badly-damaged ankle, watching a murder occur just outside and trying to hold her breath. Or the many shots Sergio Martino has of doorknobs, slowly being forced open. Or the topper for this flick: Jane has to watch the masked (which is not often found in the Giallo genre, most killers faces are just not shown) killer dismember her friends as she tries to not make a sound.

Torso is a great shining example of the Giallo done very well. There are enough twists and turns to derail a train, the requisite boobies and blood, a scary stalking killer with a freaky knife, red herrings upon red herrings, the themes of both "foreigner in a foreign land" and "sight unseen" being played out, and a really hard to swallow motive for the killings (as they usually are in Gialli). I need to go get me some more Sergio Martino Gialli and see if they stand up to Torso.

4 out of 5 Black on Red Scarves

DVD Available from Anchor Bay

Currently watching : Torso Release date: 21 March, 2000

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Knife of Ice (1972 d.Umberto Lenzi)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Original / Alternate Titles: Il Coltello di ghiaccio, Silent Horror

Rating: UR

Running Time: 91 minutes

Description: I like Umberto Lenzi. I know that if you go on the imdb and look up his titles, you will see over and over again people criticizing his films as being boring, or outrageous, or disjointed, or whatever, but I like Umberto Lenzi. I think his dialogue is extremely (and usually unintentionally) hilarious, his situations are creatively crazy, and his films as a whole are underrated. Except this one.

This giallo is an extremely odd entry into the genre for more than a few reasons. First - unlike most every other Lenzi flick I've seen - there is no nudity, and nearly no blood. "What the? I thought this was a giallo," you're probably asking your self. I was asking my self the same thing as I watched… where is the skulking killer POV? Where is the liberally flowing red-paint blood? Where are the tits??? Not here. Actually, the most horrific images in the entire film are in the opening sequence; shots of a real bull fight, with a real bull being killed. I realize that if I were Spanish, this probably wouldn't have bothered me so much, but as I am a friend to animals, and a person who just doesn't like the REAL gore, I found these opening shots to be 10 times more appalling than any other images in this film.

KoI follows a mute, Martha (Carroll Baker) who is afraid of trains. Yes, afraid of trains… because (as is explained in some really heavy-handed exposition towards the beginning of the flick) she was thrown out the window of a moving train by her father just before it crashed, and she then watched as her parents burnt to death. She hasn't spoken since. She converses on the telephone by tapping the receiver, and somehow everyone knows that it's her on the other end of the line, and can interpret what she is saying (an even more impressive feat, I think, then people understanding Lassie when she tells them little Timmy has fallen down the mine shaft), and in person she usually uses her own sign language (again that is understandable to those that know her).

The "carnage" (I put that in quotes because, really, there isn't much to qualify as such) starts when Martha grows some balls and goes to the - gasp! - train station to pick up her cousin, Jenny (Ida Galli), a singer who has come to visit Martha and their Uncle Ralph (George Riguad). That evening, Jenny is killed in the garage, and the viewers get the only glimpse of the "black glove" archetype seen in this film. Nearly immediately suspicion is put on "a sex maniac," as another girl is found dead just down the road. Jenny and Martha caught a glimpse of a man with crazy eyes peeping on them on their way home from the train station, and creepy-eyes shows up again at Jenny's funeral. So it must be creepy eyes, and to make it even worse for our ocular-deficient possible killer, he's a British-Satanist-hippie-junkie. Yup, a Satanist hippie. Free love and goat entrails. Morphine and black mass. For some reason, that just doesn't gel for me.

While I really do love me some Lenzi flicks, this one lives up to the imdb opinion of Umberto. Slow, ridiculous, tedious, and really, not a whole lot of fun. Every time I thought it was about to get better, KoI let me down. There wasn't even much of the unintentionally amusing dialogue that I look forward to in Lenzi's usual fare. The "red herrings" in this flick made no sense, and then ending "twist"… really? That's the killer? Really? Well, if you say so, Umberto.

1.5 out of 5 British-Satanist-hippie-junkies

DVD Not Commercially Available

Currently watching : Spasmo Release date: 25 March, 2003

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The New York Ripper (1982 d.Lucio Fulci)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Director: Lucio Fulci

Year: 1982

Original / Alternate Titles: Lo Squartatore di New York, Psycho Ripper

Rating: UR

Running Time: 93 minutes (unrated version), 85 minutes (US cut version)

Description: This is one of the more infamous gialli out there; mostly for the extreme gore value (as is often Fulci's trademark) and the perceived misogynism running rampant in this film. And TNYR's reputation is well deserved.

TNYR follows Lt. Fred Williams (Jack Hedley) and his "profiler," a college professor named Dr. Paul Davis (Paolo Malco), as they attempt to track down a serial killer operating in New York. The killer provokes his pursuers, as he calls Lt. Williams and speaks to him in a Donald Duck-like voice. "You'll never understand me! You're too stupid," the killer taunts.

TNYR features some of the more brutal violence seen in the giallo genre. One of the first killings is a close up of a woman's torso, as a switchblade slices her open. Another victim is stabbed in the crotch with a broken bottle, while another has her nipple cut in half (and you wonder how this film was labeled misogynistic?) So be prepared if you intend to view TNYR, for there will be no easy ride here, buddy.

There are other good reasons to label this film misogynistic, and I have to agree with those critics that label it so. While many gialli have women as the exclusive victims (and often are even more specific, killing just prostitutes or lesbians…), TNYR just treats the female characters like shit.

Even though there are so many ugly aspects to TNYR, I still really enjoy this film. The murder mystery is great, and even unresolved – Fulci shows you the killer, but then throws a little curveball saying "oh, by the way, it could have been this guy, too" – and the film has Fulci's style. Many would say Fulci's "style" is just a bunch of tits and gore, and while TNYR contains such, this is not what I am talking about. Fulci takes us to the peep shows and back alleys of early 80's New York City, and you can feel the grime on the lens. This is a dirty, dirty film, and through TNYR's lighting, camera work, and of course the previously mentioned tits and gore, the viewer FEELS dirty by the time the movie is over. At least this viewer did.

4 out of 5 crazy-voiced killers

DVD Available from Anchor Bay

Currently watching : The New York Ripper Release date: 24 August, 1999

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The Giallo Database has begun!
Current mood: artistic
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

As you may have already surmised, this is NOT a review! I have begun a project I am calling "The Giallo Database," and I need your help!

The idea is to get short reviews of every giallo out there. As many as I and anyone else can find. The site is at giallo.sb-films.com and anyone who has seen any giallo not already listed can post their own review, all I ask is you follow the formatting. I am also encouraging people help other giallo fans find the commercially unavailable flicks, but that's up to the users to decide if they want to do that...

Also, I will post all of my OWN giallo reviews here as well, as they are a review by Ryan...

I hope all of you giallo fans will come be a part of it. Later!

9:15 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The Work of Blind Budget Films (2003 – 2005 d.Brian Lorelle & David Grisham)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Description: (only thing available related to this on Blind Budget's site, www.fwank.net) The One-day film project:
This is a project by Blind Budget Films wherein we create an entire short film in one day. It is a grueling process, but it has yielded us some awesome results so far. Please have a look.

Major Cast:
Brian Lorelle and David Grisham

Written and Directed by Brian Lorelle and David Grisham

Shorts Included: Ill Flower, Strangers & Cigarettes, Teacup, Wiley Gangster, Dig, How the Fuck?, Excessive Force, Strangers & Cigarettes, We Have Lightsabers, Bird Watcher, and Spy.

Right from the very beginning of TWoBBF, I was struck by the great composition and movement of the camera. Ill Flower opens with quick moving shots full of texture and color; I was immediately drawn into the film by the beauty of the seemingly random items the camera strayed over. I found this visual acuity to be present in most of the shorts that comprised TWoBBF. This visual stylization is important, as most of the films that make up this compilation actually have very little or no dialogue.

The quality of the picture varies throughout the films – some were obviously shot on an older digital camera, and are quite grainy (reminiscent of footage I've shot before on my digital 8), others were shot on a newer DV, the grain is gone and instead replaced with crisp 30p images. Truthfully, I'm not sure which format's images I like better. While the picture quality is much crisper, and the auto focus not nearly as noticeable, on the films shot on the DV, I actually enjoy the grain on the "digital 8" shots.

Unfortunately, on the footage shot by both cameras, there never seems to have been any lights or mics present. All of the lighting throughout these shorts appear to have been shot with available light and on-camera mic. I guess if you were going for a Dogme 95 certification, this would be ok – but these shorts break to many other Dogme 95 edicts to be able to claim that was their intention with the lack of lights (and I'm pretty sure if asked, Blind Budget would make no mention of Dogme 95). The lighting is not horrible or unwatchable, but the films would most certainly benefited from the use of some strategically placed lumens.

The sound through out the shorts is quite uneven; the (unlicensed) music – which is not a problem as long as you don't try to sell your flick – is carefully selected and works very well within most of its applications. The dialogue is a different story. Because of the use of the on-camera mics (I'm assuming), the dialogue is muffled and hard to understand in many points. Many of the films benefit from their lack of dialogue for this very reason.

Don't get me wrong – I am not saying that the lighting or sound situation in TWoBBF makes these shorts in any way unwatchable – but the films production value could be much higher, which would vastly improve TWoBBF overall. That being said, many of these films were part of Blind Budget Films' One-Day Film Project – and were conceived and seemingly completed in one day. One day.

Did I mention ONE DAY? For such a short period and limited cast / crew, TWoBBF is a standout project. Sure, the shorts have their flaws – some are too dark, the auto focus on the camera too haywire, the dialogue obscured by wind – but these films also show great promise in their artistic merit, and their improvisational, loose feel, and their overall quality. I would greatly welcome a film from Blind Budget that married their great composition and overall flow (and surrealistic weirdness) with some decent pre-production, additional cast and crew and a longer script. In the mean time, I think I need to watch Bird Watcher again and try and figure out just what the hell is going on.

Overall 7 / 10

The Work of Blind Budget Films is not on the imdb.

The Work of Blind Budget Films is not for sale, but you can watch some of the shorts at http://www.fwank.net/film.html

The Work of Blind Budget Films site: http://www.fwank.com

...oh, and I bet you're thinking "he had Strangers and Cigarettes in the list twice!" and you're right, I did. Because Blind Budget shot it twice - once on the "digital 8" camera, and again on the DV - and created an almost shot-for-shot remake of one of their own films, smartypants.

Currently listening : Burque Luv 5: Digital Music From the Sands of New Mexico By Various Artists

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Foxxy Madonna vs the Black Death (2007 d.Jakob Bilinski)
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Description (from imdb.com):

There is a dark sect in the fight against evil - an elite underground organization of unorthodox secret preacher agents who get down for a higher power! Monica Barajas (Shade of Grey, Loss) is Foxxy Madonna - a butt-kicking, chain-smoking preacher chick with a small arsenal, a bad attitude, and a mysteriously powerful "crucifist." And she's gonna need em all as she's about to embark on her most dangerous mission yet! The notorious Black Death (Jomar "Dez" Banks - Shade of Grey, Mime) is about to unleash a virus of Biblical proportions upon the world. And it's up to the foxxiest of heroes to stop him. Whether it's preventing the plague to end humanity, burning a demonically possessed guy to death, or dueling fisticuffs with a chalkboard-wielding psychopath, Foxxy Madonna is up to the challenge!

Major Cast:

Monica Barajas as Foxxy Madonna / Sam Pinkerton; Jomar "Dez" Banks as The Black Death; Scott Ganyo as Gabriel; David Barajas as Chalkboard; Jennifer Berkemeier as G.O.D., Troy Butler as The Possessed, Phil Lechuga as Henchman

Written by Jakob Bilinski, Edward Hatfield, and Christopher Wilkerson

Directed by Jakob Bilinski

When I first finished watching FMvtBD, my first impression was: not bad. Not overly awesome, but not bad. It was a fun, decently-fast paced modern theological exploitation flick, with servants of G.O.D. packing heat. The dialogue was snappy, but it could be a little slicker; the acting was good overall (which is better than most low/no budget flicks, where I would say that decent-at-best is the norm… but we know when you can't pay your actor you take the quality that you can get), but was inconsistent – some people were good, while others not so much. Don't get me wrong – I was entertained for the entire 15 or so minutes that I watched FMvtBD – I just wasn't blown away.

Then I watched an interview on the DVD where director Jakob Bilinski and "The Black Death" actor Jomar "Dez" Banks explained that this film was part of a 48-hour film fest, and was completed from first concept to final edit within a single weekend. Bilinski explained that they received an email with four "must-include" bits of information – a genre, a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue – and inspired by a recent viewing of the trailer for the (then) upcoming Tarantino / Rodriguez Grindhouse, FMvtBD was created. In a weekend. Let me recant my earlier middle-of-the-road stance… for a film made in a weekend, FMvtBD is an incredibly well designed, shot, and edited short. I have seen many shorts that had 5 to 10 times the amount of planning and execution time, and half (if that) the creativity, composition, sound quality, and overall entertainment value that FMvtBD crammed into a single weekend.

I recommend the director's cut, which incorporates additional scenes that were cut from the film fest version, as well as more in-depth post-production (as time was not a constraint on the director's cut). FMvtBD's director's cut includes color correction / manipulation to help achieve that slightly washed out / blown out 70's exploitation feel, as well as the requisite faux film scratches. Also included are decent digital effects, which can often ruin an ultra-indy production by betraying the budget... in looking damn cheesy. However, FMvtBD used the digital effects sparingly, and the effects that were included (mostly digital muzzle blasts and bullet hits) were well done. The film was shot on a "prosumer" camera, and for the most part the 16:9 print looks very nice; the only part of the film that appeared to be of lower quality were the shots in the (very 70's) opening credits, these seemed to have either been shot on a lower quality camera, or processed differently as they looked very "DV."

One thing that really impressed me about FMvtBD was the quality of the sound. Some of the foley-type effects sounded a little low-rent, but the dialogue quality was well above average for your typical low/no budget flick. And the sound in the film was well balanced – I didn't have to turn it up extra loud to understand the dialogue, nor did I have to turn it way down once the guns started popping.

Overall, I was impressed by the quality of FMvtBD, especially considering the time constraints under which it was conceived and created. It was a fun little flick that left itself open for a continuation of the story – which I would gladly spend another 15 minutes watching.

Overall 7.5 / 10

Foxxy Madonna vs the Black Death on the imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990430/

Foxxy Madonna vs the Black Death for sale: http://www.cinephreakpictures.com/buy.html

Foxxy Madonna vs the Black Death site: http://www.cinephreakpictures.com/index.html

Currently watching : Grindhouse Presents, Death Proof - Extended and Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition) Release date: 18 September, 2007

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