Review: The Void (2017)

"A fine entry in the Lovecraftian pantheon."

Aside from Re-Animator and From Beyond, and maybe Dagon if we're feeling generous, there aren't very many great Horror flicks out there that come from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. As bat-shit crazy and fantastic as his stories were, I honestly can't figure out why no one has tried to put more of them to film. The concept of human beings messing around with cosmic things that they don't understand, and then paying a terrible price for their meddling, is a hell of a concept, and one that could be milked endlessly, but no go so far.

Can you imagine a Cthulhu/Old Gods movie if it was done right?

There are always flicks that come along though that are very Lovecraftian in nature. The Mist comes to mind, as does Cabin in the Woods, and now we can add The Void to the mix. Sure, its smaller budget doesn't allow for massive cosmic entities to be coming through portals or anything, but it unleashes otherworldly beasts on a smaller scale in grand fashion.

The movie opens with a guy fleeing from a farmhouse in the dead of night, ahead of the bullets from two guys who really want him dead. He gets away, but his girlfriend gets shot in the back and set on fire. Deputy Carter is out on his midnight patrol when he sees the same guy crawling along the side of the road, and takes him to the nearby hospital for care, even though it's minimally-staffed due to its impending closing. How convenient.

HE'S SEEN SOME SHIT.

Soon enough, the two guys who tried to kill the dude show up and have the staff terrified, threatening to kill whoever they have to to get to their quarry... until they look outside and see a group of people in white robes surrounding the hospital. What do they want? Well, blood sacrifice, we imagine, because what else would a bunch of white robed creepers be doing surrounding a hospital in the middle of the night, if not looking for a blood sacrifice?

THE CLAN OF CTHULHU.

Trapped with nowhere to go, the small group of folks have no idea that the horrors that lie in the basement of the hospital are far more terrifying and deadly than any guys with shotguns or wannabe clansmen could ever hope to be. Of course that means that they'll be making their way down there, and none of it's going to end well for any of them.

YEAH, YOU GO AND CHECK IT OUT. I'LL WAIT UP HERE.

The Void was a blast. We love the idea of a world beyond ours that is filled with unspeakable horrors,and it's great to see a bunch of unsuspecting people be thrust into that world, and watch them reel at what they encounter. The creatures, the creepy cultists, the void itself... this was a cool little world to explore.

At times, this movie screamed of Hellraiser, The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, and Silent Hill, all wrapped up in a heavily Lovecraftian vibe. It even had a Fulci-esque ending. Honestly, the ending has to be a direct homage to The Beyond.

It did feel like there were too many elements borrowed from classic films at times, but it was such a compelling watch that it didn't ever become a true bother. This is a great throwback flick that was obviously made by some people who love their Genre flicks of the 70's and 80's, even if they didn't quite make it flow in as grand a fashion as said classics did. 

FRANK COTTON: VOID EXPLORER.

This movie has no shortage of bloodletting and great practical FX gags on display, including a scalpel in an eye, people being eaten by creatures, and all kinds of disturbing shit on display. This movie is a visual treat. A wet and messy one.

"DO YOU SEE?!?"

No nudity here.

PRUDES.

We need more flicks with Lovecraftian themes. Like, now.

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?

The Void isn't a perfect movie. It's limited budget shows in the lackluster script, and it borrows more than liberally from a handful of classic movies to deliver its punch, but its a visually impressive flick that boasts some great atmosphere and a cool premise that we got sucked right into.

This is a solid little Indie flick, and well worth a rental if you dig otherworldly body-horror.

B

The Void is available now on VOD, and is also in limited theaters.

Kathleen Munroe, Ellen Wong, and Grace Munro make this trip into The Void a prettier one for their presence.

Blu-ray Review: We Are the Flesh (2017)

"What in the Hell Just Happened?"

I'm honestly not sure how to even discuss this movie.

We Are the Flesh isn't a movie that you can really review in a traditional way, as it's not even really a traditional movie; it plays more like a surreal, abstract fever dream that offers equal doses of social commentary and exploitation. People are going to take away different things after watching it, and they're going to love it and hate it in equal measure.

I recently watched a German flick called Wetlands (it's on Netflix, if you're interested), and I was shocked at how fucked up and graphic it was. Well, We Are the Flesh may have just upped the ante in the WTF Sub-Genre.

The world has ended, becoming a filthy barrio in which people scrounge to survive. Mariano is an old, creepy man who spends his time in an abandoned building, making LSD out of chicken and banging a drum, so he's making the most out of the apocalypse. He's just lonely is all.

EL DIABLO?

A brother and sister (Lucio and Fauna) find their way into his makeshift home, where they seek shelter from the world outside. Mariano greets them with insane rantings, eggs, and poisoned meat. He also jerks off as the sister gives her bro a blowie, which leads to them doing some hardcore incestuous aardvarking, which leads the old man to dropping dead as he delivers the money shot, which leads Fauna to mount his dead corpse and ride him to orgasm, because she really misses him after only knowing him for a few days. Then she pees in the hallway.

And from there, things get even crazier and weird, to the point where I'm not sure what even happened.

It sure was something to see though.

KIDS TODAY!

This is a really weird movie.

We get a crazy old man who seems to be some sort of Post-Apocalyptic messiah, making drugs from chicken parts and chemicals; banging a snare drum like a maniac; and forcing a brother and sister to do all sorts of deplorable things while preaching all kinds of insane mumbo jumbo about the evils of society and the pleasures of the flesh, the pinnacle of which has to be the scene where he jerks off while watching the two of them have sex.

I'm pretty sure that the character exists to provide, we, the audience, with some scathing commentary about the social injustices of modern day life in Mexico.

IT'S A VISUALLY BOLD MOVIE.

The sister, played by the beautiful and very brave Maria Evoli, swallows her brother's pork sword in full, graphic view; stands above him and drips menstrual blood on his mouth; pees on the floor while chanting; forces a girl into having the creepiest threesome ever with she and her brother; and has sex with a corpse.

I'm pretty sure that her character was meant to show how easily young people are lead astray, or maybe how they have no morals and are destroying themselves with excess or something.

ARE THERE NO BATHROOMS IN MEXICO?

The bottom line is that this movie is surreal, sexually graphic, odd, nonsensical, disturbing on many levels, and possibly even brilliant. Then again, it may be self-indulgent trash. Either way, it's like nothing we've seen before, and anyone who watches it is bound to have a strong opinion on the matter.

And the ending -and I mean the very end, after the homeless gang bang (that's called a Soup Kitchen here in the U.S.)- well it puts a whole new spin on the entire thing.

LUCIO GENTLY WEEPS INSIDE OF THE GIGANTIC NEON VAGINA

Lots of blood in this one, including, but not limited to: throat slitting, cannibalism, and a severed head.

EASY, CONYO, YOU'RE ABOUT TO SERVE THE GREATER GOOD.

Everyone in this movie got naked, and they show everything in full graphic detail, including close-ups of private parts, oral sex, masturbation, lesbian sex, group sex, necrophilia,incest, and even a gang-bang.

FAMILIA POR SIEMPRE.

We Are the Flesh is either the most pretentious excuse to cram a movie full of gratuitous sex and violence ever, or it may be a work of genius that deconstructs the current state of Mexican society in a wildly visceral way, and I honestly don't know which one it is.

This is a stark and graphic movie, and it was interesting to see something so shocking and artistic, I just don't know if it was much else other than shocking. It sure hasn't left my mind in two days though, so that's saying something. I guess our middle-of-the-road grade directly reflects our indecision. 

If you like messed up, graphic movies that "go there," then this might be the best Blu-ray you've ever come across. We give it a

Maybe don't bring it to family movie night though.

C

We Are the Flesh is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

Maria Evoli is as brave as she is beautiful.

DVD Review: The Corpse of Anna Friitz (2016)

"This is a perfect date movie... if you're looking for a way to end the date early. And maybe be single again."

There's nothing that's not deeply disturbing about necrophilia. What would possess anyone to molest or have sex with a dead body is far beyond our comprehension, but it's a real thing, and it makes for a horrifying premise for a movie. Movies like Deadgirl and Cemetery Man managed to tackle the subject in an entertaining way, but holy hell is it tough to sit through a movie where people are making love to the dead.

The Corpse of Anna Fritz has a little twist in it that makes it more than just a movie about three guys who decide to sex up a corpse, but even so, the psychology of the whole act, and what would even possess someone to partake in such heinous shit, is what really drives the movie.

There are going to be some heavy spoilers in this review, because they can't really be avoided, so if you want to stay spoiler-free, then skip to the end, read our summary, and watch the movie as "in the dark" as you possibly can.

When Anna Fritz, one of the most famous and beloved actresses in the world, dies suddenly at a party, everyone is in shock. Her body is transported to a hospital, the location of which is kept secret (so as to keep her adoring fans from causing a scene), but that doesn't keep a creepy orderly, Pau, from taking pictures of her naked corpse and sending them to his equally creepy friend, Ivan.

HOW CREEPY DO YOU NEED TO BE, MAN?!?

When Ivan and Javi (Pau's only friends) show up at the hospital to see Anna, because they're obviously big fans of hers, Pau takes them to the locked room where she's being stored. Upon seeing her naked corpse, a drunk and stoned Ivan decides that he's going to have sex with her; she's only been dead for a few hours after all, and she's still mostly fresh. Javi wants no part in the heinous act, and tries to get Ivan to stop, but he's too coked out of his mind and horny to listen to reason. After Ivan takes his 30-second turn, Pau decides to have a go at her. He's no 2-pump chump though; no, you see he's sexed up corpses before, and so he's got a smooth technique about him. So he too climbs on top of her lifeless form, and starts to go to work...

Then Anna opens her eyes.

YEP. HAPPENS JUST LIKE THAT.

Necrophilia, rape, murder, kidnapping... The Corpse of Anna Fritz has it all!

This is an uncomfortable and disturbing movie, to say the least. It's a tightly-paced ride that pushes all kinds boundaries during its extremely short, 71-minute runtime, and when all was said and done, we felt dirtier for having watched it.

The scene where Anna was trying to crawl to freedom down a hallway was pretty intense, and a good example of the atmosphere that the movie creates. Even though the movie always seemed to come up with some lame plot device to keep the action mostly in the one room, it kept us engaged throughout. 

As nasty as the visceral aspect of the subject matter is, it's really the psychology behind it all that makes it hit so hard. What kind of person could take pictures of a naked corpse, let alone touch it sexually or actually have intercourse with it? More than that, how far would someone go to keep their shameful deed from being discovered? It's all very disconcerting, and the film holds nothing back in asking those questions, and answering them.

IT'S ALWAYS THE QUIET, AWKWARD ONES.

How is the newly-dead corpse of such a beloved celebrity left all alone in a morgue like that? I get that they were keeping the location of her body a secret so that fans wouldn't swarm the hospital or something, but no family, no friends, no manager, no publicist, no entourage... there was no one there for her at all?

Even better, as popular as she was, and as worried as they were about keeping mobs of fans away, why were there no Cops present? Surely someone would have been guarding the body of such a high profile celebrity, right? And wouldn't there be doctors doing an autopsy or something? Gah!

It also sucked that Anna wakes up from her death... presumed death... shit, we don't even know if she was dead or not, because they never explain a damn thing to us!

WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON EITHER, GUYS.

What in the hell kind of creepy degenerate would want to have sex with a corpse? Seriously, what happened to you as a kid, man?

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, CONYO?

Necrophilia is about as "gory" a it gets for us, even if there's no blood or gore present during the act. People are also beaten and stabbed to death in this one, so it's violent enough for its short running time.

THINGS GOT MESSIER THAN YOU THOUGHT THEY WOULD, HUH BOYS?

Alba Ribas spends a good amount of time naked throughout this one, and she's truly lovely, but it's not the sexy kind of naked. Not at all.

NO, DUDE. JUST NO.

People are fucking creepy.

THE MORGUE: IT'S LIKE A PLAYGROUND FOR THE SICK AND DEMENTED.

Dark, disturbing, uncomfortable, and heinous, The Corpse of Anna Fritz is a short Thriller that packs a lot of punch. It twists and turns, and in the end it became something more than what we thought it would be, and that's a good thing.

If you're looking to be disturbed, then check it out when it sees release in your country.

B-

The Corpse of Anna Fritz is available now on DVD in Japan, and will be coming to Germany on 2/26. *Presumably, it will be hitting other markets shortly after that. We hope.

Alive or dead, Alba Ribas is a beautiful girl. We prefer her alive though.