Gorehounds Unite!

 This is the hardest film I believe I will ever have to explain or review.....basically this film is what would come about if Lloyd Kaufman, Tobe Hooper and John Waters were at a party together and someone put LSD in the punch. The Blood Shed takes place in a world that is infested with weird characters that defy all explanation....you actually feel like your in the middle of a nightmare you just cant quite wake up from.

 Its a world full of  Inbred cannibal familys and inept neighbors and police officers.....so in a nutshell its a classic throwback to the early 80's films we all knew and loved way back then. There's nods to many genre favorite films and classic 70's and 80's films scattered throughout the film my favorite being the most obvious (TCM Dinner scene).

 Director/Actor Allan Rowe Kelly is quickly making a name for him/herself in the lowbudget film scene....and here he seems to be posessed with the spirit of Divine, John Waters would be proud! Obviously the only way this movie would work is if the characters (no matter how campy or weird) were played straight and the actors put there all into the performances without holding anything back. Im proud to say in this way the film is a huge success.

 Honestly theres not alot not to like about this film...the hardest part for me was trying to figure out at the beginning of the film what they were trying to go for. By this I mean there was no real build up to the weirdness....It started out strange as hell and stayed there. At first I thought it was just really bad acting that made for the weird fell and characters......gladly within the first 10 minutes you realize this was all written this way and you settle into their strange and demented world.

 It was funny I couldnt figure out if I was supposed to be embarrassed for the characters or shocked! As I said though within the first half of the film you feel alot more comfortable with everything on the screen.

 My only real complaint with the film as a whole is that the middle tends to be a little slow and prodding but the first half hour and the last half hour especially are gold. I think had they trimmed a few scenes and had a little more of the family it wouldnt have felt as slow through the middle.

 The film has a very unsettling feel to it from the get go that never really leaves you even after youve finished watching it. I was very impressed with the film as a whole, from the sets to the acting it was well done all the way through.

 A few things I did want to point out though was the effects......there wasnt alot of effects per say but what was there was varying in quality. A few scenes in ther such as the ball busting scene were done right. The way I see it on a low budget film the more practical and simple the effect the better and the "bust a nut scene" is evidence of that.

  The Blood Shed is a welcome return to the craziness of the late 70's early 80's exploitation films we all knew and still love to this day. This film is a demented and gory love note to the genre classics of past and a bright new future for indie horror.

Visit the filmmakers at their Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/thebloodshedmovie 

Or the official website:

WWW.THEBLOODSHED.NET

RATING:

3 out of 5 Severed Heads

Just a sidenote regarding the distribution....Heretic Films picked this up for distribution and unfortunatly they arent allowing the original poster/cover art to be displayed at retail markets such as best buy etc. Im glad Heretic films is printing it on the other side of the DVD jacket but at the same time cant stand hearing that these types of things arent allowed because some retail market believes its too violent of an image. Yet they will sell the Faces Of Death Films and various other playboy themed dvd's right out in the open....double standards if you ask me. But at the same time I dont understand why they woulnt just put a block on the offending imagery. Oh well I guess I should just be happy there are indie films getting picked up for distribution.