IslandGuru Who payed the critics

Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

MisterWhiplash This is some kind of schlock madterpiece. That sounds like a contradiction in terms, but the wild entertainment and at the same time genuine raw power on display is that Gary Cohen has a real satirical point to make. We do live in an American hyper-violent culture, and there is less and less real cinephilia among regular "folks" in towns like the quasi-suburban Jersey place that the main characters (one a former movie theater owent the other with a good office job in New York City). Why get the Woody Allen or a classic Abbot & Costello when you can watch some hapless transients (or, yknow, people that just want to leave and do other things with their lives) get tortured and slaughtered in disgusting displays of carnage? At its core, it's not just about violence but about what kind of society we want to live in.But one must not discount the schlock part, at least to the extent that Cohen is trying for it. What I mean is he has his cast of people who may or may not have limited acting experience or training, but as far as local people available it has that same realism one might see in The Florida Project. You believe without question that guy works at the deli or even the local sheriff or deputy or whoever the discount M Emmett Walsh is who discounts everything the video store owner claims as BS. So when people do make really ridiculous and over the top facial expressions, you can't help but laugh. It's hard to say how much of this is genuinely funny or unintentionally so, but I was pleased by how much was in the former category. Cohen is after the overvlown and even silly in some of these violent set pieces... Other times, in partucular the female hitchhiker, the violence is shocking more for the lead up and how it's first about sexual humiliation and that the objects of the slicing and stabbing involve breasts. It's also that, unlike say Meir Zarchi in I Spit on Your Grave (or dare I say Craven with Last House on the Left), Cohen is an effective filmmaker who knows how to use time and pacing to draw out suspense and eerie foreboding. I even got into the musical score, all in synth but all done for an approximate, chilling effect in scene after scene.And I'm not arguing this is some great piece of art. It's what Brad Jones would call a "Shot on S***eo" product, where's it's totally crude and proud of it. Matter of fact. I'm not sure if by the end it finds more to say than 'eh, screw it, let go and accept how violent as hell this is." But I really appreciate that there *is* thought put into it, that Cohen's protagonist is someone that isn't completely again st all violence in movies but just when it is ALL people watch (with the occasional porn of course). He is even I found kind of a sympathetic guy, one who we know will have to meet a tragic fate but is only, oh, 20 to 25% deserving of it. Of course for some that may vary. The point I'm making is a movie called Video Violence shot with a budget that was likely literally from the change one finds under the car seats, didnt have to try this hard as far as attention to staging and characters and even damn mis en scene, but it did. For what it set out to do, it's a miracle it works and has such a potent sense of how everyone is shaped by that filter of "it's only a movie." It's like a less polished Twilight Zone episode at its best, and high grade trash at its worst.

Scarecrow-88 Satire on our desire for the closest form of graphic bloodletting and violent carnage as possible has a NYC couple, Steven and Rachel Emory(real life married actors Art & Jackie Neill) discovering that their new town is a haven for snuff connoisseurs. These psychos, mainly loonies Eli(Uke) who grinningly hosts and camera-operator Howard(Bart Sumner), often leave their video recordings of the live murders of innocent travelers in the rental store of Steven's and as he(..and a frightened Rachel) seeks to put an end to such sickening shenanigans, finds that almost everyone(..if not everyone)is in on the sadistic misdeeds.You know perhaps video is a proper medium for a tale on the creation of snuff films, with director Gary Cohen, who is actually a pleasant and charming enough fellow on his interview for this film's DVD release, exploring the joyous nature of those who partake in slowly killing hitchhikers or lost traveling innocents just passing through. The violent gore effects are cheap and cheesy, but rather impressive if one considers the limited funds available. Head and arm sliced from the body. An ice pick slowly inserted in a victim's breast. A woman's near-entire leg being hacked from her body. You know if one really thinks about the plot, it can kind of provide an unsettling feeling..that idea that you happen to come across such deranged people as Eli and Howard who know jack squat about you, but are willing to stab you with a knife or remove your legs slowly with a machete just for the hell of it, laughing their asses off with such glee at your horror and torment. Cohen uses his film as a vehicle to explore such sadism and how seemingly normal citizens(..perhaps representing the kind of rental customers he himself had when Cohen was renting videos in the 80's)could enjoy such evil antics on screen. I think fans of horror who recall renting videos back in the 80's will have a time warp trip seeing the movie posters and VHS tape boxes lining the shelves in 1987. Disregarding the acting, performed by no-names, amateur production values, and rather poor camera-work(..and the loud piano used producing the score), horror fans with tastes for such an unpleasant storyline might dig "Video Violence." There's an especially disturbing film sent to the Emory's titled, The Vampire and his Bride, which depicts an unfortunate actress suckered into a video production not knowing that her stomach would be torn open by a knife with her guts removed by a local would-be actor portraying a blood-sucker.

movieman_kev Steven Emory has just moved with his wife from New York to open a small video rental store on in the middle of nowhere. One day his only employee discovers a unlabeled tape in a returned video case. Curiosity gets the better of them, so while the store's empty they choose to pop it in and watch. It's a horrid snuff film so Steven runs to the police station and tries to talk the chief into checking it out. Upon his return to the store, cop in tow, he finds that the video has been switched & his employee missing. How far will he go to find out what really happened? What this extremely low-budget shot on video movie lacks in anything that usually constitutes a 'good' film (acting, production values of any kind, etcetera), it more than makes up for in story and heart. It's funny and for the most part enjoyable. For optimum viewing pleasure enjoy with some alcoholic beverage of your choice and a few like-minded friends. If you liked "pieces" or "2000 Maniacs", you'll more then likely enjoy this too.My Grade: B- DVD Extras: Audio commentary by Director/ writer Gary Cohen, Special effects men Mark Dolsom & Mark Kwiatek, and actors Art Neill, Paul Kay, David Christopher, & Uke; 15 minute interview with Cohen; and Trailers for Video Violence 1, Video Violence 2, Cannibal Campout, Woodchipper Massacre, & Ghoul School (the DVD also comes with the sequel to this film on the same disc)

Mike I happened to be going through the ol' horror section at the video store, looking for "SLEEPAWAY CAMP", and came across this piece of trash. The synopsis has a city-slicker from New York working at a video store where the patrons only seem interested in horror films, and mysteriously videos start popping up that look like snuff films where people are brutally murdered. Having an ending with a striking rescemblence to that Peter Fonda film "RACE WITH THE DEVIL" (another atrocious film), this film is devoid of almost every production value and should not be seen at all costs. Avoid like the plague.