Popular and successful horror writer Steven Lessey (a fine and credible performance by Steven Young) tries to juggle his increasingly messy personal life with the demands of meeting a strict deadline on his latest horror movie script.
Director/co-writer Mario Azzopardi offers an intelligent, intriguing, and provocative examination on the meaty themes of art versus commerce, illusion versus reality, how being a success in a specific genre can become its own trap, and whether one's work offers a trenchant commentary on blight or just only adds further gross insult on top of already existing filth and degradation (Lessey's work definitely fits into the latter category). Moreover, the domestic drama aspect gives this film an unexpectedly wrenching poignancy, with everything coming brilliantly together at the end with Lessey penning a screenplay about the self-created wreckage of his messed-up life.
The sound acting qualifies as another definite asset, with especially praiseworthy contributions from Young, Sharon Masters as Lassey's fed-up wife Elizabeth, Marvin Goldhar as crass and overbearing schlock producer Burt Horowitz, Jeannie Elias as prima donna actress Darlene Winters, Cindy Hinds as sweet and concerned daughter Sharon, Phillip Leonard as angry older son David, and Tod Woodcroft as sensitive youngest son David. In addition, the gore set pieces certainly deliver the outrageously gruesome goods: Disgusting highlights include a farmer being chewed up in a thresher, cannibal nuns eating a priest, and a punk band's blaring music causing several winos to poop themselves to death. An excellent sleeper.
Director/co-writer Mario Azzopardi offers an intelligent, intriguing, and provocative examination on the meaty themes of art versus commerce, illusion versus reality, how being a success in a specific genre can become its own trap, and whether one's work offers a trenchant commentary on blight or just only adds further gross insult on top of already existing filth and degradation (Lessey's work definitely fits into the latter category). Moreover, the domestic drama aspect gives this film an unexpectedly wrenching poignancy, with everything coming brilliantly together at the end with Lessey penning a screenplay about the self-created wreckage of his messed-up life.
The sound acting qualifies as another definite asset, with especially praiseworthy contributions from Young, Sharon Masters as Lassey's fed-up wife Elizabeth, Marvin Goldhar as crass and overbearing schlock producer Burt Horowitz, Jeannie Elias as prima donna actress Darlene Winters, Cindy Hinds as sweet and concerned daughter Sharon, Phillip Leonard as angry older son David, and Tod Woodcroft as sensitive youngest son David. In addition, the gore set pieces certainly deliver the outrageously gruesome goods: Disgusting highlights include a farmer being chewed up in a thresher, cannibal nuns eating a priest, and a punk band's blaring music causing several winos to poop themselves to death. An excellent sleeper.