DIRECTOR'S CUT: A KILLER COMEDY
PLOT-A group of hopeful Hollywood starlets take part in an unconventional audition for a horror filmmaker that turns out to be a twisted "reality TV" show.
VIOLENCE-Decapitations, severed limbs, disembowelment, and oh yeah...brains in a blender!
SEX/NUDITY-Zero, although a couple scenes come pretty damn close.
WHY I WATCHED IT-Any movie that describes itself as a "Killer Comedy" is at least worth a look to me, because laughter and screaming are very closely related!
THE DOPE-Having grown up with cable television, my affinity for B-movies originated in late nights watching a lot of wild stuff. If the movie was lame, I'd fall asleep. If the movie was great, I'd rush to find a tape to record it because I knew NO ONE would believe me if I tried to describe what I'd seen. Bottom line, the good ones would keep you awake even if you were dead tired when you turned the TV on to begin with.
DIRECTOR'S CUT, while claiming to be a spoof of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, is actually much much more than that. Sure, there are shades of 'SAW...a group of youths pick up a freaky hitchhiker and later encounter a house full of wackos that want nothing more than to slice them into teeny bits. However, these similarities are broad strokes, and DIRECTOR'S CUT really has its own thing happening. It's quite funny and has an amazingly good cast to keep things interesting, and has the look and feel of many of the better late-night cable flicks I used to watch. The script and characters are very well-written and I was surprised at times just how graphic things got; there is a lot of well-done gore for all you gore fiends out there. So much so in fact that, if you take out the comedy, you have a seriously intense horror flick on your hands.
Additionally, I feel compelled to mention that while this movie is a work of fiction, it's not hard to imagine that the sick fucks who make "reality" shows like THE SWAN probably aren't much different than the deranged Cole Wilder in DIRECTOR'S CUT. Without trying, the filmmakers not only made a great statement about how horrible the current trend in popular TV is, but created what I believe is a movie truly worthy of cult status and repeat viewings. Definitely not to be missed!
MEMORABLE SCENES-Evan McNamara is awesome as Wilder's younger brother "Meth", and steals every scene he's in. While he is most definitely DIRECTOR'S CUT's equivalent to Ed Neal's "hitchhiker" from TEXAS CHAINSAW, he has a fierce presence that is both energized and yet totally unsettling. I loved watching him pop pills and wash them down with a thermos full of human blood.
NOTES-This movie is available on DVD from Landfall Productions. Buy it! You won't be let down.
(May 2004)