ROT
PLOT-A young punk rock girl has sex with a dead body and contracts a disease called "ROT".
VIOLENCE-Lots of blood and vomit, a guy melts, someone's head is punched off, a few characters are shot in the face, and a girl's head is run over by a car.
SEX/NUDITY-A couple brief scenes of implied sex with no nudity.
WHY I WATCHED IT-Look at the cover of the video one more time, read the plot description, and the answer should be crystal clear.
THE DOPE-Punk rock and underground horror movies have so much in common, it's no wonder that the makers of ROT combined them and had a highly successful result. This movie is fast, sick, violent, and carries an anti-government message to boot! I loved it. Director Marcus Koch demonstrates a firm grasp on filmmaking, total finesse making dime-store gore look awesome, and above all, a total understanding of what punk really is. If Vyvian from THE YOUNG ONES made his own movie, I'd be willing to bet it would turn out like ROT! Hopefully the people involved in producing this film realize how high a compliment that is. All the acting is great, the performances are energized, agonized, and right on the money. Very believable. My only problem with the movie was the bad picture quality (definitely filmed on a camcorder of some kind), but believe me you won't care about how the movie looks after a couple minutes. You'll be having too good a time watching the grossness unfold, and listening to the rock-ass music.
MEMORABLE SCENES-While making out, our disease-riddled punk girl vomits into her boyfriend's mouth! Amen!
NOTES-I watched the VHS release, which had some great interviews and making-of footage at the end, but I hear that ROT will be getting a DVD release soon. You best be looking for it.

(August 2003) 1