In Jay Baruchel's ugly-as-sin RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE, slashing is touted then trashed

You've got to hand it to co-writer/director Jay Baruchel (an actor I've much enjoyed over the years): He has given us a slasher movie riddled with guts 'n gore and then made that movie about as ugly as it could be -- in everything from its story and theme to its sets and cinematography. 

Best of all, while RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE offers a comic-book series of bloody, brutal killings based on supposedly-real-life-but-actually-fictional events that drenches its readers in horror, while delivering the same thing in the movie itself, it also manages to target the comic book artist and his business partner/producer as damnable agents of this horror. No one here gets out unscathed. In fact, just about no one here gets out -- period.

Baruchel's star is that hunky actor Jesse Williams, as Todd (below, second from left), a successful comic book artist having some trouble finding the correct conclusion for his final issue. He and his girlfriend Kathy (Jordana Brewster, below, left) are off to Comic-Con, along with his partner/producer (played by Baruchel, shown in directing mode at right) and artist/assistant (Niamh Wilson, below, right), the latter of whom, when she sees anything disturbing, must then draw it on paper to help get it out of her conscious mind.

Turns out that Kathy is currently writing a book about all the victims of this slasher/killer, and at each stop along their road trip, something increasingly horrible happens that apes far too closely what has earlier appeared in Todd's comic, which is  turn is based on those even earlier real-life murders.

So here we have art imitating life, and life (or in this case death) imitating art, with events moving from ghastlier to gorier in no time flat. Normally TrustMovies is not a big fan of either slasher movies or gore-fests like this one. Even now, I can't really call myself a fan of Random Acts of Violence. Yet the movie did hold the attention of both my spouse and me because of its sheer ugliness and refusal to make things easy on the audience.

And if you accuse the film of glamorizing the violence, Baruchel and crew make certain that everyone pays for their part in it all, including, I believe, us viewers. And certainly it does not excuse or in any way champion comic book violence nor the nitwit movie shit that this violence engenders. 

Everything about the film -- from its writing and direction to the colors, costumes, sets, cinematography, editing and special effects -- simply reeks of ugliness, horror and decay.  I almost think that Random Acts of Violence just might put viewers off slasher films in perpetuity. And though this may not sound like it, I mean that statement as a compliment.

We should be so lucky. Meanwhile, the movie, from AMC's SHUDDER, the subscription service for horror, thriller and suspense genres, and running just 80 minutes, is available now for viewing. Click here for more info and how to watch. 

Nicolás López's nasty AFTERSHOCK: mining Chile's awful earthquake for fun and profit

Think back to your least favorite male twat in movie history. Well, there's a new champ: the guy known as Gringo (played by Eli Roth) in a barrel-scraping movie opening this week called AFTERSHOCK.
Mr Roth is now twatmeister supreme. If the title of the film makes you think "earthquake," you're on target, for the film's publicity materials point with embarrassing pride to its use of the actual still-in-ruins locations of various spots that this horrific (8.8 MMS) earthquake leveled. If the "use" had resulted in something other than this particularly ugly and dead-on-arrival piece of crap, the boast might seem less idiotic.

Forget the "horror" that the movie offers. Forget its slasher qualities. Forget the blood, gore, torture, rape, anti-women (anti-men, too) stance and most else that the movie offers up. What sinks it irrevocably? It's just so poorly done. Film-maker Nicolás López, shown at right, first assaults us with a half-hour of low-end high-jinx featuring perhaps the most noisy, loud, vulgar and stupid characters you'll have seen. They're just no fun. As led by Mr. Roth's twatty Gringo (below), they prove so off-putting that you are not going to care one whit what happens to them all.

Perhaps this is the raison d'être of López's movie; if so, the guy is misguided something fierce. Except, I suppose, for those audiences craving blood, gore and ugliness above all else. If you count yourself among them, be my guest.

That covers the characters. As a filmmaker, however, López is little better. For the first half-hour, he keeps his camera constantly in motion, and thus never allows any moments to fully register. Except, of course, when the gore hits. This quickly becomes as ugly and tiresome as are the goings-on.

The plot, such as it is, has to do with the half dozen or so characters, girls and guys, hooking up (and not with each other), then surviving (or not) the earthquake, trying to get help for the injured, avoiding (below) the very unpleasant cretins (one is shown above) who've just escaped from a high-security prison, and finally staying high and dry enough to avoid the supposed oncoming tsunami. I didn't know tsunamis gave as much warning as this film suggests, but hey, the director probably thought this would add some suspense. Fool: it just adds another layer of nonsense.

I have to say that, in my seven years of attending screenings (five years for TrustMovies, two years for Greencine), I have not encountered as many walk-out by critics as I saw during Aftershock, beginning about one third of the way along and continuing thereafter. And guess what? For the first time in my own history as a critic, after one hour, I finally joined them. If this forbids your taking my review seriously, so be it. But I'll tell you that the chilly April weather and rain falling outside on 59th Street felt bracing and cleansing after this shit.

The next day, I queried a compatriot who had attended the same screening as to what happened at the end. He told me and then added, "See: You didn't miss much." From Radius TWC and running 90 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, as they say, "everywhere" -- which in this case means 26 cities on over 100 screens (plus VOD). And you can access showtimes and venues, I am told, by clicking here.

Hillbilly hellions prove heavenly source of fun in Eli Craig's TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL

Movie clichés -- especially those in the slasher/horror/
hillbillies-in-the-woods genre -- get a delightful drumming from director, writer and sometimes actor (he plays the cameraman in this film) Eli Craig. In his first full-lenth venture as writer/director, he has gifted us with one of the funnier examples -- so much better than, say, Hobo with a Shotgun -- of a movie that wants to turn its genre on its head in some way; kick it in the pants, goose it into overdrive. With TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL, after a slow set-up, Mr. Craig succeeds surprisingly well.

The filmmaker, right, knows his genres and can thus make fun even as he gives his film what fans most want: blood, guts and kids in trouble. His ace-in-the-hole is the fact that he's simply made the usual villains into the heroes, while taking the ever present set of high-school or college kids from the nitwits they often are, into full-out certifiable bad-guy nut cases -- even if this is more accidental than not.

Though the movie, at 90 minutes, is still a bit too long, Craig has saved many of the best bits for the lengthy finale and denouement, so the laughs and fun do continue to build.

As usual among the lesser characters, characterization is minimal and the roles quickly dispensed with.  But in his four leads, the filmmaker has cast well and drawn some very good performances, starting with that of Tyler Labine (above, left, as Dave), who, along with Alan Tudyk (above, right, as the titular Tucker) make great hillbilly fun (rather than simply making fun of hillbillies)

The inevitable lone girl who must go up against the bad guy(s) is here played by Katrina Bowden (above, center), and much of the film's sweetness and fun are provided by the very unusual relationship spawned between Bowden and Labine, who make a damned nice couple despite, well, you'll see (but you'll have to sit through the end credits to do it).

The real villain is given a nice spin by Jesse Moss (above, right, with Ms Bowden), who plays Chad, a fellow whose lineage provides the film with its single best laugh. Oh, yes, there's plenty of blood and guts along the way, as befits the genre, but most of it is done with humor, surprise and invention.

Opening theatrically via Magnet Releasing on September 30 (you can check the listing of theaters -- a lot of 'em -- across the country during October and November here), it is also available via VOD now. In fact, unless I am mistaken, this is the first film from Magnet/Magnolia that we critics have been asked to review during the week of its VOD release, rather than waiting a month until the theatrical release. So, whether you watch it at home now or in a theater later, you're hearing about it somewhat earlier than usual. Click the link above or consult your local TV reception-provider for the how-to-get-it-On-Demand details.

On-Demand: Danny Dyer in zombie romp DOGHOUSE from Jake West/Dan Schaffer

The war between men and women takes a new and decidedly misogynistic leap forward (or backward, depending on your view) with the new zombie movie DOGHOUSE (as in, woman to man, "You're in the dog-
house now, buddy!"). It is hard not to agree that these guys ought to be exactly there, next to Fido. A dumber, more clueless bunch of male morons would be difficult to find. Fortunately, these guys are funny, too -- once you get past some initial difficulty understanding the dialog (this film could use English subtitles for the Brit-vernacular-impaired).

The heavy-duty accents do finally become more understandable. They seem to grow on you, as do the men and their movie. Written by newcomer to film Dan Schaffer and directed by the nearly old-timer Jake West (shown at left), the film makes it clear from the start that these meathead misogynists need upending. And, lord, do they get it. On a supposed "male retreat" during which they want to reconnect with their masculinity -- as though they were ever for a moment disconnected from it -- in one of those homey little British towns (below) of which a modern Miss Marple might approve, our crew comes upon something extremely disturbing that allows them to give vent to every misogynist thought, word and deed you could possibly imagine.

This situation is a double-, maybe even triple-edged sword. Because, while we can enjoy the blood and guts provided by this sort of film, seeing it done only by men to women, creates a constant provocation, even though, plot-wise, this is something that simply must be done.  If the men were not so funny and idiotically macho (the always amusing and naughty Danny Dyer, below, is leader of the pack), this would be difficult for all but the most die-hard woman-haters to handle. And just when it seems that misogyny has won, the filmmakers come up with a priceless finale that, I suspect, will leave both men and women (if any of the latter are still watching) amused and provoked in equal proportion.

Unlike last year's better -- and far creepier -- Deadgirl, Doghouse is a spoof and so exhibits all or most of its genre's requirements.  The film's "monsters" come from all walks of life (this makes for some fun), and in all ages and boob sizes (which actually gives some of our men some very funny second thoughts).  The mostly male cast is quite game (only one woman has a major role that requires life-like acting), but it's the make-up department and its artists that deserves some sort of joint award for their combined efforts here.

West and his cinematographer Ali Asad put their widescreen video compositions to pretty good use: Yes, gore is often first and foremost but there are also some smart shots scattered along the way (see below). For those of us who keep asking for better reanimations of the zombie genre, this little film, in its own clever/nasty way, delivers (some of) the goods.

Doghouse, from IFC's Festival Direct On-Demand service, began its run this past Wednesday, June 9, as part of the continuing IFC Midnight series and should be available for the next several months.  Click here to determine if -- and how -- you can get it.