Woodchipper Massacre (1988)

You'd think with a name like 'Woodchipper Massacre', you were in for some really cheap video nasty. Well, it is cheap, but I don't know about how nasty it is. There's about as much sadism and gore in the film as there was in Weekend at Bernie's..I somewhat get the feeling that the title was foisted by the distribution company who released this thing on VHS.. It ended up reminding me more of something John Hughes would have made if he'd only had a budget of 400 dollars, could only get amateur actors, and had decided on a somewhat darker plot than in the films he did become famous for making. It's three kids, each a funny kid stereotype, whose parents aren't around that week, finding themselves committing woodchipper misdeeds. And despite the amateurish execution, it's all pretty fun and funny.

Three kids in a dysfunctional suburban family -- mopey older brother John (writer/director Jon McBride), chipper sister Denise (perky Denice Edeal) and precious younger brother Tom (cute Tom Casiello) -- are left alone with their mean, annoying, overbearing religious fanatic old battle axe Aunt Tess (an outrageously hammy Patricia McBride) when their jolly dad (amiable Perren Page) goes away for the weekend on a business trip. Things turn sour when Tom accidentally kills the nasty old bat. The three siblings dispose of her corpse by stuffing it in a woodchipper. Matters are complicated when no-count sleazeball cousin Kim (a perfectly slimy Kim Bailey) comes poking around looking for Aunt Tess. Boy, does this alarmingly atrocious, but often uproarious and thus oddly enjoyable ghastly marvel possess all the right so wonderfully wretched stuff to rate as a total four-star stinkeroonie: hopelessly amateurish acting from a game no-name cast, plodding (non)direction, a slight, talky script, poky pacing, cruddy shot-on-grainy-video photography, hissy sound quality, a mechanically bouncy score, hilariously horrible dialogue ("We?! What's all this we stuff? You're the one that killed her!"), a gleefully deranged sense of pitchblack humor, and a meandering story. Moreover, there's a playfully dark and deviant oddball sensibility evident throughout which not only makes the whole movie feel like a third-rate drawn-out sitcom pilot gone seriously mental, but also gives this picture an undeniable kooky charm that's impossible to dislike. A so sick and shoddy that it's paradoxically spectacular sidesplitting riot.

I liked this movie. It was entertaining and I thought it was funny. Not much gore but still if you have an imagination then use it. The lady that played Aunt Tess gets the bitch of the year award. The teenage girl is a total airhead and the little boy is a cute dork who tries very hard to be professional and not laugh during a few scenes. I have seen a lot of crap and I must say that this movie is a gem compared to some movies I have scene. This is not the worst movie ever made. If you want that one then rent AXE EM! Even MONSTURD is better than AXE EM! If you are the kind of person who often picks up crappy movies and endures them, then you will find this one to be a real treat, a breath of fresh air if you will.Why this movie is the best five bucks Ive spent in years!I say it is a keeper!

Definitely one of the best shot-on-video movies to come out of the Northeast in the late 80's. Tom Casiello's air guitar scene makes this movie worth renting alone.