Headless (2015)

So sometimes you watch a movie and you wonder what might have possibly been involved in the creative process leading up to the development of a motion picture and this one certainly seems to be simple to me. I'd imagine it was a group of guys sitting around a table and the conversation went a little something like this:"So... how do we make a slasher movie stand out of the crowd?" "I know! We make it really EXTREME! The media always talks about extreme movies!" "So how do we do that? It sounds like a lot of effort." "Nah, we'll just put a bunch of stuff in that everybody hates." "So what does everybody hate?" "Oooh, everybody hates cannibals!" "And rapists! Even more if they're necrophiliacs!" "And torturers!" "Great! Make our bad guy all of those things and make it as gross as possible! We're done!" "Better throw in some incestuous undertones, too, that'll make it seem deeper and more complex." "Great idea! Now let's draw straws and see who has to go home and write the script tonight."That's pretty much the vibe I got from this movie. I forced myself to sit through it to the end because I can't take a review seriously when somebody says "I turned it off half way" and that's that, but I really would have loved to.I adore horror movies, but when the writers and directors just play the "gross" card it is the least creative, insulting, lazy, slipshod cash grab that a horror movie can be. It's also essentially a middle finger in the face of the genre's audience, and it's one we've come to expect more than any other genre audience out there, unfortunate as that is.If you're going to watch this, I genuinely can say watch the first ten minutes and you've essentially seen the whole movie. It is entirely just a serial killer, cannibal, necrophiliac psychopath torturing women, decapitating them, eating their eyeballs and having sex with the severed heads and that is the entire movie. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, have fun. I'd suggest not watching it around family or friends, though. It won't leave them with a healthy impression of you as a stable human being.

3rd review tonight. Reviewing a bunch of Indiana made movies because yeah I live here. This review as with the others, I factor in that these are really low budget movies with really no recognizable actors.This movie was just repulsive. And I think thats the point. But they used the same gimmick too many times.How many severed heads can you rape and it still be shocking? two? three? It seemed like it happened like 50 times. and by the 50th time I just didn't care. Decent story though. Showing how the killer became who he was was interesting. Acting was OK. The sleazy roller rink guy and the blond female were pretty good. The kid with the skull mask was super creepy. He made the scenes he was in SO much better. Great 70s grindhousy look and feel to the movie. The filmmakers nailed that in my opinion. Worth a watch.

A Exploitation Slasher film from 2015 and tonight's movie is 'Headless'In this "lost slasher film from 1978," a masked killer wages an unrelenting spree of murder, cannibalism, and necrophilia. But when his tortured past comes back to haunt him, he plunges to even greater depths of madness and depravity, consuming the lives of a young woman and those she holds dear. So the film has a very similar vibe to Ryan Nicholson's 'Gutterballs', its got the 70s/80s slasher look but it is obvious that the film was shot digitally and not on actual film which is a shame. It's got the good gore effects the not so good acting and okay writing. The characters are decent not complex but its a slasher film so it doesn't matter. The killer is cool and brutal like BBK in 'Gutterballs'. Everything from a technical stand point is good lighting, camera-work, sound mix, editing, etc. The film has some surreal moments that I honestly think are reminiscent of Argento's work. The killers house is very 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre'-esque and creepy his back-story is also one that reminded me of Frank from 'Maniac'. His house also reminds me of Frank's apartment in 'Maniac', messy and full of creepy stuff. The pacing is okay at least it keeps you interested in what is going on in the story. Its obvious that this film was not just made to cash in on the moderate success of Found or just to be a movie within the movie It was made because genuine interest in the source material and out of love for the slasher genre. On the gore meter from one to ten one being something like 'Nosferatu' ten being something like 'Braindead' Headless is a 6 lots of blood, decapitation and necrophilia!Its not the best slasher or horror sub-genre tribute film ever but its still pretty good. A very above average modern tribute to a age old genre. But much like 'Gutterballs' its not for everyone though 4.5/5 I can recommend it somewhat. Now Lets hope for a Headless part 2

Headless began life as a fictional film within a film: an obscure late-70s slasher featured in 2012 indie horror Found. Now, as the result of a successful crowd funding campaign, it has been turned into a movie in its own right—a gloriously demented, retro-styled gore-fest that holds nothing back in its depiction of a mentally deranged and extremely vicious, mask-wearing, machete-wielding killer at work.Director Arthur Cullipher starts as he means to go on: before the opening credits are over, he's already shown us a disgustingly gruesome decapitation, his antagonist (Shane Beasley) proceeding to scoop out and eat an eyeball, before boning the severed head in the neck—the killer's preferred modus-operandi. And so it continues, with numerous nubile young women meeting the same grisly fate, the wholesale slaughter interspersed by freaky hallucinatory scenes and disturbing memories from the killer's childhood, when he was caged like an animal by his mother (Emily Solt McGee) and tormented by his sister (Olivia Arnold/Jessica Schroeder).It is through one of these flashbacks that we see how the sadistic sister made the mistake of unlocking the door to her sibling's prison; unsurprisingly, the lad seizes this opportunity to rid himself of both his tormentors, and, accompanied by his imaginary friend, a small boy with a skull-head, sets out on a long and bloody path of murder, one that ultimately leads to a roller rink where he targets the employees, including pretty waitress Jess Hardy (Kelsey Carlisle). Will Jess's decapitated and defiled head be added to The Killer's collection, or can she turn the tables on the sicko?From the outset, Headless does well to capture the atmosphere of a genuine 70s slasher, with a gritty lo-fi look, great attention to period detail, and authentic sounding music. The film also delivers plenty of impressive old-school practical effects, although the level of depravity on display is far greater than anything I have ever seen in a genuine slasher from the purported era—even the most extreme examples. Not that I'm complaining: it's the mean-spirited violence and general deviancy that makes this such a blast…How could any self-respecting gore-hound/sleaze-fan not have a good time with the following: horror hottie Haley Jay Madison getting a machete up the holiest of holies, before having her breast sliced off, and losing both of her legs to the madman; The Killer using a pretty hitch-hiker's head to get his rocks off on a pile of dismembered corpses; the twisted sister quenching her caged brother's thirst by urinating on him; the mother feeding her son a freshly severed rabbit's head; Jess's waster of a boyfriend having his junk cut off; The Killer doing his special routine on his own mother (including boffing her bonce!); and roller skate-wearing waitress Betsy (Ellie Church) doing the dirty with her sleazy boss before being chased topless across the roller rink by the killer. Trust me when I say that it's ALL done in the worst possible taste.My only complaint with the film—and it's a small one—is that the whole ritual of decapitation, eye removal, and head-humping eventually becomes a little too repetitive. I know it's The Killer's signature (and an unmistakable one at that), but I'd liked to have seen him switch things up a bit. After all, variety is the spice of life—even for a criminally insane mass murderer with a creepy skull-headed boy for a best friend.