Parts of the Family (2003)

PARTS OF THE FAMILY is a Belgian horror flick made on a very low budget. The plot twists and turns are over-obvious and the story is simplistic, beginning with a massacre before moving on to a hostage situation with a twist or two. It's basically an exercise in grubby gore, with a big set-piece involving gut-munching which is sure to delight horror fans. The rest is trashy in the extreme, featuring an unconvincing lead actress and a cheap filming style which means it's never disturbing despite the content. I have to admit that the bandaged zombies do look pretty cool, however.

Action starts off hot and heavy with a thief running from the police while Ella (Cecilia Bergqvist) is showing her magnificent body while dressing. Soon, the two converge as she is taken hostage.During a flashback to the history of the house they are hiding in, we get to see a lot more of Ella. And, also hear her great screaming voice. It was the best pair of tits I ever saw wielding an ax and a pitchfork. Amazing! Then, the thief discovers Ella's secret. And, what a secret it was! This where things gets really disgusting in true Troma style.I never did see Debbie Rochon, although she is listed as part of the cast, but Cecilia Bergqvist more than made up for her absence. Oh, Yeah!

If you're like the me from a couple of days ago, you're wondering what the deal is with there being two different versions of this movie on the DVD. You're wondering what the difference is between the two versions, which is better, and if either are worth watching. And you're also wondering why no one else on IMDb has commented on this yet, and why not even Troma.com has much info on it. Well I can answer all of those for you!The two versions on the DVD are the original version and the Tromatic version. The original version is awful. The bad reviews on this website so far all describe the original version, and they're all correct. There's almost nothing worthwhile in the original version. It's clichéd, slow-paced, nonsensical, and just generally an abomination of film-making. And this is coming from a fan of low budget horror films.Now, the Tromatic version is a brilliant piece of work and is highly recommended. But what is it? It's *not* an entirely new film -- it's a re-cut version of the original with newly filmed scenes added in. And, I must stress this point heavily, all of these changes are made specifically to make fun of the original version. The Tromatic version is a *parody of the original*, and a damn good one at that.After sitting through the original film, I was miserable. I was thinking, I need some way to vent my frustrations after sitting through an hour and a half of such junk. It turned out that the Tromatic version filled that role perfectly. It adeptly (and hilariously) points out all of the (many) flaws of the original film. And it even adds additional comedy not related to anything. The Tromatic reedit of this movie is truly a brilliant piece of work, salvaging what seemed at first to be a completely unredeemable film. Lloyd Kaufman is a genius.

I bought this movie direct from Troma at a convention, I'd wanted to see it since Troma first ran previews on their dvds for it years ago. It has taken a while to come out, and was available at this convention, but still not released to regular outlets. Lloyd Kaufman's appearance in it made it even better. The DVD contains two different versions of the movie by two different director. I just watched the "original" version and have yet to watch the "tromatic" version, so maybe I'll comment again after that. I have 7 other Troma movies to watch though from that convention. I'd recommend this one though, especially if you are familiar with Troma releases. Otherwise, what are you waiting for? Get familiar. I'd suggest starting with Tromeo and Juliet, The Toxic Anvenger (parts I and IV), and Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, those are all Troma in-house productions though, where Parts of the Family is simply distributed by them. As far as distributions, I'd say check out Cannibal: The Musical.