30 September Slashers: Day 18-VIDEO VIOLENCE

Working in a video store is almost like a right of passage for a horror film geek.  It not only provides a venue for discussions on film and saves you beacoups amounts of money, but it also provides an opportunity to check out movies that you might not have checked out had you had to pay for the viewing experience.  While I obviously have very fond memories of working in a video store, I wish I could say the same about tonight’s film, the shot on video 1987 shit fest Video Violence.

Day 18: Sort Under C For Crap….Video Violence

With this wonderful introduction to this film, I’m sure all of you are just giddy as hell to find out what this is all about.  Steve has given up his dream of owning a movie theater in New York, and decides to open up a video store in the small town of Dog Patch.  Business is good, but he is confused because the only types of films that people are renting are gory slashers.  While opening up the store, Steve and his one employee discover that a homemade film has been dropped in the drop box.  The film features someone being murdered.  When they try to report this to the police, Steve’s employee turns up missing.  The owner and his wife continue to receive these homemade snuff tapes, and they soon make a shocking discovery about this seemingly peaceful town.

While the story’s premise is interesting enough, I can’t say that I recommend this film.  The film is on video, the acting is terrible, and the script is piss-poor.  If you’re the type of person that digs the production quality of a film like Night Ripper or Zombie Apocalypse, then you might be interested in this movie.  My biggest complaint is that, unlike the previous films mentioned, this film doesn’t play up the comedic elements enough.  Camp Films originally released this on VHS, and it really makes me wonder how the hell they got such a wide distribution for a film this bad.

The fact that this film and its sequel are already on DVD and that a film like Curtains has yet to even see a release date, is a travesty.  If you see this one on the shelf, ignore the cool cover and get the hell out of there.  Tomorrow, on the 19^th day of 30 September Slashers, we head back to college with the 1983 film Pieces.