Dreamaniac’s beginning sequence has it all – blood, fog, thunder, boobs, and Argento-inspired lighting – promising viewers a wicked good time. And it actually really is a wicked good time, by far one of the best films I’ve watched this week. The main character is Adam (played by Thomas Bern), a heavy-metal musician, who for some unknown reason decides to turn to black magic to get girls (even though he has a girlfriend). But it doesn’t fucking matter why the dude turns to black magic, does it? Heavy-metal and black magic go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Two wonderful concepts that seem to work even better when combined. So I can dig it.
Anyway, Adam starts off by having trouble sleeping (which viewers realize is due to these bloody awful dreams of a girl biting off his member). When the girl actually manifests (ohhh boy) for this big party that is thrown at the house with Adam and all of Adam’s friends – people start to die off. Some of the death scenes are innovative (though some are cheesy, which is to be expected of a low-budget 80s flick) and even kind of gnarly. My weapon of choice in this film was most definitely the power tool. The scenes that included that ginormous power tool can be described in two words: blood bath.
The succubus Lily, portrayed by Sylvia Summers, has hilarious facial expressions. Her expressions through almost every scene she’s in are simply awesome. The acting in this is actually not wonderful, but I think that gives this movie more charm. It has a campy feel that movies that try to be campy don’t always achieve. Pat (Ashlyn Gere) is only memorable due to the power tool she wields, and all of the characters are pretty flat and one-dimensional. The score for the movie is undoubtedly 80’s but seems to also have an Italian influence behind it.
The ending is pretty sweet, as audiences discover first that Lily isn’t a succubus at all – but an escaped mental patient! Aw snaps! “Hope she hasn’t caused you any trouble,” the warden says to the few survivors. Well I’ll be damned. So much for the succubus idea, eh? And just when viewers think they have it all figured out – the scene cuts to a writer on the telephone pitching his ‘pulp novel.’ Oh folly! The writers did it again! What an awesomely bad way to end this awesomely bad flick. My only real negative opinion has to do with all the male arse in this film - this is an aspect of the film that is unnecessary and very much overdone. But for those of you that enjoy man arse? This butt's for you - there's a ton of it in this film.
Number of killers? Three. Body count? Seven. Boob count? One. Cheap thrills? Less than or equal to one. Actual creeps given?: Zero. Entertainment?: Loads. Raven’s Scream Meter says: 4 out of 5 screams. A delightfully campy gore fest! Watch it sooner, thank me later. This film is definitely getting added to my favorite B-rated horror movies. Well done, DeCoteau, well done.
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