The Shortround: The Deadneks Trilogy of Blood (Review)

If you have an indie short, our motto at the jaded viewer is we'll review it. So our latest edition of The Shortround is a grindhouse short via Ruckus Productions called The Deadneks - Trilogy of Blood. Featuring the psychobilly sickos The Deadneks, we get a full blown exploitation homage as 3 city girls wind up in Bumfuck Hillbilly USA.

Here be the plot:

When a trio of sexy city gals picks up a broken-down hillbilly in the backwoods of Virginia – the three kittens get A LOT more than they bargained for when they accept the drifter’s invitation to a down-home barbecue. What these lovely ladies don’t know just may hurt ‘em – when they find that the menu of this hayseed hoe-down isn’t the standard ‘burgers and dogs’…

the jaded viewer says: Shot on a claimed budget of $62, Trilogy of Blood is a 27 minute long Deadneks music video with a Herschel Gordon Lewis grindhouse homage blended in. Ruckus Productions spared no expense (well maybe expenses for beer, Spencer Gifts decaped arms and blood and more beer) to give us a look and feel of an exploitation film circa the 70s. The tagline says it all:

SEE the BLOOD! FEEL the TERROR! HEAR the PSYCHOBILLY SICKNESS!!!! Experience the sensory TRIPLE-SKULL-FUCK that is…TRILOGY OF BLOOD!!!!!!!!

Damn that's alot of exclamation points.

Add in the grainy staticky footage and some Gordon Lewis homages from 2000 Maniacs to Blood Feast and you got a nice decent short with 3 performances by The Deadneks whose punk rock style is a blend of The Misfits, The Cramps and Reverend Horton Heat. I haven't heard psychobilly punk in a while since my early punk rock days and it was nice to hear some good tunes while seeing ocular trauma, smashed heads and cannibal rednecks. We even get a horrific chubby fuck, incest makeout session and a boink-o-thon on a tractor trailer.

I've never seen that before.

Trilogy of Terror is grindhouse schlock with a killer soundtrack that horror and punk rock fans should check it out. I'm not saying it's the best the grindhouse has to offer but it's got all the basics and cliches and offers nothing more, nothing less.

Boobs, blood, beer and rock and roll. If that's your poison, check it out.

The Vitals

• Fun Fact: Brenna Roth (daughter of David Lee Roth) stars as one of the girls
• Picked to be part of the Underground Horror Fest II taking place in March of 2011
• 2010 Horrorfind Weekend and Fright Night Filmfest selection
• Official Site
• Facebook Page

Check out the trailer!

Categories: 70s grindhouse movies, exploitation, exploitation film, gore, grindhouse, horror short, indie film, punk rock, short, short film, splatter, the shortround

The Shortround: Night of the Punks (Review)

It's funny that after I dropped my post about Fear of a Punk Planet, I got dropped a line from Dan Riesser, director for a short that combines punk rock and horror called Night of the Punks.

It's fun when both my loves get combined.

Night of the Punks is a 19 minute short that is in the vain of Return of the Living Dead and Night of the Demons. Here be the plot:

Small town punk rockers THE BRAIN DEADS have their first out of town gig. But there are a few problems: The venue is deserted, the promoter is a creep, their bass player has gone missing, and the only kids in the audience appear to be bloodthirsty monsters from hell. It's gonna take a lot more than a few power chords and teenage angst to survive this night.

NIGHT OF THE PUNKS is a horror-comedy short film in the vein of fun 80's classics like "The Return of the Living Dead" and "Night of the Demons." The trailer is styled after classic Grindhouse style trailers of the 70's and 80's.

So did this short rock out?

the jaded viewer says: I'll admit the punk rock in this rock and roll short is actually catchy and I was rockin out. The band is a little stereotypically "band-ish" concerned about gigs and merchandise. But that's all forgiven in the B-movie horror show as the film plays out. Seems like the band is playing to a nonexistent crowd and the motivation to play their first out of town gig was misleading.

Now our band is on the run battling some rock and roll demons. Aside from ROTLD and NOTD, it kinda of reminded me of a Misfits music video. You get your standard music jokes and your standard horror jokes. Like everybody makes fun of the bassist and the hot "merch girl". As we turn to the horror, the band unleashes ultra violence with tons of straight forward, non CGI gore with lots of oozing and gushing which is always a plus in my book.

A lot of stuff is crammed into Night of the Punks and the jokes, gore and romance come a mile a minute. Overall, it's an entertaining romp filled with 80s style rock and roll horror nostalgia. The performances are silly and over the top and the ending keeps that same tone.

If you get a chance to catch this short, its well worth your time. Now let me put on some Misfits and let punk rock keyboard cat play me out.

Check out the trailer below.

NIGHT OF THE PUNKS (2010) - Grindhouse Trailer from Irrational Films on Vimeo.

Check out the official site!

Categories: demons, horror short, night of the demon, punk rock, short, short film, the shortround

Fear of a Punk Planet (The Pilot Episode!)

I love perusing YouTube to find music and shows I use to watch when I was a kid. Well, score one for YouTube again. I dug up this classic Internet TV show called Fear of a Punk Planet. How did I find this hidden gem? Well, I love punk rock and NOFX is one of my favorite bands. Also, I was a fan of Jenny Kwan (who was on that old NBC show California Dreams (don't judge me!). Here she plays a punk rocker who leads a group of punk rock kids to help their scene anyway they can.

Holy fuckin cow this is some classic shit. Originally appeared on DEN.net, it was produced and written by Joe Escalante, one of the founding members of The Vandals as well as Kyle Glass (of Tenacious D fame).

It only had 3 episodes and features awesome bands like NOFX, Sick of It All and The Ataris. Now you can relive the late 90s with some punk rock awesomeness. I kind of thought of this show as the anti-MTV of its time. Punk rock was becoming more mainstream during the late 90s (Green Day, Offspring, etc) but some bands especially NOFX and hardcore vets like Sick of It All didn't sell out (well so to speak)

It seems cheesy now but I'll admit punk rock was at a crossroads during the 90s. Many bands "sold out" with the grunge/punk revival. Watching Fear of a Punk Planet is nostalgia for us who lived during that time. Check out the pilot episode below!








Here is a link to an episode featuring Sick of It All! There are other episodes featuring The Bouncing Souls and others.

*********************************************************
Thoughts? Comments? Does this offend you as a punk rocker? Hahaha let's hear it.

Categories: nofx, punk rock, tv shows