Chillerama

Released by: Image Entertainment
Released on: 11/29/2011
Director: see review
Cast: see review
Year: 2011
Purchase from Amazon

The Movie:
A dusk-'til-dawn midnight movie fest is underway at a drive-in movie theater on ints last leg. In fact the place is to be bulldozed the next day. Veteran character actor Richard Riehle plays Cecil B. Kaufman, owner of the drive-in and possessor of four old films that never saw public display: Wadzilla, I Was a Teenage Werebear, The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, and Deathication. Among the patrons is Tobe (Corey Jones), Mayne (Kaili Thorne), a girl he's sweet on who shares his love for movies, and their friend Miller (Ward Roberts) who wants to get down with the concession stand girl.

Unbeknownst to them all, one of the employees dug up his dead wife, and thought it be a great idea to violate her corpse, only be turned to a zombie when blue goo gets involved and his dick gets ripped off. He stumbles late to work and eventually starts the zombie infection, which germinates as the movies are playing. As for the movies within the movie:

Wadzilla; dir. Adam Rifkin; starring Adam Rifkin, Ray Wise, Sarah Mutch. A man with an inadequate sperm count takes an experimental drug to help strengthen the soldiers, only to unleash a single giant sperm that grows at an accelerated rate and terrorizes New York City.

I Was A Teenage Werebear; dir. Tim Sullivan; starring Sean Paul Lockhart, Anton Troy, Gabby West. A young man likes the boys more than the girls and struggles with his sexuality. He learns that a man he fancies turns into a leather clad, hairy beast when aroused. This one is a musical…oh yay!

The Diary of Anne Frankenstein; dir. Adam Green; starring Joel David Moore, Kristina Klebe, Kane Hodder. A little known fact is that Anne Frank's family took a couple of syllables off their name to avoid trouble. And they have in their little Amsterdam attic a book written by their ancestor, Dr. Frankenstein himself. Hitler wants the book and finds them all in their hideaway and takes the book. He then creates a monster of his own.

Deathication; this movie is playing when the zombies go nuts, so not much is seen. Actually more than enough is seen of this one. So the segments that act as the story arc are really considered as the fourth movie, “Zom-B-Movie”, and directed by Joe Lynch.

Obviously intended to pay homage to the drive-in fair of the 50s and 60s, Chillerama makes the claim to be “The Ultimate Midnight Movie”. It isn't, and not by a long shot. Instead it's a crude and rude dick-and-fart movie, which has some humorous pieces, that goes more for the gross-out than anything else. The Diary of Anne Frankenstein has some good moments, and Joel David Moore is pretty funny as Hitler with his fake German (making “Hasselhoff” a word). Wadzilla has some cool stop motion stuff from The Chiodo Brothers (Killer Klowns From Outer Space) as well as parts played by Eric Roberts, Robert Wise, and Lynn Shaye (she turns up with a bigger part in I Was a Teenage Werebear).

Thankfully, the films within the film are short. Before the main running joke of each film gets too old they switch to another one, so if one doesn't work for you the wait isn't too far away for a switch in gear. Unfortunately, as a whole the movie is pretty flat and the “tribute” seems to take a back seat to various fluids splashing about. There have been quite a few throwback/homage type movies over the last few years and some work pretty well. Others don't and this one falls into the latter category. That's not to say the movie should be avoided; not at all. The concept is fun, it has plenty of boobs, violence, and monsters to fill the quota, and there are some good times to be found within. Just nothing really memorable.

Video/Audio/Extras:
Being a throwback movie, the films within the film intentionally have dirt and flecks and imperfections. The Zom-B-Movie part of the picture looks good though, with vibrant colors and nice detail. Good black levels too. This isn't reference quality stuff, but for those who are too picky, there's nothing to complain about. Presented in 1.78:1 widescreen in 1080p high-definition. The audio is a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and aside from the intentional beat up print noises like hissing and popping, it sounds pretty darn sweet. Lots of subwoofer action, specifically in the last act, and some good use of the rear channels. No authoring issues were noticed.

Lots of extras on the disc, starting with a video commentary by all four directors (they appear in a box on screen during the entire commentary). It's a great track full of all sorts of information that may or may not be important, but mostly interesting. Obviously they had fun with their contributions and they're all pretty enthusiastic about movies in general. Next is “The Making of The Diary of Anne Frankenstein” which also has some deleted scenes, followed by deleted scenes from Wadzilla. I Was a Teenage Werebear has a making of, plus a separate batch of deleted scenes, and Zom-B-Movie has its own deleted scenes feature as well. Famous Monsters has a short interview with the directors from The San Diego Comic-Con, and there is an additional interview conducted there as another feature. Lastly, trailers for Chillerama, I Was a Teenage Werebear, and Wadzilla can be watched.

The Final Word:
It's fun enough to suggest giving it a whirl. It may work better for some than others. The extras are solid and add to the bang for your buck.

Click on the images below for full sized screen caps!