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Released by: Happy Cloud Pictures
Released on: 10/6/2009
Director: Amy Lynn Best
Cast: Amy Lynn Best, Tom Sullivan, Nikki McCrea, Debbie Rochon, Elske McCain, Rachelle Williams, Aaron Bernard
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
The premise behind the aptly titled Splatter Movie is pretty simple. A low budget film crew, headed up by Amy Lynn Parker (the actual director) trudge out to an abandoned carnival site that may or may not be haunted to film their latest gore epic. While they're out doing their thing, a documentary film crew is shooting them shooting their movie. Got it? It's a film within a film concept. At any rate, not so surprisingly an actual murderer shows up on the scene and starts doing what actual murderers tend to do - he murders people.
As the body count grows, the cast and crew obviously start to get a little on edge and we see it all happen from the point of view of the documentary crew filming the feature crew... well all of it except the parts where people are murdered, which we see from a few different angles in what we can only assume is an attempt to show off the reasonably impressive gore effects. Unfortunately, these deviations from the set up essentially break character and throw the set up that the film has actually put some effort into building right out the window.
Splatter Movie does at least deviate from the regular slasher formula a bit and try something moderately unique within the confines of the genre, you've got to give it credit for that. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, it's hampered by some really low budget production values and questionable acting. You can't throw a blanket condemnation at the entire cast - Amy Lynn Best isn't bad in her part even if she does over do it in spots. Supporting performances from Debbie Rochon and Elske McCain are fine, but there are definitely some weak links in the cast that don't help matters much even if it is fun to see effects man Tom Sullivan pop up in a cameo. And then there's the 'murders from different angles' problem. When the camera angels change, sure, we get more gore and that's cool, but it makes it impossible for the audience to suspend our disbelief and it pulls us out of the film. Had it stayed within the confines that it establishes early on, it likely would have worked more effectively.
The kill scenes are fairly creative and the effects aren't half bad but there are pacing problems in the picture and the humor doesn't always work even if some of the bits that were supposed to be funny probably would have looked good on paper. The handheld camerawork will definitely irk some and although I didn't have a problem with it as it did fit the story just fine, it's shaky and sometimes a bit sloppy looking. The end result is an incredibly uneven film that shows promise in a few scenes but which relies too heavily on self referential nods and admittedly fun splatter effects to cover up some sloppy filmmaking.
Video/Audio/Extras:
This low budget shot on video production looks about average. The 1.33.1 transfer shows some noise and there are some minor mpeg compression artifacts pretty much throughout the entire film but it is otherwise fine. Detail is probably as good as the limitations of the medium will allow - no better, no worse - and color reproduction is decent enough. For a micro-budget indy affair, this looks alright.
The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio track is serviceable enough. The levels are generally fine though there are a couple of spots where they fluctuate a bit and while dialogue is generally clear, in a few spots it's not quite dead on. Regardless, the good outweighs the bad and I'm basically nitpicking, though do be prepared to reach for your remote anytime one of the girls screams as the levels definitely go into the red during those moments.
Extras include a twenty-five minute companion film that is essentially a video blog that is done in character and is in keeping with the sprit of the movie. It ties in nicely to Splatter Movie as it purports to be a bunch of behind the scenes and interview bits shot on the set.
Also included are a bunch of deleted scenes and alternate takes. There's just over nine minutes of material in here and while none of it really changes the picture all that much it's interesting to see it included. On the same note, there's also a blooper reel that offers up some moderately amusing on set flubs. Trailers for a few other Happy Cloud Pictures are found, as are some animated menus and a chapter selection option.
The Final Word:
While you've got to appreciate the effort behind this production and the periodic flashes of impressive low budget creativity, there's just too much inconsistency here for the picture to really take off the way it should.