Easter Casket

This was my 5th killer Easter Bunny movie and it is by far the best. Low budget horror usually fails at comedy but this one was actually funny. There should have been 10 sequels.

Sometimes, during those quiet times before sleep, I wonder why it took me so long to discover the independent creative hurricane that is Dustin Mills. Imagine if Full Moon Pictures and Troma married and gave birth to a brilliant young studio, this would be Dustin Mills Productions.

Dustin Mills' Easter Casket is a fantastic horror offering from the underground with a fun and light edge. As with his other films, it looks gorgeous, has a great score, solid performances, a witty script and perfect pace. Mills balances drama with genuine laugh-out-loud puppet antics in a manner that very few directors could pull off. Moving from an intimate human love scene to puppet decadence that puts The Wolf of Wall Street to shame (with the fabric-skinned ones sniffing lines of cocaine whilst experiencing the rampant appetite of the principal character, a certain Easter Bunny), this is jaw-dropping stuff.

Some of the effects work in this minuscule-budget movie are beautiful to behold. I'm always left a bit shell shocked by a Dustin Mills movie. There's so much imaginative goodness crammed in, it's like watching a film that's popped straight out of the director's mind. There's no compromise in these productions. Who needs a budget when you've talent oozing out of every pore?

The cast are excellent as always and there are some familiar faces along for the ride. I'd not seen Jason Crowe before but he's a very likable lead with real charisma. Mills always picks great femme fatales in his productions. Erin (Skinless, Kill That Bitch) Ryan is cute as a button and a great actress. She manages to maintain a straight face and delivers a strong performance whilst all sorts of brilliant lunacy explodes colourfully around her. Allison Fitzgerald makes an appearance as a naughty nun whilst (in the extended version of the film) the delightful Hayley Jay Madison has a naughty and memorable appearance with Peter Cottontail.

I love this picture. Another 10 out of 10. It's surely only a matter of time before the big studios discover Dustin Mills. Whilst this can be the end of true creativity for some artists, I do see this gentleman becoming something like the next Peter Jackson. You read it here, first.

B grade fun .

some good one liners Worth 8+ Bunny is Hilarious and hyper violent.

Big time nudity and exaggerated long scenes.

This should be played and compete in festivals and win audience award.

Do not read too much spoilers before you see it.

I've been meaning to write a review for this film for a while now. I picked this up some months ago at a horror convention and I don't regret it at all. The short version is that this film is worth your time and excels at doing as much as it can with such a small budget. It's funny and impressive.

There's some negatives I'll get out of the way first. A couple points have pacing issues. One of them is an extended dialog scene between the two lead characters, a priest and a school girl. While I understand it's to get to know these characters, and I appreciate what is a VERY calm moment in what has otherwise been an extreme roller coaster, it lasts too long. The other is an OVERLY extended nude strip sequence that has to do with a ritual. I love nudity in my horror films. So if I think a nude scene is too long, there's a problem. And the only other negative I can point out is that during the final sequence of the film, Peter Cottontail is impossible to understand.

That's it. In the whole movie that is ALL that is wrong with it. It's otherwise a GREAT story, as well as is completely unique. The ACTUAL Easter Bunny, Peter Cottontail, is an Old God/demon hell bent on returning to his rightful place as a ruler. Standing in his way is what I can best describe as a Templar Power Ranger, who has special battle armor to fight the demon and his evil baby chicks.

It's fun, it's funny, and I want every movie to have Super Pope in it. Trust me, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

The acting is also very balanced throughout. While not every SINGLE actor is perfect, NOBODY is bad. Everyone plays their part fine at worst, but most of everyone in the film nails what they're meant to do.

I completely suggest Easter Casket to anyone that wants to give a Microbudget film a try.

Easter Casket is a remarkable little film, made for only $3000 dollars it looks incredible and the creators should be extremely proud of what they have accomplished. But the film itself, well that's another story.

Easter Casket (Bear with me on this) tells the story of the Easter Bunny who has been summoned and on the warpath after learning that the Catholic Church is removing all the rabbit & egg symbolism away from Easter. Hellbent on getting revenge and becoming a god the tiny wise cracking rabbit leaves a bloody mess in his wake.

With inventive kills and some genuinely funny jokes nobody can say that Easter Casket is devoid of quality. It has it's moments and as mentioned manages to look incredible considering it's budget.

Though advertised as a straight horror I can assure you it isn't, it's a horror as much as Jack Frost (1997) which is another movie with a silly punning villian.

Here is the problem though, too much is simply not funny, too much is cringe inducing and had me feeling rather embarassed to be watching it and finally too much of it is crude for the sake of crudeness. I'm no prude and rarely complain about nudity, but this was gratuitous.

With some better writing Easter Casket might have been something watchable, but in it's current form it's bit of an embarassment that isn't worth watching for the few funny moments.

The Good:

Looks incredible for the budget

Some real laughs are to be had

Awesome soundtrack

The Bad:

Crass

Some cringe inducing moments

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Nuns have gnarly bush

Catholics are perky and succulent

Fuzzy Doombringer would make an awesome band name

Priest collars are now part of their mandatory uniform.......a t-shirt

It takes the military seconds to deploy gunships and tanks to a scene

Summoning the Easter Bunny is easy, all you need is a nun, a knife and some catchy music for her to dance nude to.......for some reason