Razor Eaters

"Robert Kennedy said: 'Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves.' Well, congratulations, Australia, you've earned us." – Razor Eaters. Shannon Young's Razor Eaters played at the Kansas Film Festival on 09/09/05. I didn't know much about it going in but I was blown away. Shannon Young and the detective, Paul Moder were in attendance and the Q&A was terrific. As an ultra violent low budget feature from Austrilia the story was terrific. Basically 5 criminals decide to take anarchistic vengeance upon society. They rampage throughout Melbourne videotaping their crimes and taunting the cops. Interesting twist; they decide to pay back criminals (except for the occasional football player , an advertising executive, a Parking Clerk and a Chinese girl). Regardless they swore to kill one drug dealer per day until the cops catch them. The movie gave a very plausible account of how they became anti-heroes. In fact in one scene they order T-shirts and then beat the guy when he tries to get paid. Afterwards he is proud to be beaten by the Razor Eaters and makes money by selling T-shirts (of course such a thing couldn't happen in America - why you would need to be a washed-up singer and sleep with 8 year old boys to get that kind of fame). A couple of final points. The Detective is a very interesting character. He is not a very good cop, not a lot of friends on the force, under suspicion for a "questionable" shooting. But he does track them down and well, enough said.

Razor Eaters is a great ultra-violent film. See it. BTW - The gang is called Razor Eaters for two reasons. The first is they are named after a true life monster who used to make some of his 19 victims eat razor blades. The second; the initials of all five members first names.

Felt I had to counter the comments on this film, many of which may well have been written by PR types or those close to the makers.

Just my opinion, but I thought this was appalling and amateurish and tedious. From the word go I hated it. It's shot on video, which is never a good thing: it exposes the dreadfulness of the acting, it makes the violence look fake, it makes the gore look unconvincing. It looks cheap and nasty, which is what this film, if you can call it that, is.

The gang simply aren't scary either, they're just idiots. The plot is banal. The statements it tries to make about the media's treatment of violence are portentous and unconvincing. The makers would like it if people bandied round the names of other, better films in relation to theirs, but I'm not even going to do that.

Avoid at all costs.

Despite my suspicions that superheidi's comments (above) are company PR and more than a little over-the-top, RAZOR EATERS is superior film-making with a depth and focus rare for low budgeters.

Paul Moder (SENSITIVE NEW AGE KILLER) plays a cop on the trail of urban terrorists who are committing acts of random violence and vandalism. They have a point, of course, and we discover what that is as the movie progresses.

The performances are very solid, the writing is tight, and the direction is clear and subtly stylish.

Director Shannon Young uses all the cinematic tricks to milk the most from his action scenes and the violence is tense and convincing.

Editing is tight and star Moder turns in a nuanced, convincing performance.

A solid achievement.

I picked up "Razor Eaters" up on DVD about ten years ago,"The film that launched a police investigation" and 18 certificate on the cover both sparked my interest. Finally dug it out of my DVD cupboard, was it worth the wait? Not really. A gang of young thugs video themselves on an orgy of crime and violence in Melbourne, Australia, targeting mainly drug and arms dealers. Much of the plot is taken up by the cop leading the investigation. A lot of the running time consists of him watching the VHS tapes of their exploits, it is a variation on the found footage movie, only these were deliberately sent to the authorities as the Razor Eaters wanted fame and infamy. The movie is obviously low budget. The picture quality was poor, the acting wasn't great, it became too repetitive and I found the ending a bit disappointing. Does have a cool punk/rock soundtrack though. If you want to see a gang run riot in Melbourne then watch the excellent "Romper Stomper" instead.

This film was better than I expected, but I wasn't expecting anything great. It really had nothing to say, but gave the aura of trying to deliver a message. Took itself way too seriously.

Making the 'Razor Eaters' irresponsible morons, doesn't make them rebellious heroes in my book. And claiming this was based on real life is laughable. Or would be if it was funny. Better than Young's first film, but that is saying nothing.

Some of the special effects were good, but too often I was suddenly out of the world of the film, waiting for the next bit. A good film shouldn't do that.

I try to support local films, but...