Drillbit

Drillbit (1992)

*** (out of 4)

If you're looking for a warm, nice and inspiring film to watch with your family then Alex Chandon's DRILLBIT certainly isn't what you're looking for. Set in the future where AIDS has become the world's number one killer, a doctor manages to create a miracle cure but a year later the drug turns people into mutants.

It seems director Chandon got into filmmaking so that he could give the middle finger to the BBFC who were censoring horror movies during the Video Nasty era and their silly ways continued throughout the time that this 33 minute short was produced. Of course, this film never had to go in front of the BBFC or else it would have been banned outright so with the history in mind it's easy to sit back and enjoy this gore feast that works in large part because you know it was made by someone who loves the genre and just wanted to go balls out in regards to violence and gore.

There's actually very little plot going on here but that's okay because there's plenty of red stuff to keep you entertained. The main reason for this film to exist is so that the viewer can get all sorts of graphic slaughters and the director uses just about every minute of the film to deliver them. Yes, the effects are very cheap but that doesn't take away from the fun or the fact that there's a lot of imagination at work. DRILLBIT is pretty much like underground cinema but it works as long as you don't take it too serious.

Alex Chandon (Director of "Cradle of fear"), attacks us after his splattermovie "Bad Karma" with a new one. Drillbit. One of the best low-budget-productions I have ever seen. "Serocaine" for all! Is all that I can tell. A must see!!

With its cheesy, gravelly voice-over (provided by Jim 'Deadbeat at Dawn' Van Bebber), Alex Chandon's 32-minute short Drillbit feels much like a calling card to generate interest in (and funding for) a much longer feature length film; as such, it's pretty chaotic stuff, keen to cram in as much impressive splatter and depravity as possible before the closing credits roll—but it is also incredibly fun.

Set in a near future where AIDS is the number one killer disease, the film sees an evil pharmaceutical boss, Dr. Hex, creating a drug called Serocaine, promoted as a miracle cure, but which in reality results in hideous mutations—stage one in Dr Hex's plan for worlds domination (mwahaha!). When Hex's top scientist discovers the truth about Serocaine, he and his family are butchered by Hex's henchmen; incredibly, their son Brian somehow survives being drilled through the head, although a broken drill-bit lodged in his brain turns him into a insane, unstoppable maniac intent on revenge.

Shot for next to nothing by Chandon and his equally horror-mad mates, Drillbit suffers from terrible sound, awful image quality, horribly dated computer-generated titles, and terrible acting, yet it has a charm that is hard to resist, the sheer enthusiasm and creativity displayed by all involved more than making up for the technical limitations. There are plenty of cool, apocalyptic, urban locations that seriously add to the atmosphere, and the film's practical gore effects are very impressive (given the budget), with gallons of blood, mutating freaks, and bullet squibs galore, plus the unforgettably bizarre sight of a sphincter-faced mutant with intestines coiled around its massive schlong.