Deathgasm

It started great, nice little introduction into characters and their persona. Comedy felt great for the atmosphere and i was drawn into it. It's all going perfect and i cant believe it, then comes the love scene, this is OK, but it was too typical teen movie problem but i can get over it. After about 45mins comedy starts feeling childish and dumb, d**ks, s**t and dil**s. It slowly loses it's comedy charm it had at the beginning after 10 jokes that feel the same. There is a hand scene (I wont spoil it) that feels like it was undone but I feel Evil Dead fans will love the reference. Also the ending was too fast and it made no sense. I love that some characters die just like that, but after an hour and a half of not showing them I can't feel sympathy for them. All in all good movie, I liked it, I know people here say "so-so movie" and give it 7/10. I thought it was OK metal fun and I rate it 6/10

Even more than zombies or maniacal killers, it's DEMONS that provide crazy horror directors with the most opportunities to go tremendously over-the-top in the gore and splatter department! Lamberto Bava knew it when he made "Demons" in 1985, Sam Raimi knew it when he accomplished his legendary "The Evil Dead" movies and apparently some pleasantly deranged New Zealander by the name of Jason Lei Howden knows it too, judging by the humongous gore- factor in his flick "Deathgasm". This recommendable little flick offers nothing new or even remotely original to the genre, but it definitely qualifies as pure and undemanding horror entertainment containing all the essential ingredients such as fast pacing, tongue-in-cheek dialogs, cute references towards movie/music classics and literally gallons of blood & pus! The basic plot concept cleverly plays with the ancient cliché that metal heads are Satan-worshipers and that the lyrics of their songs are aimed at summoning demons and other nasty creatures. In the sleepy little town of Greypoint, the social outcast Brodie coincidentally gets his geeky metal hands on music and lyrics called "the black hymn". When he and his amateur band called Deathgasm rehearse it in his uncle's garage, the universe's most evil force descends to earth and turns all villagers into bloodthirsty demons. Among all victims, Satan is scouting for the most evil human soul to possess and this just might be Brodie's metal buddy Zakk. "Deathgasm" is a fun movie, but certainly nothing more than that, and I wouldn't go as far as some of my fellow reviewers around here that label it as one of the best genre outing of the last years. The gore and make-up effects are well-handled but often too absurd and especially too tasteless for my liking. The best example to illustrate this is an extended sequence in which a supposedly normal middle-class and religious couple are beaten to death by the the sex-toys (like a gigantic black dildo and anal beads…) that are hidden in their bedroom. The funniest thing about New Zealand movies is that pretty much all cast and crew members previously worked on most of the Lord of the Ring movies, either as extras or as visual effects people. There are also a couple of cute references and tributes towards Peter Jackson's earliest splatter movies "Bad Taste" and "Braindead". Ideal stuff to watch late at night with a bunch of friends or – like I did – at a festival in the company of 200 gore-crazed horror freaks.

In the intro we are told that all the gruesome stuff metal bands sing about is actually true.

Some geeky metalhead named Brodie ends up living with his uncle who is Christian. His cousin is a bully and gives him a hard time. He's good at drawing gruesome stuff. One day at a record store he runs into an older and truer metalhead, the kind that chain smokes, chain drinks and doesn't care. This guy, Zakk, plays bass, Brodie plays guitar and he gets two other geeky friends to play keyboard (?) and drums. They end up calling the band Deathgasm.

One day Zakk takes Brodie along and they break into a house. Turns out it's the home of some metal legend of decades ago. They find the guy clutching some album. Suddenly some guy in a suit arrives and attacks them. The metal legend throws to album to the kids who escape. It's a crappy album but also inside the cover are a bunch of papers in Latin with some musical tabs.

Brodie translates the stuff, which reads something like 'summoning such and such a demon to get power and fortune.' They start playing the tune and everyone in the small town turns into demons without eyes who go after them.

Brodie also met the most gorgeous girl in school, Medina, who likes him even though she's his cousin's girlfriend. But Zakk is a backstabbing jerk and through deception hooks up with her.

Now the kids sort of join forces to defeat the demons and to find out how to reverse the situation. We also learn that some rich evil guy wants to take hold of the pages in Latin so he can control this demon.

Extreme metal and horror movies make a good pair, not that Hollywood would understand or care. So it's up to low budget independent producers to work on this, and the guys from Brain Damage have released some movies. Now comes Deathgasm from New Zealand, a very gory movie, although some of the gore is repetitive. But because Deathgasm also aims to be a teen comedy it's unnecessarily juvenile and gross. There is some nudity but not enough. While it has the horror part covered, and it could have gone even darker had it focused more on the occult stuff and the evil cabal, it surprisingly fails when it comes to metal. They get the band posters right, the CDs right, the occasional metal-related dialogue is right, Brodie's guitar, a BC Rich Warlock, is right, but the music is off. A movie called "Deathgasm" should have settled for straightforward death metal, instead we get some really lousy stuff. The music the band plays is terrible and so is most of the soundtrack.

As most movies from New Zealand this one too maintains some of the charming Kiwi innocence. You do empathize a bit with our heroes but not enough. Zakk is well cast and goodness is Kimberley Crossman gorgeous, but our lead is missing something. It appears they were going more for looks, someone to remind us of Death's Chuck Schuldiner. Overall a good effort in a much neglected potential subgenre.

This hilariously disgusting, twisted, insane little gem from New Zealand is a must for fans of Evil Dead 2, Braindead and similarly gory low-budget horror comedies. If you're into those kinds of films AND you're into Metal, don't miss out on this one: it's a blast. And it was obviously made by very talented people; especially the camera work is fantastic. The gore effects are good, most of the jokes are funny (depending on your sense of humor), and the actors may not win any Oscars any time soon but they seem perfectly well suited for their parts.

Writer/director Jason Lei Howden has a background in effects work and it shows: despite the low budget, the production values are much higher than what you'd normally expect in this kind of film. The direction is wildly inventive and reminded me a lot of the early Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson (mark my words: Howden is a director to watch in the future). A warning, though: even a film like Braindead looks almost sophisticated and tame compared to Deathgasm; a lot of the humor in this film is very, very (did I mention: VERY!!!) rude or downright sick. Do NOT watch this if, say, you have a problem watching genital (and rectal) mutilations in graphic detail.

My verdict: This is a splat-fest of the first order for gore-hounds with a twisted sense of humor, a love for Metal and a very high tolerance for some really cringe inducing nastiness. It's a very well made film - especially for a first-time-director - and I absolutely adored every minute of it. 7 stars out of 10.

Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-Known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

There is no doubt that this will strike more of a chord (see what I did there?) with metalheads, though anyone faintly aware of its existence will be able to enjoy this non-stop gore-fest. Put simply, a group of friends find some old music on tattered paper. Its title is in Latin. When they play it, it sounds like a classic Black Sabbath doom song, only darker. The song is so heavy that everyone who hears it begins to leak blood from every orifice as they turn into demons.

The rest of the movie features these four friends decapitating and castrating demons. And here, anything goes and no one is safe. Can't find a weapon? Use a dildo, or some anal beads. The humour is great as there are many funny moments within the carnage, and only a few are 'inside-jokes' for metal fans.

The makers of this film must have spent half their budget on the special effects, as some of the kills are brutal and leave the victims in a state that David Cronenberg would be proud of. I'm not usually a fan of slasher flicks but there were some pretty gruesome moments once the foursome go on their rampage.

It's obvious the filmmakers had a blast making this, so watch it now and have a blast yourself!!

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