Chop

I rarely write reviews but this one merits it. I am a horror movie fan, 34 year old woman, and I absolutely loved "Chop" - it is one worth watching again and again. I would classify this as a dark/black humor horror movie, with a sharp sense of irony and wit about it. It has a lot of gore in it, and gratuitous buckets of blood, to satisfy the torture movie lovers out there, and it is genuinely bizarre, funny and highly enjoyable to watch. 10 out of 10 for ingenuity, original plot and story line, and all around great horror movie.

One thing I highly recommended is to go into this movie with as little information as possible, don't "expect" anything, and reading ANY spoilers will pretty much ruin it...other than that, make sure you have a strong stomach and a good sense of graveyard humor.

CHOP is the directorial debut of Deadgirl screenwriter Trent Haaga.

Will Keenan (Tromeo and Juliet, Terror Firmer) breaks down on the highway and is picked up by a stranger (Timothy Muskatell), who shots him with a tranquilizer.

What follows is crazy, and funny, and a bit gory. First his brother, then his wife, and Lance (Keenan) still doesn't know the stranger and why he has it out for him.

Things just get worse and worse for Lance. His past comes roaring back in retribution for his crimes until it all ends with him finally remembering the stranger - a perfect ending.

I can't believe there are only 6 reviews on this film. My God this film had me in tears laughing all the way through. It's sharp, clever, witty and downright hilarious. I won't get involved into any plot ideas here but lets just say there are a myriad of plot twists on display here. In fact this film is extremely gruesome as well but it balance the elements very nicely to pack in a 90min feature. The director has been noted with this reveiwer and the main hero of the film is a talent beyond talent. The show really belongs to the main antagonist as he is full of tricks up his sleeve and is so evil throughout. This is in the runnings for best comedy horror for me of all time.

This one feels like it goes on and on. A man is stalked and taken brutal vengeance upon by a mysterious figure from his crack-smoking past. Going after his family and eventually, his body parts, the antogonist won't stop until the protagonist remembers and apologizes for a transgression he can't remember! Although it's not as confusing as it sounds, it's twice as tedious. The plot is ambitious enough but the (over) acting is usually obnoxious, with occasional decent moments. The premise is creative, but silly. The special gore effects sequences range from 'meh' to pretty good, but nothing outstanding-that is, when the camera doesn't cut away from the violence. By the end of the film, I had quit caring about the big reveal and was saying "big deal..."

You know by now this isn't going to change your life or how you define film, so let me tell you what it can do for you. A perfectly decent latenight comedy horror viewing, made proportionately better by how much beer at hand.

The guy behind this grinded his teeth working at Troma, so he knows film as Lloyd Kaufman taught it; make your own damn movie, doesn't matter how cheap or choppy so long as the game is agile, self-aware and one step ahead of you dear viewer. This is done on the cheap but is all the rest. The setup here is that our likable guy is being quite literally chopped away until he can remember how he affected others. Turns out he was a pain in the ass junkie before he cleaned his act. Strangers are brought in to take a piece. Our half-mad psycho keeps taunting for an answer.

There is some gore and some tension involved that is probably being spoofed from Hostel - our guy looks a little like Roth anyway - but this is pitch black comedy first and foremost, like Trome used to do it minus too much explicitness. So throw some weirdness on screen that you know is going to attract a crowd, then be a good host and make everybody have a good time. This one does, up to the halfway point at least.

The downside: it's a great premise, our guy wakes up and fingers are missing. It hinges a lot of its power on us feeling genuinely sorry for the plight of our awkward protagonist. But that's the whole thing and it's not taken further. While enjoyable and riproaring for a while, it gets tedious in the latter stages.

The Pegg/Wright team could have done this with more acerbic wit, a young Sam Raimi with some cinematic verve. It would have been a classic in both cases.