Mold!

The actors were not completely bad and the premise, even with the low budget and cheesy special effects, could have gone towards a nice little horror movie. Instead, they decided to make it a horror parody, which pretty much spoiled everything as the result was neither horrific nor funny.

The film itself gives off a lot of mixed signals. A psychopath seems to have written the dialogues, the special effects and acting are like from a 70's movie, down to the gigantic security cameras, the black and white monitors, the time lapsed "mold" growth and giant moustaches, but it was made in 2012. There is no real comedy in the film, only inadvertently, from the really bad script and ridiculous green and red goo splattered all around.

Bottom line: I don't know what the makers were trying to achieve, but the movie sucked on several levels. What annoyed me more was that with the same resources and a decent script this could have easily become a cult movie.

The blurb and quotes on the DVD cover for writer/director Neil Meschino's Mold! compare the movie to 80s cult horror classic Street Trash, which seems reasonable to me: I didn't rate Street Trash all that highly either.

Set in 1984, Mold! takes place in a top secret laboratory where a highly virulent, genetically engineered strain of mold (or mould, as we English spell it) has been developed to wipe out illegal drug crops. Unfortunately, it also proves deadly for humans, as the scientists and military top brass in the establishment discover when, one-by-one, they come into contact with the super spores.

I was expecting bad acting, I was expecting dreadful dialogue, and I was expecting unconvincing special effects, since all of these elements are par for the course in deliberately cheesy trash such as this. However, I was also expecting the whole silly affair to be a lot more fun that it actually was.

Mold! takes an awfully long time to get to the good stuff, with way too much talk and unnecessary plot development before getting gross. Unfortunately, when the messy special effects eventually happen, they're not all that special: a lot of green goop and blood gets thrown around, and there are some extremely unconvincing rubbery body parts that go splat and plop, but there's nothing that proves particularly memorable (unlike Street Trash, which at least ended with a genuine showstopper—a glorious decapitation by gas canister).

I rate Mold! a disappointing 4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for the brief shot of a mouldy prosthetic schlong, which promised levels of deviancy that never materialised, and for finding a flimsy excuse to get actress Ardis Campbell down to her undies.

Neil Meschino's first attempt as a director to make a full feature. First of all, this isn't a straight horror with gore and blood like the old slashers, neither can it be compared with the horrors of nowadays. This is clearly a throwback to the low budget horrors from way back when effects were done without CGI.

By doing that and not giving us the nudity we expect from a horror or not seen a drip of gore or an amount of blood this isn't one to recommend to newcomers. this is really one for the old school B-movie buffs.

One thing that the production had in mind must have been, okay, we don't have the big dollars, how are we going to attract viewers. Luckily they made the right choice by putting their cash into the effects and let take it all place in a simple setting. On the other hand they let some characters doing over the top acting which luckily worked out fine. By doing so I even had to laugh a few times because it sometimes had a bit of humour in it.

Still, the effects are very simple and do refer to the old school horrors like the melting of a head or eyes being melted. I wont go into titles but there are so many to mention. The score used is also a throwback to the early eighties. But as I said, I never had any problem with Mold! but I can understand that some buffs will miss nudity and gore. The female do get out of her clothes but sadly the underwear she is wearing is a real let down.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 1/5

Alright. Color me impressed: in every last regard, 'Mold!' works very hard to mimic and pay homage to 80s sci-fi/horror B-movies, and I think it pretty well succeeds. The worst that can be said is that the line blurs intermittently between "wonderfully exact imitation" and "overt, cheeky modern interpretation," but the effort is so strong that the oscillation in this regard is forgivable. All the hallmarks are here: needlessly exaggerated characters and dialogue, overzealous camerawork, slightly hazy or grainy production values, well executed but obvious special effects, unnecessary and/or overcooked scenes and diversions, one female character in a field of white dudes, and so on, and so on. Even the music, sound effects, production design, and the very appearance of the title card are unmistakable echoes of similar fare of 30 years prior. This might have been released in 2012, but in many ways it would fit right in with brethren of 1983; 'Mold!' isn't perfect, but it's a good bit of fun.

The stylistic choices extend to the plainly cheesy overtones, stopping just shy of horror-comedy; a deliberately bare-bones presentation (small cast, lackadaisical execution of scenes) and hokey Movie Magic writing (e.g. The "crimson filter") that constantly threaten suspension of disbelief; and easily rectified internal inconsistency. . I can understand why this doesn't have high broad appeal, as no matter how much the endeavor excels there's still a clear difference between "80s flick" and "aping an 80s flick." The approach here rides a fine line in and of itself, and scattered lines of dialogue that make reference to movies from the 80s are gauche beyond saving. Yet if one can get on board with what 'Mold!' is doing, it's quite entertaining. The narrative (very 80s B-movie) is written well, and reasonably compelling as such; the practical effects including blood and gore, and associated hair and makeup work, look pretty great. Director Neil Meschino illustrates suitable capability, and the screenplay he penned with Dave Fogerson is solid as it is. The cast lean into the bluster, all unquestionably having a great time along the way, and that goes for everyone working behind the scenes, too.

The concept is fun, and hard work went into making 'Mold!' the silly romp that it is. I personally would have preferred a more sincere and darkly visceral take on the idea, foregoing purposeful pablum - but all the same, this is quite decent. The biggest flaw I see is just that the feature is sometimes entirely too over the top for its own good; it's one matter to embrace kitschy nonsense, it's another to abandon all good sense in that pursuit, and there are points where 'Mold!' does. Still, even at its most self-indulgent, the picture had no intent but ridiculous, bombastic horror/sci-fi fun, and if imperfectly, I believe it ably achieves that aim. So long as as one is open to the type of tomfoolery this represents, I think it really is rather worthwhile, with the caveat that it can at times be altogether too much. Hardly an essential must-see, as far as I'm concerned 'Mold!' is a delightful genre romp if you have the chance to check it out.

A demonstration of a new killer mold goes wrong and infects the scientists and some visiting VIPs. It's not a bad story and it's told quite well. Even though the film isn't billed as a comedy some of the characters are too over the top to be taken totally seriously.

The setting isn't very convincing either and while you accept that in a low budget film it comes to something when the antidote is administered using the same kind of spray bottle I water my geraniums with. Likewise, there is no containment area or any equipment for dealing with an outbreak beyond some suits with prominent nuclear symbols. This definitely doesn't help the movie. Nor does a character inexplicably not reacting to their eyes exploding.

Despite these flaws I thought it was pretty good for a low budget flick. Half the time these cheapies are sunk by wooden acting or crappy looking camera-work but this is a cut above that kind of thing.

Before watching this movie I checked the IMDb and read the reviews. One comments that 'this is really one for the old school B-movie buffs.' You'll have to judge for yourself if you are seasoned enough to watch a cheap movie about green mold or not.

Another review states 'the savagely mocking potshots on the 80's war on drugs are especially fierce and amusing.' I think it's only fair to say that this element exists only in that reviewers mind and not in the film unless you count a politician snorting coke as fiercely amusing which to be honest I didn't. I'm probably not enough of a B-movie buff to understand it or something.