indiecritical

Oh boy, where to start. In a plot that is as straight forward as it gets. Two cannibal witches (Lynn Lowry and Ann Myrna) take revenge on college girls at a secret sorority for what happened to their family. One might ask how they have been getting away with killing and eating girls to stay alive for centuries and not get caught, well, don't worry about it and enjoy the movie.

Night of the Dead Sorority Babes (actually the film takes place over a couple nights) offers plenty of gratuitous nudity, which kicks off the film when the girls are stripped down to their undies, plenty of butt shots, some lewd actions with bananas, plus the typical pillow fight. The usual character tropes are present, there's the bitch (Anna Clary), the shy one (Angel Nichole Bradford), the smart one (Mel Heflin), the "ditzy" one (Ashleigh Amberlynn), the tough one (Kelsey Livengood), and the highly charged sexual one (Jessa Flux). Normally these characters would be nothing more than canon fodder. Show some boobs and get knocked off, but these are more than one dimensional characters, they have depth, backstories, and dare I say, character development.

The acting is average. Lowry and Myrna look like they are having a blast during the kill scenes that are done in a colorful palette that calls back to Creepshow. They crack one liners, some corny, as they knock off the girls one by one. Flux adds humor along with sexual teases with her roommate Amberlynn, who is not who she appears to be. Bradford and Livengood bond as the film progresses, though it be short and not fully fleshed out as the others. It's Clary and Heflin that carry the films poignant moments and the characters I felt most attached to, but it's Clary that gets the most character development out of the cast. Finally there's the sororities sarcastic head female Roxie (Mia Katz) who steals every scene she's in and I loved every minute of it.

I get what directors Angel Nichole Bradford and Steve Hermann were going for here and for the most part they succeed. Night of the Dead Sorority Babes knows what it is and doesn't take itself seriously until it needs to. It's a run of the mill, nonsensical horror film that despite its many flaws, is a guilty pleasure enjoyable film.

5/10.

Acrostar's last few movies have been either a hit or miss. From the very good Disremembered and Attack of the Corn Zombies to the lackluster They came back from Somewhere and the guilty pleasure that is Night of the Dead Sorority Babes. So, how did they fair with their latest entry into the non studio low budget films? Let's find out.

Return of the Corn Zombies takes place a year or so after the outbreak in Attack of the Corn Zombies. Zombies with corn stalks and kernels growing from them, wander the earth for their next victims. We meet a group of survivors, Kathleen (Chloe Lutz), her sister Robin (Delilah Hefner), Theo (Hunter Redfern), Janice (Angel Bradford), Trip (Christopher Kahler) and Edith (Chanda Rawlings) searching for what everyone in a zombie apocalypse searches for, food and shelter. Their hopes lay in a place called The Homestead where salvation awaits them. Not everyone gets along, Theo and Kathleen argue on the correct course of action but there is a great moment between them that I will get to later, in fact, there are two moments in the first half of the film that shine. When they do reach The Homestead they find out that paradise is not all the it seems. It's leader Sean (David Paul), along with his wife Dottie (Remya Knightlinger) his daughters Betty (Mel Heflin) and Maggie (Kelsey Ann Baker), Sean's bodyguard Steven (Chris Lutterloah) Hell, even Sean's wife (Beth Metcalf) who is now one of the corn undead, is kept in the basement. They have assumed control of a house, ironically the same house the family in the first movie lived in which is brought up at one point in the film. I can't go further into the details once they reach the homestead because of spoilers but I will say that it's a storyline we've seen before.

The performances were spot on, though there were a few clunkers, especially in two parts where you could tell how editing saved those scenes, however there are two great moments that stand out in the first half. Lutz gives a masterful performance when talking about what happened to her parents and how she struggles to tell her sister the truth. The other, Rawlings and Kahler that had my wife in tears. Not to be forgotten, Redfern has a similar performance later in the film when talking about what happened to his sister, though not as impactful as Lutz's. Most everyone affects the story one way or another, with the exception of Steven, who just lingers in the background. The screenplay, written by Steve Hermann, gives each character a little something to make the audience either sad or happy when they meet their demise. The film moves at a good pace. Each scene flows nicely into the next with the exception of the dinner scene and even though it gives some insight of the state of the world, it drags on a little too long. If I had to give the best performance it would be Heflin's portrayal of the diabolical Betty.

Return of the Corn Zombies had a high hill to climb to meet the expectations of its big brother and while it does not meet those expectations it's still a worthy successor. Missing is the feel, the look from the first film that gave a true Grindhouse feel to it. The frantic third act, bouncing from one scene to another, is extremely well done and major compliments to Beth Metcalf for the work she did on the look of the zombies. Return of the Corn Zombies is a character driven story, more so than the first which may turn people off who are looking for just mindless zombie killing action.

7/10.

I binged watched all seven episodes of this YouTube series and even though I can't rate it as a series I can review this episode and rate the previous episodes. First a little about Splintered Love. Each episode is hosted by Cupidity (Beth Metcalf) in a tribute to the Twilight Zone but more about that later.

About this episode. Love Bites is about a couple Zoey and Piper, played by Ashley Hefner and Tiffany Saggio respectively, and their romantic getaway. We learn little about them and a secret that each of them is hiding. That's all I'm going to say cause the entire episode is one big spoiler that you have to pay close attention to.

Hefner and Saggio have great chemistry together and both of them are very good. M. G. Knecht who plays Mr. Anderson is, well, he's a character that I cannot say his role in all this is but he was portrayed straightforward. The shows creator and head writer Steve Hermann has crafted the best episode of the series so far.

About the show in general. Splintered Love is a series about the darker side of romance where the princess doesn't get the prince. As before mentioned, an entity by the name of Cupidity introduces each episode and appears at different times throughout it. Let me just say I love the character of Cupidity. Metcalf has come a long way developing that character since the first episode. She's witty, funny and her interactions with the main cast, who don't know she's there, is a joy to watch. She's kind of a cross between Elvira and Rod Serling.

Splintered Love is at its best when the stories focus on either the creepy (Love me Teddy, Love me Bear) or the horror (Love Bites, Interrogation). While the other episodes are fair to good, those three episodes show the potential of what this series can be. My ratings for the seven episodes are. .

I Wish - 6/10 - Meh Inner Beauty - 7/10 - Hot witches.

Avaricious - 6/10 - Seemed like a filler episode Love me Teddy Love me Bear 8/10 - Sarah Dolan carries this episode brilliantly.

Thy Name is Cupid - 7/10 - dramatic tearjerker.

Interrogation - 7/10 - Simple but effective.

Love Bites - 9/10 - Pinnacle of the series so far.

Series overall 7/10.