11 Monday Nov 2019
Posted in podcast episode
Tags
a nightmare on elm street, amanda wyss, freddy kreuger, heather langenkamp, john saxon, johnny depp, robert englund, slasher films, Wes Craven
The Surgeons team return to the late great Wes Craven’s work through the middle years of his career that we have dubbed The Nightmare Years, beginning with A Nightmare On Elm Street.
Check out the episode below:
04 Wednesday Oct 2017
Posted in Movie review
We’ve all been there right?
Standing in the school canteen queue, waiting to be served up some nutritious cuisine and to fuel up and energise for the day only to be presented with some disgusting slop that wouldn’t be worth giving to the dogs.
We may groan and show our disgust, but no one thinks about the poor souls who have to serve up this muck day in, day out.
No one spares a thought for the lunch ladies.
And this is where this fantastic short feature places us. In the heart of the school kitchen, where two lunch ladies, Seretta (Donna Pieroni) and LouAnne (Mary Manofsky) bust a gut to serve the hungry horde with a crap amount of decent food and very little recognition to go along with it.
Thank God for Johnny Depp, the shining light for these ladies’ way out of their dire world with the chance to become his personal chefs on the order.
But with the stakes so high and the pressure at breaking point, it won’t take long for something or someone to snap.
And when it does it comes in a bloody glorious fashion as the Lunch Ladies resort to drastic measures to cover up murder and keep their eye on the prize the only way they know how… in the kitchen.
With a nod to Sweeney Todd, it’s time to churn up their victims and deliver the best lunch order of their careers to pull them through.
Gloriously written by Clarissa Jacobson, who carves up a a delicious blend of macabre and humour, combined with director J.M. Logan’s eye for detail and Lunch Ladies stands tall amongst its counterparts as a result.
Our only regret is that there wasn’t a larger portion on offer as the characters and story could well amount to much more of time were given for them to breathe on screen.
Thankfully the producers are working on getting a long feature ready, so keep your eyes peeled for more from these great filmmakers down the track.
30 Thursday Mar 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
Harley Quinn Smith, johnny depp, kevin smith, Lily-Rose Depp, true north trilogy, tusk, yoga hosers
The second instalment of Kevin Smith’s True North Trilogy follows in the same vein of its predecessor, Tusk, in that it captures the quirky, dark, and curious side to Canada.
In this instance, the story follows two convenience store workers, Colleen Collette and Colleen McKenzie, played by Depp and Smiths daughters, Lily-Rose Depp and Harley Quinn Smith.
As expected the movie is infused with pop culture and gamification references such is Smith’s repertoire of language and style on screen.
Perhaps because of its leads, Yoga Hosers has a youthful vigour to the story, which just about makes it passable along with the style and substance involved.
All parties appear to be having fun in the making of this movie and that energy feels infectious as a result.
Behind the glitz though, the movie is simply that.
A facade of fun, but ultimately it’s logic is so far removed from reality that you have no sense of connectivity to the plot.
Essentially the girls end up fending off little yellow wiener men controlled by a Canadian Nazi, Andronicus Arcane.
It’s so convoluted and downright bizarre, that you’re only choice is to go with the flow or tune out.
As it stands it remains to be seen whether or not Smith will complete his True North Trilogy, by closing out with Moose Jaws.
Despite the two films generally negative reception, there’s a part of me that would like to see Smith carry out his vision, if only to see a killer Moose on the loose in Canada.
But I guess that’s just the quirky, warped side of my personality that identifies with the craziness of it all.
– Paul Farrell
30 Thursday Mar 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
The obscurity of this movie admittedly had me questioning how such a bizarre story could ever be entertained let alone actually pulled of as a feature.
But all ideas and inspirations have to start from somewhere.
When filmmaker Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier picked up on a bizarre advertisement of guys walrus fetish as part of the Smodcast discussions, the subject resonated with Smith to run with this crazy notion and turn it into a feature, Tusk, the first instalment to a trilogy that he’s dubbed, The True North trilogy.
The second having already been released, titled Yoga Hosers, and a final instalment called Moose Jaws is on its way.
The underlying theme that ties these movies together examines the quirky tales born out of the depths of Canadian lifestyle and translates as a warped cousin of the X-Files as Johnny Depp cameos as French Canadian detective investigator of the bizarre, Guy LaPointe.
The central story to Tusk follows repugnant and loathing, podcast host, Wallace Bryton.
His podcast, The Not-See Party is basically a chance for him and friend/ co-host (played by a welcome Haley Joel-Osmont) to mock viral videos of guys making fools of themselves.
This one in particular is of a guy playing around with a samurai sword in his garage when he severs his own leg off.
Wanting to milk this story and take advantage of this poor soul for all his worth, Wallace ventures out to interview him for the podcast only to arrive at the chaps funeral.
By chance however, Wallace believing to be down on his luck, stumbles across a written advertisement in the Gents toilets that piques his interest with a free room and lifetime of interesting stories.
Little does he know that he’s about to get his comeuppance when he meets up with wayward extraordinaire, Howard Howe and his curious obsession with walruses.
Kidnapped and drugged, Wallace then has to face a gruelling undertaking that allows his assailant to transform him into the creature of his curious fantasies.
Will his girlfriend and best friend be able to save him from his ordeal?
What will be left of him by the end of it all?
Tusk is a movie that lives up to its description with its strange tale, which was always going to be a tough sell for audience and critics alike.
It takes someone like Kevin Smith to carry out this vision and brandish it with his unique sense of humour.
And for that it hangs in there just barely by a single thread and may well generate an audience from his loyal fans.
Once again I find myself commending a director on their bold choice and pushing the boundaries of storytelling by challenging themselves and offering something new, even if the execution itself doesn’t eventually pay off.
– Paul Farrell
Surgeons of Horror 