6 reviews
I had the misfortune of seeing Scavenger Killers premiere at the Hoboken International Film Festival. What a poor choice for an opening night film.
The film seemed like it was written by a horny 13 year old boy. There was little plot, other than a lawyer and judge who are serial killers, having sex every third scene. There is no reason ever given why they are serial killers. About 15 minutes into the film, there is pointless full frontal nudity, whereupon over half the audience had already walked out.
Even worse than the abysmal writing, was the directing. There was nothing spectacular about the camera work. With the most interesting camera shots, being bad techniques used in the 80's, but not in a good way. The use of the camera moving in the motion of the weapon came off cheap and amateur in its execution. The film wasn't quite a horror film to fulfill the fan of cheap horror movies. It was in no way a thriller or crime drama, leaving smut and soft-core porn the only categories it might fall under. Nothing unique or original about the film.
The acting was bad. The judge might be the only quality performance. Although his character is poorly written with little motivation. The lawyer was terrible. She acts more like a stripper than someone who is educated. I guess since the writer isn't educated, how could he create an educated seeming character. The FBI agent after the serial killers is a mute in a wheelchair, who makes you wonder what the writer was thinking with a character who I supposed is meant to offend ALL disabled people. It was probably the worst performance in the film, surrounded by bad acting. Screech is in the film, who interacted with the main characters for 30 seconds. Making a cameo appearance that looked like it was shot somewhere other than the film, perhaps his agent's office, was Eric Roberts. His character seemed like an afterthought to have more names in the film, much like the pointless appearance of Robert Loggia. The late Charles Durning was in the film, disgracing his name by having been part of such a film, in footage that looks like it was taken from an old television show. And none of the performances seemed like they were given any direction from the director, or knew what the film was they were working on, as their performances appeared.
The next morning, I checked out of my hotel early, not wanting to see what else the festival would show, given this garbage pornography was the opening night feature.
Scavenger Killers is a horrible film, that looks like it was made by a group of first week film students with a script one of their little brothers wrote. There is no intelligent dialog or thought in the plot. If you ever come across this in the dollar bin of videos, save your money. Not worth the watch.
The film seemed like it was written by a horny 13 year old boy. There was little plot, other than a lawyer and judge who are serial killers, having sex every third scene. There is no reason ever given why they are serial killers. About 15 minutes into the film, there is pointless full frontal nudity, whereupon over half the audience had already walked out.
Even worse than the abysmal writing, was the directing. There was nothing spectacular about the camera work. With the most interesting camera shots, being bad techniques used in the 80's, but not in a good way. The use of the camera moving in the motion of the weapon came off cheap and amateur in its execution. The film wasn't quite a horror film to fulfill the fan of cheap horror movies. It was in no way a thriller or crime drama, leaving smut and soft-core porn the only categories it might fall under. Nothing unique or original about the film.
The acting was bad. The judge might be the only quality performance. Although his character is poorly written with little motivation. The lawyer was terrible. She acts more like a stripper than someone who is educated. I guess since the writer isn't educated, how could he create an educated seeming character. The FBI agent after the serial killers is a mute in a wheelchair, who makes you wonder what the writer was thinking with a character who I supposed is meant to offend ALL disabled people. It was probably the worst performance in the film, surrounded by bad acting. Screech is in the film, who interacted with the main characters for 30 seconds. Making a cameo appearance that looked like it was shot somewhere other than the film, perhaps his agent's office, was Eric Roberts. His character seemed like an afterthought to have more names in the film, much like the pointless appearance of Robert Loggia. The late Charles Durning was in the film, disgracing his name by having been part of such a film, in footage that looks like it was taken from an old television show. And none of the performances seemed like they were given any direction from the director, or knew what the film was they were working on, as their performances appeared.
The next morning, I checked out of my hotel early, not wanting to see what else the festival would show, given this garbage pornography was the opening night feature.
Scavenger Killers is a horrible film, that looks like it was made by a group of first week film students with a script one of their little brothers wrote. There is no intelligent dialog or thought in the plot. If you ever come across this in the dollar bin of videos, save your money. Not worth the watch.
- martylow2013
- Jun 30, 2013
- Permalink
I had the not-so-pleasurable experience of seeing Scavenger Killers at the premiere of the 2013 Hoboken Film Festival last week. For a bit of background, the festival prides itself on bringing the most "cutting edge" films that Hollywood is "too afraid to show" to the silver screen. I can tell you with certainty that the reason Hollywood would never show a film like Scavenger Killers isn't because it is too "cutting edge". It's because it sucks.
In short, the film is about a prosecuting attorney (played by Rachael Robbins)and a judge (Robert Bogue) who, for an unspecified reason, decide to kill people by choosing random slips of paper from a bag. This is about as much sense that can be gathered from this incoherent plot that also involves Eric Roberts as Agent Guthro (who phones all of his lines in from a presumably remote and unspecified location) and Dustin Diamond as some sort of "psychic" agent who also has tourettes. The entire movie is as tasteless as it sounds and is as equally entertaining (that is to say, not at all).
I place most of the blame for this on the creator of the festival and writer of the film, Ken Del Vecchio himself. He wrote the story along with the "star" Rachael Robbins and the result is as atrocious as you would expect a film co-written by a Playboy Playmate (Robbins, not Del Vecchio) to be. Del Vecchio's character in particular is a shining example of what this dynamic duo are capable of concocting when locked in a room together long enough. He plays the wheelchair ridden, mute Special Agent Truman who communicates through grunts and an abbreviated form of sign language that serves as the brunt of more predictable or vulgar sex jokes than should legally be allowed.
The strangest thing is, the direction of the film itself has the barest semblances of competence, and it's a shame to see director Dylan Bank restrict his expressiveness to a few interesting shots that could have made the film more enjoyable had he pushed these ideas further. Jerking zooms and point-of-view murder weapons are the basis for creating a fun, campy movie that's a blast to watch (see: Evil Dead or From Dusk Till Dawn) but what little techniques Bank does employ are ruined by downright terrible writing and mediocre to sub-par acting. (Don't be fooled by seeing a few names like Charles Durning, Robert Loggia and Eric Roberts on the bill, their accumulated screen time amounts to little more than two minutes at most.)
The movie appears to be torn in quite a few directions, and here lies the problem with Scavenger Killers and all Del Vecchio films. The film isn't fun enough to pass off as a campy/horror romp, nor is it serious enough to pass off as a straight up body horror film that serves to gross the audience out. The film instead lies somewhere in that no man's zone of being just plain awful. He didn't push the comedy angle, nor was he trying to create a great film that fell flat and as a side effect becomes hilarious (See: all of Edward D. Wood Jr.'s films). You can't help but feel like Del Vecchio and company are making a film just to provoke a reaction, but offer very little substance in return. By the time the fourth sex scene and second murder had rolled around, the theater was half empty.
I could write a dissertation on everything wrong with this film, but frankly it's not worth the time. Do yourselves a favor and avoid this film, even out of morbid curiosity. There are plenty other B-movies that are way more entertaining to watch.
In short, the film is about a prosecuting attorney (played by Rachael Robbins)and a judge (Robert Bogue) who, for an unspecified reason, decide to kill people by choosing random slips of paper from a bag. This is about as much sense that can be gathered from this incoherent plot that also involves Eric Roberts as Agent Guthro (who phones all of his lines in from a presumably remote and unspecified location) and Dustin Diamond as some sort of "psychic" agent who also has tourettes. The entire movie is as tasteless as it sounds and is as equally entertaining (that is to say, not at all).
I place most of the blame for this on the creator of the festival and writer of the film, Ken Del Vecchio himself. He wrote the story along with the "star" Rachael Robbins and the result is as atrocious as you would expect a film co-written by a Playboy Playmate (Robbins, not Del Vecchio) to be. Del Vecchio's character in particular is a shining example of what this dynamic duo are capable of concocting when locked in a room together long enough. He plays the wheelchair ridden, mute Special Agent Truman who communicates through grunts and an abbreviated form of sign language that serves as the brunt of more predictable or vulgar sex jokes than should legally be allowed.
The strangest thing is, the direction of the film itself has the barest semblances of competence, and it's a shame to see director Dylan Bank restrict his expressiveness to a few interesting shots that could have made the film more enjoyable had he pushed these ideas further. Jerking zooms and point-of-view murder weapons are the basis for creating a fun, campy movie that's a blast to watch (see: Evil Dead or From Dusk Till Dawn) but what little techniques Bank does employ are ruined by downright terrible writing and mediocre to sub-par acting. (Don't be fooled by seeing a few names like Charles Durning, Robert Loggia and Eric Roberts on the bill, their accumulated screen time amounts to little more than two minutes at most.)
The movie appears to be torn in quite a few directions, and here lies the problem with Scavenger Killers and all Del Vecchio films. The film isn't fun enough to pass off as a campy/horror romp, nor is it serious enough to pass off as a straight up body horror film that serves to gross the audience out. The film instead lies somewhere in that no man's zone of being just plain awful. He didn't push the comedy angle, nor was he trying to create a great film that fell flat and as a side effect becomes hilarious (See: all of Edward D. Wood Jr.'s films). You can't help but feel like Del Vecchio and company are making a film just to provoke a reaction, but offer very little substance in return. By the time the fourth sex scene and second murder had rolled around, the theater was half empty.
I could write a dissertation on everything wrong with this film, but frankly it's not worth the time. Do yourselves a favor and avoid this film, even out of morbid curiosity. There are plenty other B-movies that are way more entertaining to watch.
Dylan Bank's "Scavenger Killers" is a 21st century spin on the Bonnie & Clyde construct with a horror/torture porn (I know a lot of people are turned off by the use of that term but I am not one of them) spin, in what is definitely an all in, psycho-drama, slaughter fest. The plot revolves around a potent judge and a hot criminal defense attorney who go on a maniacal killing rampage. Taylor and Sara are hot for legalese rationality, one another and hunting prey.
"Scavenger Killers" is a creative, modern spin on the serial killer lovers concept, although they are more Mickey & Malory than Bonnie & Clyde but either criminal duo applies with these two characters, Taylor and Sarah. The prose has Kenneth Del Vecchio and Rachael Robbins coming off like the super-hetero-bastard-children, of some twisted love affair between Quentin Tarantino and John Waters. The cast, and it is a recognizable and eclectic one, give pretty convincing -all be it over- the-top performances that really sell this story. I mean considering the subject matter and vision that Bank shoots for in "Scavenger Killers" it is noteworthy that everyone delivers reasonably believable characters. The film is dark, satirical and gory.
The special effects used in "Scavenger Killers" is a standard assemblage off practical (small amount of CGI) effects that is necessary for this sort of film. Trust when I say that this is a visceral, all out, gory film filled with plenty of kill scenes and blood splatter. Considering the budget and the lack of fear to put the effects in your face, it is commendable the amount of care Bank and his team put in to giving us the gruesome. Some of the sequences are obvious and don't quite reach the "reality" mark, but the quality of the effects in "Scavenger Kills" is equal to that of most blood soaked horror effects of films with a much higher budget. My only turn off was the little bit of CGI that was used for blood splatter and kill effect. Most scenes embraced straight-up, practical effects, and since the CGI was very minimal it doesn't hurt the film or the kill sequences that featured them.
The soundtrack and sound effects are pretty tight, atmospheric madness that really frame the complete psychotica that unfolds in "Scavenger Kills". It keeps a high energy excitement that accents the carnage and semi-surreal, semi grindhouse performances. The timing and style offer a bizarre blend of mentally-unstable insanity and emotionally charged melodrama that fit in every scene that sound was key in "Scavenger Kills". Let's face it, this film will be seen as either complete garbage or beautiful trash by horror fans. I for one see it as the latter. The film is a schizophrenic tirade of satirical camp, American psychotica and torture porn gorefest.
Overall "Scavenger Kills" creates a wicked, modern spin on the Bonnie & Clyde concept with total homicidal depravity. The style is a Sado- sexually charged, exploitation blend of torture-porn and serial killer celebration which normally is not my favorite subgenre in horror, but the over-exaggerated, insane characters and dark humor make everything fun, and entertaining. "Scavenger Killers" is not like other films in this category. The film will offend some, irritate others but for those special, slightly disturbed few, this film will be pure, unadulterated fun. Which ever column you fit with your reaction to seeing "Scavenger Killers" , the film is definitely an instant cult classic.
"Scavenger Killers" is a creative, modern spin on the serial killer lovers concept, although they are more Mickey & Malory than Bonnie & Clyde but either criminal duo applies with these two characters, Taylor and Sarah. The prose has Kenneth Del Vecchio and Rachael Robbins coming off like the super-hetero-bastard-children, of some twisted love affair between Quentin Tarantino and John Waters. The cast, and it is a recognizable and eclectic one, give pretty convincing -all be it over- the-top performances that really sell this story. I mean considering the subject matter and vision that Bank shoots for in "Scavenger Killers" it is noteworthy that everyone delivers reasonably believable characters. The film is dark, satirical and gory.
The special effects used in "Scavenger Killers" is a standard assemblage off practical (small amount of CGI) effects that is necessary for this sort of film. Trust when I say that this is a visceral, all out, gory film filled with plenty of kill scenes and blood splatter. Considering the budget and the lack of fear to put the effects in your face, it is commendable the amount of care Bank and his team put in to giving us the gruesome. Some of the sequences are obvious and don't quite reach the "reality" mark, but the quality of the effects in "Scavenger Kills" is equal to that of most blood soaked horror effects of films with a much higher budget. My only turn off was the little bit of CGI that was used for blood splatter and kill effect. Most scenes embraced straight-up, practical effects, and since the CGI was very minimal it doesn't hurt the film or the kill sequences that featured them.
The soundtrack and sound effects are pretty tight, atmospheric madness that really frame the complete psychotica that unfolds in "Scavenger Kills". It keeps a high energy excitement that accents the carnage and semi-surreal, semi grindhouse performances. The timing and style offer a bizarre blend of mentally-unstable insanity and emotionally charged melodrama that fit in every scene that sound was key in "Scavenger Kills". Let's face it, this film will be seen as either complete garbage or beautiful trash by horror fans. I for one see it as the latter. The film is a schizophrenic tirade of satirical camp, American psychotica and torture porn gorefest.
Overall "Scavenger Kills" creates a wicked, modern spin on the Bonnie & Clyde concept with total homicidal depravity. The style is a Sado- sexually charged, exploitation blend of torture-porn and serial killer celebration which normally is not my favorite subgenre in horror, but the over-exaggerated, insane characters and dark humor make everything fun, and entertaining. "Scavenger Killers" is not like other films in this category. The film will offend some, irritate others but for those special, slightly disturbed few, this film will be pure, unadulterated fun. Which ever column you fit with your reaction to seeing "Scavenger Killers" , the film is definitely an instant cult classic.
- ASouthernHorrorFan
- Jun 27, 2014
- Permalink
The highlight of the movie is Robert Bogue's Judge Lamone. Bogue is Patrick Bateman amplified by a hundredfold. He loves two things in life: himself and carving people with a chainsaw. (It's questionable if he truly loves Clara) This guy's ego is off the charts. Whether he's killing people or fooling around with Clara he loves bragging about himself. At first you hate listening to him but as the movie goes on you start getting a kick out of him. A lot of the names in this movie play bit parts. Suzi Lorraine plays a "working girl" that makes a mean Hamburger Helper. Robert Loggia plays a doctor who runs a shady practice out of his house. Eric Roberts plays an FBI who is trying to track down the killers while Dustin Diamond plays his partner, a psychic with Tourette's.
Scavenger Killers is not for the faint at heart. If you are the type that is offended by body parts being hacked off, extreme violence, sexual fetishes, and foul language this is a movie to avoid. If you like that stuff you'll be in heaven. Yes, there are flaws. There are times when there is too much set up for a kill and you say to yourself "get on with it." Also, Ken Del Vecchio's Agent Truman, who is out to stop Taylor and Clara, is not likable. You want the killers to kill him as opposed to him catching the killers. Finally, this is not a movie for people with weak stomachs. The killings in this movie are gruesome, so much so that even the most hardened horror fan might have trouble keeping their eyes on the screen for the entire duration.
Overall, if you're a fan of movies like Hostel or the Saw franchise, Scavenger Killers is right up your alley. It makes those movies look like Disney. If you're into gruesome, horror movies with egomaniacal and sexy killers, Scavenger Killers is worth a look.
Scavenger Killers is not for the faint at heart. If you are the type that is offended by body parts being hacked off, extreme violence, sexual fetishes, and foul language this is a movie to avoid. If you like that stuff you'll be in heaven. Yes, there are flaws. There are times when there is too much set up for a kill and you say to yourself "get on with it." Also, Ken Del Vecchio's Agent Truman, who is out to stop Taylor and Clara, is not likable. You want the killers to kill him as opposed to him catching the killers. Finally, this is not a movie for people with weak stomachs. The killings in this movie are gruesome, so much so that even the most hardened horror fan might have trouble keeping their eyes on the screen for the entire duration.
Overall, if you're a fan of movies like Hostel or the Saw franchise, Scavenger Killers is right up your alley. It makes those movies look like Disney. If you're into gruesome, horror movies with egomaniacal and sexy killers, Scavenger Killers is worth a look.
- mediapeertime
- Jul 16, 2013
- Permalink
- nogodnomasters
- May 30, 2019
- Permalink