A few years ago Magnolia/Magnet Pictures came up with an
interesting project. The framing device was a group of thieves who sneak into a
house they plan to rob only to find a dead man sitting in a chair staring at a
TV set connected to an old VHS player and tons of tapes around it. They watch
the tapes and each one presents a different story. That movie was called,
appropriately, VHS. Each episode in the anthology was directed by a different
director and they worked well together. It was followed by 2 sequels and
another series THE ABCS OF DEATH. Now a new movie follows in that tradition,
not focused on horror so much as action and it does it amazingly well.
BLOOD SWEAT AND TERRORS presents 9 different stories. I
should say vignettes since none offers a complete story beginning to end. None
of the stories connect with one another and there is no framing device on hand
here but it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it offers the chance to
see 9 directors show what they can handle. Most come off as tremendous with
only one that felt lacking to me. Imagine if you will the sequence in a movie
you wait for, the climactic fight scene where the top dogs battle it out with
maybe 3-5 minutes of exposition to set the story. That’s what this movie is
like.
The first item on display is EMPIRE OF DUST directed by Adam
Mason. It features a man battling his way through what looks like a brothel.
Why? No clue. But he does so, shooting and fighting until he comes upon a
supernatural element and that’s when things get weird, as if they weren’t
before that.
Next up is AWESOME RUNAWAY directed by Benjamin De Los
Santos. A prisoner is beaten and then injected with a truth serum. He escapes
his bonds and fights his way through a series of enforcers until he reaches a
door to escape. Or does he? This is by far the weakest of the films on display
with not only terrible acting but some really bad fight sequences as well. When
you can see punches missing their mark that’s a bad thing.
Third in line is JACOB’S WRATH directed by Alexandre
Carriere. This is a good one bouncing back and forth between a post-apocalyptic
world and the present where a prisoner is being escorted. An older man in the
PA world is armed with a lacrosse racket and seeking out a specific opponent.
On the present a man is waiting for a prisoner to be moved with murderous
intent on his mind. Both are actually the same story but presented in different
places, perhaps what takes place in the first is how things in the second are
seen through the man’s eyes? A good discussion starter there.
Fourth is FLOW by Shelagh Rowan-Legg. This is the funniest
one of the group and still gets plenty of action on display. Two female freedom
fighters are set up in a location on the battleground and discuss various items
like who forgot to pack what. For instance one only packed enough tampons for a
single person and both are experiencing their periods at the same time. This
makes for some serious anger issues when combat follows.
EXPRESS DELIVERY by Beau Fowler is one of my favorite
entries here and features the most and best action sequences. A professional
hitman in a slick looking suit has captured a long haired and unkempt man and
held him in his trunk. Sitting beneath a bridge he contacts his employer to let
him know the package is there and waiting. Except as the second man explains to
him he is the real package and the target. The two begin a hand to hand battle
to rival much of what we’ve seen in recent years coupled with a few humorous
tidbits as well.
TURNCOAT by Will Gilbey presents us with two home invaders
who capture the home owner, tie him up and begin looking for something
specific. It turns out the two are actually cops and the one is looking for
evidence of his wrong doing the man possesses. Just who is the turncoat in the
story isn’t revealed at first.
GET SOME by Adam and Joe Horton combines horror, action and
humor to make one of the longer and better entries here. In the future a virus
has affected the world and turned many into zombies known as “outsiders”. Cities
are surrounded by areas where these creatures live but people have to have
entertainment, right? Up for the challenge is thrill seeking social media star
Hunter Smith who drives a car rigged with two chainsaws mounted on his front
bumper and a crew that accompanies him as he fights and kills these creatures.
With him this time out is Dr. James Forest, a man who believes we can
communicate and work with these creatures rather than kill them. Guess which
one’s right. Smith’s catch phrase of “Let’s get some!” will be something fans
of this film will be quoting.
Nest is Olaf Svenson’s OLGA, a revenge tale plain and
simple. A young woman enters a restaurant where a mob boss holds court. It
isn’t long before she’s taking on his goons and handling them with ease. She
presents a story from his past, one where he forced a young girl to choose who
would live between her mother and her father. Now she’s back to exact her
revenge.
Last up we have FETCH by Danial Bernhart. Told in the old
school private eye mode Fetch is a character who owes his ex-wife money, drinks
too much and takes a beating while facing down bad guys. He’s currently looking
for someone for a wealthy couple. This takes him to several leads eventually
landing up in a garage where the bad guy du jour has a vast army of goons to
try and take him out. Plenty of action and several good laughs in this one make
it a nice way to end the film.
Now while it may seem I’ve revealed far too much about each
of these stories it really doesn’t matter. These shorts are not about story so
much as they are about style and about giving each director a chance to show
what they can accomplish in the most important part of an action film and that
is action. With the exception of the one I noted each one does an amazing job
here and if nothing else should be hired on by some studio to man the second
unit attached to action pieces for the next Tom Cruise movie. Each one is that
good.
If you love action and aren’t looking for a movie length
film to enjoy where you can walk in an out pausing a film and still enjoy the
next piece then by all means get this one. I wasn’t sure what to expect and
found myself loving it with each story. Enough so that I know I can go back and
watch this one again over and over and still have a great time. My guess is
that you will too.
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