Chillerama US DVD Review

• 2nd Dec 2011

Movie anthologies are a tricky thing – and more to the point very few are good throughout.  Even fewer are great! So when you look at some of the names attached to anthologies (Scorsese, Tarantino, Rodriguez, Spielberg, Landis, Dante, Allen, Romero, Coppola…) what chance does the guy who directed Wrong Turn 2 have of stitching together insertions from the guy who directed 2001 Maniacs, and the guy who directed Hatchet, and the guy who directed Detroit Rock City?

Well, A pretty good chance it turns out. And the above mentioned films are literally just an excuse most critics make to dismiss some of the above mentioned directors. Adam Green for example started with Hatchet and worked his way along to very respectable work like last year’s Frozen. He even improved Hatchet with a well humoured sequel. Lynch on the other hand only has Wrong Turn 2 to his name. But despite it being a sequel to a rather inferior killer-hillbilly movie; his film worked on the right comedic/horror tonal level. And this film proves further that whilst he is in it for all the dick and shit jokes (literally) he is also pretty damn good behind the camera.

Chillerama has a very appealing wrap around. Basically the film is a love letter and farewell to the Drive-In movie experience. The film takes place at one such event. The final opening night of a drive-in showing four unseen pictures. In between the short films shown we return intermittently to the Drive-in to watch the characters react and also to build up to the films final half hour as a zombie outbreak occurs. More on that later!

The first short film from Adam Rifkin (and starring Adam Rifkin) is Wadzilla. To cut to the chase – it’s about a giant mutant sperm on the rampage in New York. It takes the sperm’s, er, owner to track it down along with help from his doctor, girlfriend and an amusing general played by Eric Roberts.

This is a highly skittish and amusing play on the 50’s atomic monster movie. The director of photography (who carries over to all four segments) has worked hard with each director to give each film their own feel – and to his credit he has succeeded. Wadzilla looks and feels like a cheapo 50’s monster film. It’s a good fun first round – and the great news is that Wadzilla is probably the worst of the bunch!

Next up is the surprisingly entertaining and catchy musical I Was A Teenage Werebear. This is the 60’s set segment. And it isn’t hard to tell from all the big quiffs, beach boys running around in tight shorts, dancing girls, musical numbers and the over saturated colour scheme.

Basically this one is the big “In your face” gay parable from director Tim Sullivan. Whilst his flick gets a bit confused about its message about whether it is ok to be gay or not at the end (considering the director is openly gay himself – we are guessing he is hardly against the idea) this is a real highlight of the entire lot.

The musical numbers really do complement the music of the time. Yes ok they invented a few amusing lyrics, and most often they work as opposed to not. But it’s amazing how catching they are and well performed by the pretty cast.

Providing you don’t think too much about the deeper political issues of sexuality – and usually with this sort of film people don’t – then it’s a rollicking good time.  It’s odd to think that anyone would walk out calling this the weak segment; unless they were afraid they would turn into a werebear themselves. And that could be the case as I sat with an audience who were laughing throughout this one and afterwards no-one would admit to liking it as much as they did. I’ve seen it twice now and it still retains the same level of fun I had when I watched it drunk first time round!

Meanwhile back at the drive in – an infected employee has managed to infect the popcorn which is merrily making its way round all the drive-in customers. Only a matter of time before that develops into something nasty.

But first up there is Adam Green’s glorious B/W call back to 40’s monster cinema with The Diary of Anne Frankenstein. This one finds a gibberish spouting Hitler creating his own monster in the lab. That monster turns out to be Kane Hodder in make-up, and ever so slightly Jewish. To say any more about this one would spoil the fun. Green has worked hard to emulate the right style of cinema, whilst also breaking the fourth wall – not to mention creeping past a few as well in the process.

The final film is called Deathication. And well, from that title you can guess what this one is all about. And yes this one has a very 70’s porn/exploitation look to it.  Sadly though it doesn’t really get going as the Zombie outbreak at the Drive in is in full force and the projector is shut down. We return then to the real world as the final half hour sees Joe lynch delivering us an 80’s zombie-thon extravaganza (and it’s actually called Zom-B-Movie) when no body part and no body fluid is left un-filmed in a truly uproarious climax. The film pays homage to some classic 80’s dialogue (and music scores). It even features the Wilhelm Scream used in an amusing manner.

By the end you may be a little exhausted (the film runs two hours in total), but it’s a great experience. The wraparound segments do take up close to half the running time, and viewers may wish to just jump from segment to segment, but it is to Lynch’s credit that he has attempted to set up his piece in good humour and with a bit of passion for the cinema. (Just check out his impressive, long-take, camera work at the opening as the cars are all driving in).

I think this could be the first anthology I would call a complete success. The theme they used is strong, the wraparound makes sense and ties in with this, and the different styles and different films used all come together beautifully.

The extras on the disc set include a director’s commentary. Have a listen to see if Lynch manages to remain calm (which he can’t in person). There are also a few short behind the scenes videos for most of the segments as well as some deleted material. You’ll also find the four directors together in a couple of interview segments. It’s a decent enough package and all the directors are a fun bunch to be around. This is an outrageous flick that they should all be very proud of. It’s now also part of a great night in.

This is the US release version only which is out now. There is no release date for the UK as yet.

Steven Hurst