User reviews

"Theatre Of The Deranged" is a horror anthology containing five short films from some of todays most twisted and most talked about indie story tellers. This collection comes complete with it's own demented host Andy the Arsonist. Welcome inside Andy's dark place as he unleashes five nightmares from his movie projector. Brian Dorton, Creep Creepersin, Liz Gilbert, James Cullen Bressack, and Shawn C. Phillips have brought five of the most truly deranged tales ranging from a trip to the countryside, a sinister carnival, and homicidal maniacs. The cast includes Cory Jacob, JD Fairman, Shawn C. Phillips, Sophie Dee, and Veronica Ricci.

The first short called "Lust For Blood" is directed by M. Kelly and Shawn C. Phillips. This is a no budget film that is both comical and bizarre. The soundtrack and style of this gory little play reminds me of the TROMA films in the early 80's. The jokes are funny, the acting is over the top exaggerated and the effects are cheesy. I found it entertaining and demented which is what is is intended to be.

"Bad Dennis" directed by Liz Gilbert is an intense mind-f**k psychotic-a flick that is filmed with gory vision and plenty of screams. This short is a sinister trip that finds four travelers taking the English countryside on a battle for survival or did they. This film has a twist at the end that leaves you guessing.

"Speak Easy" directed by James Cullen Bressack is a dark dub-step into betrayal of the man- code. A surreal journey into the psyche of what you would do if you found out your best friend was f**king your lover. This short was a brilliant blood sprayed tale.

"Doll Parts" directed by Brian Dorton is psycho melodrama that is twisted deliciously. The story is Americana warped into pure insanity and the gore is gloriously rich. My favorite of this anthology. When it ends I wanted more. A great body count and full frontal with a sadistic twist at the end. Great stuff.

"Cannibal Blood Girl" directed by Creep Creepersin is total punk rock indie gore. A hilariously cheesy karmic tale of terror. The insanity in this joint is beyond the norm. This was a killer blood soaked treat.

Andy the Arsonist delivers on his promise to bring truly twisted tales in "Theatre Of The Deranged". The stories are original homages to classic indie filmmaking. This is one of the coolest low budget/no budget anthologies and I only hope there will be more deranged tales to come.

Theatre of the Deranged presents five short films which I like to classify as 'backyard flicks'. No budget whatsoever and that's part of the charm. Ranging from silly to clever and funny to shameful. This theater has something for everyone. Have a seat *points at seat* and listen to your host, Andy the arsonist.

Andy the arsonist, played by Cory Jacob, individually introduces the segments and gives you the time to catch your breath from all this terrifying nonsense. Simple but effective intermissions with a hell of a improvising feeling to it. It was necessary to keep the entire thing together, because the short films don't really have anything in common. Which is not a bad thing. Lets take a look at the shorts, one by one..

'Lust for Blood'...What was Shawn smoking?

'Bad Dennis' is one of the more straight forward shorts and was directed by Liz Gilbert. In this short, British version of TCM there isn't much room for surprise, but it is all done pretty convincingly. The acting is actually not that bad at all and the effects (although often off screen) do their job. I enjoyed the setting. The English country side has a distinctive empty vibe that works in these simple slasher flicks. It was pretty entertaining and I didn't feel like I could be asking for much more at this point.

'Speak Easy' at this point cranks up the quality by paying a clever little visit in the mind of a psychopath. In this short director James Cullen Bressack takes tiny, thought-out steps towards a satisfying ending for the gore hounds. The dubstep was a nice touch and Jon Bloch did an excellent job! Definitely something you'll have to look forward to when you smack this DVD in your player.

'Doll Parts' starts off pretty interesting and in quite a bit of a contrast with some of the other shorts by giving us a backstory to hold onto, shot in black and white. Though this first part isn't half as good as the second when it comes to acting. Caught me a bit off guard with the violence and that's always a good thing. The calm and slow paced first half really gives the the rest much more impact.

'Cannibal Blood Girl' is about a cannibalistic girl covered in blood. That's pretty much it. Oh yeah, she fires blood from her tits and vajayjay. Loved it.

By lack of any seriousness, in the end this is something I'd love to recommend. To be fair to Shawn C. Phillips, I did think that his short had the true 'backyard' vibe to it (maybe a bit to literally) and it reminded me of Troma in a way. The gay break dancer, the green goo, the synthesizer crap.. yeah, I can't say I didn't have a fun time. Mostly because it was shameful, but also because I can relate to the ideas!

Cannibal Blood girl will stick around the longest as the most eye catching of the bunch. Though, Speak Easy is the most clever and well produced and therefor I think it's the best short Theatre of the Deranged had to offer. It's worth a try if you're drunk, high, or just like me and probably the rest of the dutchies: both.

Arriving at a special performance hall, a host introduces a series of gory and gruesome indie horror shorts.

The Good Stor(ies): Lust for Blood-Trying to put his son to bed, a father tells his son the story of a man visiting a gypsy fortune teller who gives him a strange potion. Forced to leave suddenly, he finds himself turning into a savage monster wandering the streets killing everyone he comes across. Overall, this is a pretty enjoyable start to this one. The low-budget indie tone and appeal here with the encounter at the fair resulting in his escape into the woods to hilariously attempt to transform is silly, goofy and delightfully cheesy. The attack on the hiker breakdancing in the woods is also goofy and cheesy enough much like the resulting finale as he continues his rampage, making for enough to like to overlook the questions brought up of what he became or why he was turned into it in the first place.

Bad Dennis-Heading out to the British countryside, a group of teens prepare to have a fun weekend ahead of them with the upcoming trip being during cider season. As they get on with their romantic ideas, the group realizes someone or something might be in the woods with them. This was an enjoyable enough segment. The overwhelming feel of old-school British folk-horror with the modern-day teens running afoul of the individual living out in the countryside and mocking their traditions, especially with the tell-tale taking of the cider bottles. That the attack scenes take place with each couple incapacitated and otherwise unaware of what's going on generate some solid suspense much like the stalking scenes that take place out in the fields with a delightful turn to a slasher setup offer a lot to like. The behavior by the group is random, chaotic and pointless with idiotic decisions and actions, taking some of the sting out of the film.

Cannibal Blood Girl-Getting to a friends' house, a couple of girlfriends arrive to hear their escorts have brought them over to recreate a local urban legend involving the body of a dead pornstar. When they realize it's become true when the figure arrives, they try to escape the house any way they can. This was a fun if generally simplistic effort. As a one-note joke to get a bloodsoaked naked woman on-screen and feature some fantastically cheesy meltdown scenes as the victims receive red-colored water sprayed on them one-by-one in a closed-off space, this one works for what it is. Thinking more about the resurrections or why the girls who weren't involved getting attacked as well shouldn't be a concern for this one.

The Bad Stor(ies): Speak Easy-Meeting up with a friend, a man confronts the potential figure cheating with his girlfriend with deadly intentions. This segment felt pointless, with the only cool idea being the rewind gimmick before replaying the whole conversation again one more time with a different connotation. The gore is okay but it's a one-note story gag that doesn't have much else going on once you realize the twist involved.

Doll Parts-Returning to his childhood home, a former psychotic teen moves in with his understanding sister as an adult despite the loud objections from the neighbors. As he finds his psychotic tendencies bubbling to the surface, he loses himself to a bloodsoaked rampage. This was a rather weird entry. The idea that no one sees anything wrong with his behavior, taking apart dolls and setting fire to the remains, clues everyone into his behavior yet nothing is really surprising about the turn into being a psycho. As the backstory to get this setup takes forever due to that, it feels somewhat jarring coming to the present day with a lot of background info that could've been detailed a lot easier. The indie-styled rampage featuring some brutal and bloody gore causes this one some great aspects to counteract the slight storyline issues here.

Andy's Theatre of Derange-Taking the stage in a performance theatre, a deranged lunatic talks to an onlook about the various stories he's presenting for a stage show. On the whole, this wraparound series of segments was a complete waste. The series of puns and gags are fine as a one-note joke but several of the introductions go on too long as you realize he has to set up the next installment by a clever word-pun to announce the title which can make for an awkward time. The potential for a facially-scarred stand-up performer telling jokes and puns to set up installments of an anthology is a fine idea in concept but the execution here is rather wanting the longer this goes on and gets dragged out.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and drug use.