Logo by Kristian HornWhat the &#$% is ZOMBIES & SHARKS?

Greetings, all. Ambush Bug here with another AICN HORROR: ZOMBIES & SHARKS column. But before we get to the reviews…there’s, as always, this!

Next up is the ominous and exciting new anthology known as THE PROFANE EXHIBIT. I’ve seen one of the segments and it’s awesome and can’t wait to see more. If you’re in Cincinnati, OH on March 22nd for the HorrorHound Weekend, you’ll get to see more than I have as the producers will be screening segments of the film as well as be there for a Q&A with various directors, producers, actors, and team members of the 13 segmented anthology … a few, of which, will have several very special announcements. Find out more about the HorrorHound Weekend here and find out about THE PROFANE EXHIBIT here!

I reviewed THE LEGEND OF THE HILLBILLY BUTCHER a while back and it’s available on DVD now ( Find out more about this film here!). But they just recut a new trailer with one of my quotes on it, so didn’t mind posting it here for all to see. This was a pretty bizarre ride and worth a look see.

A film I liked a whole helluvalot was NAILBITER (reviewed here), a slow burn monster flick that is full of surprises. Now it looks like NAILBITER is going to be released wide by Lionsgate. I wanted to congratulate director Patrick Rea (a consistent contributor of short films to this column) for the distribution deal. This means more people will be able to enjoy NAILBITER arriving on DVD, Digital Download and Video on Demand May 28 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Check out the new cover art for the film!

The writer/director of MADISON COUNTY (reviewed here) and ROADSIDE (reviewed here) Eric England’s got some teaser images for his new film CONTRACTED. I love the ominous tagline and it looks to be pretty cool given what I know about his previous two films. Look for more coverage on this as the release date gets closer.

Finally, I just found out the a sequel to IF A TREE FALLS (reviewed here) is on it’s way. Entitled IF A TREE FALLS 2: EXIST TO NOWHERE, the film continues the 70’s schlock fronted by the same team producing team, Ryan Barrett and Gabriel Carrer and once again starring Breanne Boekhorst as the leading axe wielding Vanessa. I thought the first film was a grindhousey version of THE STRANGERS and look forward to passing on more info on the sequel as the film comes closer to release. Find out more about IF A TREE FALLS 2 on it’s website here!

Now on with the reviews!

Today on AICN HORROR
(Click title to go directly to the feature)
HELL COMES TO HOLLYWOOD Novel Review
THE TAINT (2010)
DEATH PENALTY.COM (2011)/DEATH PENALTY.COM 2: A NEW BEGINNING (2011)
IRON DOORS (2011)
THE MOORING (2012)
STORAGE 24 (2012)
THE LAST EXORCISM PART II (2013)
Advance Review: K-11 (2012)
Advance Review: THE JEFFREY DAHMER FILES (2012)
And finally…Rajneel Singh’s BIG BAD WOLVES!

HELL COMES TO HOLLYWOOD Novel

Edited by Eric Miller
Published by Big Time Books
Reviewed by Dr. Loomis

Reading HELL COMES TO HOLLYWOOD is like sitting in on a group therapy session organized by editor Eric Miller, who has invited all of his industry buddies to come over and vent about the town and the business that inspires them even as it drives them absolutely insane. While many of the stories here are straight-up B-movie fun, there is also an underlying sense of cynicism and frustration that industry outsiders like myself often hear about but never really experience firsthand. It seems that many of these writers, all filmmaking professionals with varying degrees of success in the business, took their stories as an opportunity to exact a little fantasy revenge on the studio executives, agents, peers and even fans who've been bumps in the road on their otherwise rewarding Tinseltown adventures.
<br< A clear example of this is "The Cutting Room," by Jeff Seeman, which sees a screenwriter bludgeon a producer to death after the producer describes his intent to resurrect the Orson Welles character from Citizen Kane as a zombie. Seems to me like the guy got what he deserved.

In "Cattle Call," Elizabeth J. Musgrave invokes the bitter resentment that many have towards their more successful peers (and not just in Hollywood, mind you) by creating a professional who kickstarts his career by literally making a deal with the Devil. Of course, he's got to find a virgin to sacrifice, and he finds one straight out of central casting. Daisy is her name, and she's fresh off the bus from Nebraska, where she's just dumped her high school sweetheart (he was after the "S-E-X" as she puts it) and wants to be an actress. She's in luck, because Max, the newly-minted Satanist, has just the role for her.

William Paquet, a sculptor, checks in with one of the anthology's longest and best stories, "Trash Day." He writes about a screenwriter named Kirk who is living in an old hotel that's a shadow of its former glory. Kirk is hard at work on the script that could be his big breakthrough, but he keeps getting distracted by mysterious activity in the alley below. When Kirk first moved to Hollywood he was taught a valuable lesson: "Mind your own business." It's a lesson he ignores here at his own peril. It's a fun premise, written in a breezy, immensely readable style, and even though it devolves into a typical horror movie payoff at the end, it's a solid read.

My personal favorite piece here is "Muse" by Andrew Helm, about a writer (writers are a favorite subject here, in case you hadn't noticed) who picks up a drop-dead gorgeous girl named Callie. Their time together (made up of intense marathon sessions of writing and sex) results in plenty of scratches, bruises and screenplays. Most writers will tell you that their own Muse is a fickle and savage creature, one that takes everything out of you even as it gives you what you ask for. In this case, that description is quite literal.

HELL COMES TO HOLLYWOOD is a bit on the uneven side, but tilts largely toward the successful end of the spectrum. It's just been nominated by the Horror Writers Association for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Anthology (winners will be announced at the World Horror Convention in June), so Miller has clearly done something right. Whether you are a Hollywood pro or just someone who reads about the business at places like Ain't It Cool News, you're bound to have fun with this one. Gorier than any PG-13 horror flick you'll see, and written better (by a mile) than any SyFy schlockfest, HELL COMES TO HOLLYWOOD is worth a look.

Learn more about HELL COMES TO HOLLYWOOD at Big Time Books .

“Dr. Loomis” is Blu Gilliand, a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the fright-filled pages of DARK SCRIBE, DARK DISCOVERIES, SHROUD MAGAZINE and Horror World, among others. He also runs his own blog, October Country, devoted to horror and crime fiction. Feel free to stalk him on Twitter (@BluGilliand) at your own risk.

Out this week on DVD/BluRay from Troma!

THE TAINT (2010)

Directed by Drew Bolduc & Dan Nelson
Written by Drew Bolduc
Starring Drew Bolduc, Colleen Walsh, Cody Crenshaw, & Kenneth Hall
Find out more info on this film here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

I can honestly say that I’ve never seen anything like THE TAINT. The taint referred to in the title is not that unmentionable area between this and that down below. It refers to a chemical that was released into the water supply and now, at a growing rate, all of the water is tainted. The effects of the taint cause men to have raging erections and become mindless zombie-like creatures that like to chase women and bash their heads in with rocks.

Misogynistic? Of course.

Tasteless? Totally.

But despite all of that, THE TAINT is most likely a film experience I will never forget. It throws any sense of decency and taste out the window. No fluid is unspewed, unsplattered or unrecognized. Effects are so over the top, they’re orbital. And the acting is so purposely bad, it’s gut-busting.

Drew Bolduc writes, directs, and stars as Phil O’Ginny a mulletted douchebag who changes sunglasses according to the manner of action he is doing and attempts to make his way through this mad tainted world. He meets Misandra, a young survivor with a shotgun (Colleen Walsh), who has her own insane story of how she stayed alive through the madness that is equal parts insanely funny and gross. Soon, with society going down the tubes, they run across O’Ginny’s high school gym teacher who leads a gang of rapists with ridiculous names like Alligator Fuckhouse and equally ridiculous costumes. As Phil and Misandra make their way through a gauntlet of human rapists and tainted monsters, they find the man behind the madness, the masked screaming man, Ludas, who has his own tale of depravity. It all culminates with Phil draping the American flag over his shoulder and going on a spree shooting the tainted’s penises off with uncanny accuracy to the tune of some epic rockin’ music.

Not a beat of this film is played seriously. It’s crude and disgusting from scene one to end. But it’s also probably one of the most inanely funny films I’ve seen this year. THE TAINT also sports some impressive special effects as heads are sliced, crushed, minced, beaten, and blown apart in various ways. On top of all of that, this film sets the bar high for most penises blown off by a handgun ever on celluloid. So there’s that.

Utterly crude and rude, if you’re looking for an unapologetic gross out film, you need to look no further than THE TAINT. The level of disgust this film achieves is truly epic. You’ve got to have a pretty iron constitution to stomach a lot of the stuff that goes on in THE TAINT, but I guarantee if you like gore, you’ll laugh so hard you’ll piss and shit yourself at the gross-out glory of THE TAINT.

Beware this trailer has boobies!

New on DVD/Video on Demand this week from Danger After Dark!

DEATH PENALTY.COM (2011)/DEATH PENALTY.COM 2: A NEW BEGINNING (2011)

Directed by Ryota Sakamaki
Written by Ryota Sakamaki
Find out more about this film on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

I can’t go so far as to say this is a good pair of movies, but this online version of SAW has it’s moments. The premise is pretty simple; folks meet online in a chat room where they anonymously have other people kill someone they want dead. Each chat room member is assigned a job; that of destroyer of evidence, disposer of the body, killer, and so on. As long as everyone does their thing, the perfect crime is committed.

The premise in part one of this two disk set basically maps out the rules of the game and casts a seedy pimp as the newest of the participants. He kind of goes along for the ride until he finds himself in too deep and unable to get out of participating. Soon, he becomes the subject of the game.

Because the main character in part 1 is so unlikable, it’s hard to really get invested in the story, which is the main problem with the first film. Scuttling to the second film and that problem is taken care of as the participants are a bunch of online computer geeks who are paid to debug websites. Unbeknownst to them, the site they are to debug is Death Penalty.com.

I think this is one of the few film series that actually gets better with the sequel as director Ryota Sakamaki seems to have much more fun with part 2. Though he made the original as well, Part 2 seems to handle the material with a little more creativity and with much more identifiable characters. The kills in both films are pretty uninspired, but I feel they are going for more of a thriller vibe here than something filled with gore.

I don’t know if I can recommend DEATH PENALTY.COM and its sequel, subtitled A NEW BEGINNING, but part 2 has its moments with the likable cast who are put into danger. This two pack of dot.com horror are low fi scares and thrills at best.

New this week on DVD!

IRON DOORS(2010)

Directed by Stephen Manuel
Written by Peter Arneson
Starring Axel Wedekind & Rungano Nyoni
Find out more about this film here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

This little film surprised me. Though the “in 3D” thing kind of threw me since there’s not a lot of this film that screams three dimensions save for the final scene, but that’s besides the point. Part CUBE, part SAW, IRON DOORS follows a man who wakes up sealed in a square room with a cabinet, a blowtorch, a dead rat, and a closed vault door. Confused and thirsty, the man tries to figure out why he’s there and who’s doing this to him.

The fun in this film lies in the mystery, which isn’t really revealed until the last few seconds of the film. Not knowing what type of film this was definitely amped my interest as to what lay behind the vault doors, but actor Axel Wedekind does a good job sustaining interest throughout the entire film. At times, he isn’t able to act to the level the story demands, but for the most part, he gives a believable everyman performance.

There’s an awful lot dedicated in this film to urination and imbibing in disgusting things. Some of it plays out like an episode of FEAR FACTOR as our hero must chomp on maggots and drink urine in order to survive the ordeal. The attention given to these acts of intake is definitely gratuitous, and though it does play as effective the first time, it becomes somewhat tedious after multiple observings.

But I have to give credit to writer Peter Arneson, who fills the story with pretty believable dialog, and director Stephen Manuel who keeps things moving despite the fact that the entire film basically takes place in one square room. The revelation in the end was pretty satisfying (though I won’t reveal it here), and though some might be able to predict it, it still leaves an impact. With a stronger lead, I think this could have been a stellar film. Though the film does suffer from lack of things to do by the third act and the acting is not top notch, IRON DOORS in 3D entertained.

Iron Doors 3D - Offizieller Deutscher Trailer HD from Fullfeedback Productions on Vimeo.

New on DVD (find it on Netflix here)!

THE MOORING (2012)

Directed by Glenn Withrow
Written by Ivy Withrow, Hallie Todd, Glenn Withrow
Starring Hallie Todd, Thomas Wilson Brown, Karli Blalock, Anna Goodwin, Larissa Hayden, Lilli Hendrickson, Erin McIntosh, Olivia Meyer, Hailee Naccarato, Jessica Pepeli, Katie Simpson, Brooklyn Tate,
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

The message around THE MOORING, brought home in the beginning moments, is that today’s youth are becoming more and more disconnected with reality. Cell phones and computers make it so people don’t have to interact with anyone else and it seems, by an increasing number, people are preferring to have face to screen conversations rather than face to face. This is the point THE MOORING tries to drive home.

As a group of girls who have been guilty of one techno-offence or another, be it grossly expensive text message bills, online bullying, or texting while driving causing a 6 car pileup, are gathered to go on an outdoors boating trip with a counselor. As a means to cut them off from the cyber world and force reality in their faces, their phones are taken from them in the opening moments, leaving this group of girls and one adult counselor alone in the forest with no means of calling for help. Turns out, the reality they find in the woods is pretty horrible as a couple of river folk stalk and kill the girls one by one.

There are a few things I really liked about this film. First, I liked the young cast, all of them seem talented and did a good job with the rugged and dire situations they face. I also liked the gorgeous manner with which director Glenn Withrow absorbed the beauty of the woods and waters which contrasts greatly with the violence happening within them. It reminded me of one of those old school 70’s wilderness adventure films like DEATH HUNT, which really appreciate the terrain the action is occurring on.

That said, the biggest problem with this film is the random nature of the violence. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the hunting couple to be stalking these girls other than just boredom and assholishness. Yes, the randomness of the crime makes it more real, but in terms of story, it just felt like there should have been more meaning behind it all. Also, because of the expansive cast of girls (I think there are like 12 of them), you really don’t get to know all of them too well and therefore don’t feel the impact of the dire situations as hard as one might have if the cast were smaller.

Those problems aside, THE MOORING is a well filmed and acted movie. The gore is not excessive and though the posters and imagery might suggest that this might be one of those I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE rapesploitation films, this is much more of a film about a madman and his woman hunting down a group of teenage girls in the woods. Breaking it down to those words doesn’t really do justice to the quality of the filmmaking going on in THE MOORING though.

New this week on DVD/BluRay from Magnet Releasing (find it on Netflix here)!

STORAGE 24 (2012)

Directed by Johannes Roberts
Written by Noel Clarke, Davie Fairbanks, Johannes Roberts
Starring Noel Clarke, Colin O'Donoghue, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Laura Haddock, Jamie Thomas King, Alex Price, Ned Dennehy, Geoff Bell
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

There have been a lot of monster run amok films made through the years. By now, there seems to be a formula for this type of film. Maybe it was set with ALIEN. Maybe it was established long before it. No matter where it began, all we need to know here is STORAGE 24 is another alien creature on the loose in a creepy place film.

The thing is, STORAGE 24 is also a well made alien on the loose in a creepy place film. The story starts out with a bang as an aircraft engine and parts of some kind of top secret government air transport crashes in the middle of London. At the same time, recently dumped Charlie (Noel Clarke) and his buddy Mark (Colin O’Donoghue) are heading to a storage facility where he is retrieving some of his stuff from his girlfriend’s storage locker. Of course, through happenstance, girlfriend Shelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) is sorting through things at the same facility. And wouldn’t you know it? The wreckage crashes in the middle of the same storage unit too, trapping them all inside with a creepy alien that looks a lot like the final metamorphosis of Jeff Golblum’s fly make-up from the Cronenberg classic.

One of the strongest things STORAGE 24 has going for it is that it has great creature effects. There’s a scene where the monster slides a finger through a tiny hole in a metal wall. The camera is so close, you can see the skin sliding and moving through the holes. There’s been a lot of attention paid to making this monster made of practical effects look and move realistically. From it’s articulated mandibles to the crooked back legs, this monster looks like it may actually exist in some galaxy far, far away.

There’s also some nice conflict between the characters running around the storage units as Charlie must deal with seeing his ex and conflicted emotions about how to act when all of them are in peril. Does he save the girl who just broke his heart or let her line the lower intestine of the alien critter? Director Johannes Roberts does a good job of taking advantage of the ventilation ducts and all of the creepy hallways and passageways one might expect to find in a storage facility without making it all too much like ALIEN.

Then again, this is a lot like ALIEN. But if you have to ape a monster in the house film, ALIEN’s the one to do it and STORAGE 24 does so with some great effects, decent acting, nice conflict, and it’s worth mentioning that the musical score does a good job of amping up the tension in all the right moments. This monster on the loose flick doesn’t explore new galaxies, but it does follow paths that have been made before in a capable and entertaining manner.

Well…it might still be in theaters this week…

THE LAST EXORCISM PART II (2013)

Directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly
Written by Ed Gass-Donnelly, Damien Chazelle,
Starring Ashley Bell, Julia Garner, Spencer Treat Clark, David Jensen, Tarra Riggs, Louis Herthum, Muse Watson, Erica Michelle
Find out more about this film on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

I really dug the original LAST EXORCISM and bought into the entire found footage vibe of the first film. I found the lead actor Patrick Fabian’s performance as Cotton Marcus, a charlatan exorcist who has set out to do one last exorcism before retiring, to be a really interesting protagonist to follow. I also found lead actress Ashley Bell’s Nell, the backwoods girl who may be possessed by a demon, to be a true find and still think that the actress will move on to much bigger and better things. When I saw THE LAST EXORCISM at an advance screening, with director Daniel Stamm present, one audience member asked the question which attempted to be deep, “Is this…THE LAST EXORCISM?” To which, Stamm answered, “…no.”

After seeing THE LAST EXORSICM PART II, lord, how I wish Stamm would have just said yes and been done with it.

It’s not Stamm’s fault though. He had nothing to do with this sequel. Aside from Ashley Bell returning as the super bendy possessed girl and some brief cameos by her father (the equal parts stoic and fearsome Louis Herthum), no one else returned to THE LAST EXORCISM PART II, and they were smart to do so.

In every sense of the word, this is the epitome of the unnecessary sequel. Nothing more is learned about the demon Abalam. No truths are uncovered. No development is worth or need happens to Nell. She merely re-experiences the stuff that happened to her in the first film.

I had my hopes up. The poster for the film was pretty inspired twisting Nell into the number 2 lie it did, but aside from a pretty boring levitation scene where Bell proves once again to be ultra-flexible, there is very little in terms of frights or scares at play here. I will give it to the filmmakers that they did put together a couple of decent scenes in the beginning; one being the opening sequence when we first see Nell again and the other being Nell’s seduction in a hotel room as she hears two people next door having loud sex. Both of these scenes were decently played out, though altogether predictable.

So what went wrong? Well, losing the found footage angle really did hurt the film. BLAIR WITCH tried it with its sequel and look at the disaster BOOK OF SHADOWS turned out to be. With the found footage being such a major reason why the original was so effective, it surprises me that they couldn’t have come up with some reason to keep the camera rolling.

Secondly, as I said before, there was absolutely nothing new to offer in this film that we haven’t seen in a million possession movies. We know Nell is going to be possessed, the cat was literally out of the bag and stomped on in the first film on that one. Even the climax was completely uninspired as a group of mystics show up out of the blue to save Nell in a futile attempt to eradicate the demon through an amalgamation of voodoo and medicine means.

How would I have fixed this film? Glad you asked.

I would have kept the found footage motif and given the camera to the voodoo medicine men that seemed to have no problem combining modern technology and medicine with old school witchery. Have them stalk Nell, seemingly want to help her, and then have the big switcheroo ending. At least then, we could have had maybe a few shocks and scares with some first person POV and possibly recaptured some of that magic of the first film while making it different enough to make it not seem like a retread.

But hell, what do I know? I’m the idiot who went to see this movie a week after release, knowing that I heard nothing about it, which usually means it was pretty awful.

Credit where it is due, Ashley Bell is waaaay too good for this film. She is talented and spastic and bendy and all kinds of good. She almost makes the whole darn thing watchable just seeing her struggle to keep it together despite a script that has really little for her to do but quiver, giggle, and writhe. I predict the next LAST EXORCISM joint to go straight to video sans Bell in the lead role. This unnecessary, EXORSICM OF EMILY ROSE wannabe sequel should have been exorcized in the planning stages.

Released in limited theaters this week!

K-11 (2012)

Directed by Jules Stewart
Written by Jared Kurt & Jules Stewart
Starring Goran Visnjic, Kate del Castillo, D.B. Sweeney, Portia Doubleday, Jason Mewes, Sonya Eddy, Luis Moncada, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Cameron Stewart, Tara Buck
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

Though I wouldn’t necessarily categorize this one as straight up horror, it does depict the life of prison pretty horrifically and is one weird little film to boot, so I feel comfortable tossing in K-11 in with the rest of the horror flicks in this week’s cue.

K-11 refers to the name of the cell block in a maximum security prison, this one populated mostly by transgendered, homosexual, and sex offender inmates. Now, tossing all of these types of people into the same small cell block is another argument all together, but having worked in lockdown facilities before myself, I know this type of thing is more common than one might expect. But whether it’s right or wrong to do so, the cast here are all in this cell block for extreme and heinous crimes. Some of them just happen to wear a lot of makeup, have breast implants, and wear high heels as well.

ER’s Goran Visnjic is a record executive who finds himself intoxicated and whacked out on drugs and fleeing from a murder scene. We don’t see any of that, though. We only see him being processed in the prison and then let loose in the confined madness that is K-11. Take every offbeat and weird character you might have seen in any prison movie and you’re going to see it in this film. There’s the abusive guard in love with one of the inmates. There’s the man-brute who likes to make small newbies his bitch. There’s the tough talking boss of the yard and his stoolies. And then there’s Visnjic’s character, who is smart enough to come out unscathed through use of caution, sense, and wit.

Director Jules Stewart (Kirsten Steart’s step-mom) heaps a lot of prison movie clichés into this film, but somehow makes them feel not so tired or worn out. This is mainly because of the talented cast she has assembled. A lot of them we’ve seen before. FIRE IN THE SKY’s D.B. Sweeney is great as a sleazy guard. Jason Mewes is surprisingly good as the top inmate’s conniving main bitch. And Tiny “Zeus” Lister is, as always, amazing in this role which is meatier than most of the ones he gets to play as a child molester with attachment issues, to put it mildly. I was also impressed by the ballsy performance by Kate del Castillo as a super tough transgendered cell block diva in charge of all of the inmates. Sonya Eddy as a non nonsense prison guard. And YOUTH IN REVOLT’s Portia Doubleday in a brave performance as an unstable he-she who is equal parts victim and predator.

I’ve seen reviews compare this film to a John Waters film which is really off its mark. The film actually has a pretty serious tone and aside from the cross dressing inmates who may have a similar look as Water’s staple actress Devine, the films couldn’t be more different. If anything this film is a nice ode to the seventies grindhouse prison pics with the prisoners rising up against being treated poorly by the establishment.

Yes the film is schlocky and intense in its subject matter, but what saves K-11 from fading into the crowd of prison flicks like it is the stellar cast, making it a curiously watchable film experience.

Advance Review: Touring Festivals, recently premiered at SXSW!

THE JEFFREY DAHMER FILES (2012)

aka JEFF
Directed by Chris James Thompson
Written by Chris James Thompson, Andrew Swant, Joe Riepenhoff
Starring Andrew Swant, Pamela Bass, Pat Kennedy, Jeffrey Jentzen
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug

I try to shy away from documentaries about real life serial killer and the biopics about them which seem to pop up consistently. Films on the Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy, and the Son of Sam, all feel more like celebrations of the violent acts rather than sympathetic portrayals of the victims or in depth dissections of the killer himself. I can watch fantasy characters killed by fantasy killers all day, but when it comes to reenactments and retellings of actual killings, those types of films never really sit right with me.

That is why I was so surprised at how engrossed I was with THE JEFFREY DAHMER FILES formerly known as JEFF THE MOVIE. Through interviews with the Milwaukee Medical Examiner Jeffrey Jentzen, the Police Detective who interviewed Dahmer the night he was arrested Pat Kennedy, and Dahmer’s next door neighbor Pamela Bass and snippets of day to day banal activities following actor Andrew Swant as Jeff, writer/director Chris James Thompson offers a unique perspective of the night Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested.

Though some might find it odd to follow Jeffrey Dahmer buying fish and other necessaries in a market, something about the laid back nature of these snippets into Dahmer’s life make all of these meaningless acts all the more insidious when interspersed in between interviews with those who knew the loner serial killer the best in his final days of freedom. Mixed in are also actual photos, crime scene documents, and footage taken the night of his arrest that are equally gripping given the stories that are being told.

Though I will admit that it is quite morbid to dissect the night of Dahmer’s apprehension in such detail, I couldn’t look away from this pseudo-documentary from start to finish. The vivid stories of the actual people felt honest, as if they weren’t performing for the camera for a quick buck, making the whole thing feel less like a MSNBC Special and more like an objective snapshot of a truly disturbed man from three vastly different perspectives.

THE JEFFREY DAHMER FILES premiered at SXSW and should be released by IFC soon. It’s definitely worth seeking out.

And finally…One part fairy tale and one part RESERVOIR DOGS, BIG BAD WOLVES is a hell of a fun riff on a classic fable by director Rajneel Singh. But beware, this short has a pair of pretty amazing red-riding boobs in it so it’s NSFW. Enjoy!

BIG BAD WOLVES from Rajneel Singh on Vimeo.

See ya next week, folks!

Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, original @$$Hole/wordslinger/writer of wrongs/reviewer/interviewer/editor of AICN COMICS for over eleven years & AICN HORROR for two. He has written comics such as VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS THE TINGLERS & WITCHFINDER GENERAL, THE DEATHSPORT GAMES, & NANNY & HANK (soon to be available on iTunes and soon to be made into a feature film from Uptown 6 Films). He has co-written FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND’s first ever comic book LUNA: ORDER OF THE WEREWOLF (to be released in 2013 as a 100-pg original graphic novel). Mark wrote the critically acclaimed GRIMM FAIRY TALES PRESENTS THE JUNGLE BOOK last year from Zenescope Entertainment & look for his exciting arc on GRIMM FAIRY TALES #76-81 released August-December 2012. Mark will be writing GRIMM FAIRY TALES PRESENTS THE JUNGLE BOOK: LAST OF THE SPECIES to be released in February-June 2013. Follow Ambush Bug on the Twitter @Mark_L_Miller.