Tuesday, November 1, 2011

DVD Review: BIO SLIME (2010)

 
BIO SLIME (2010)


Production Company: Forward Motion Entertainment
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 87 mins
Video: 16:9 Widescreen
Director: John Lechago
Cast: Victoria DeMare, Vincent Bilancio, Ronnie Lewis, Micl Bartluci, Gia Paloma, Magic J. Ellingson


BIO SLIME comes from the mind of KILLJOY 3 director John Lechago who also directed BLOOD GNOME and MAGUS. His latest entry is a sci-fi horror b-movie that begins with a drug deal gone bad on the seedy streets of LA when a double-crossing drug dealer ends up a stiff and his girlfriend Donna flees the scene with a mysterious briefcase. Running scared she ends up at her friend Jack's (Magic J. Ellinson, RED SANDS) meth-lab located in a converted apartment building that now houses a low-rent porn operation as well as the paint studio of Troy (Vincent Bilancio, RAT SCRATCH FEVER), a once rising star in the LA art scene who's now just a sad drunk with waning options. Also in the building are porn director Chuck, porn actresses Mary (Victoria DeMare, KILLJOY 3), Annie, Troy's abused niece Shannon, art dealer Hal, the landlord Jimmy (Al Burke, KILLJOY 3) and his young mail-order bride Costanza.

While certain drama's unfold within the building, including Jimmy evicting Troy, Donna's curiosity about the contents of the briefcase results in her accidentally releasing what's inside and what's inside is a slimy, flesh-eating blob which make her it's first victim. The creature takes up residence in the building's plumbing and crawlspaces and the next to fall prey to the blob is a porn actress showering away the day's slimy activities. At first it's victims disappear unnoticed but when Shannon's abusive boyfriend Brandon (Mark Stefanovski) is driven outta the complex by force he returns with vengeance on his mind trapping everyone inside with not just him but the tentacled alien blob as well. With no way out and no cellphone reception (of course) it's an all out siege as they try to avoid being absorbed in the alien slime.

The acting pretty typical of a low-budget b-movie, there's some decent performers and some not so decent and in the former category we get a strong performance from Vincent Bilancio as the likable alcoholic painter Troy who just so happens to go cold turkey this particular day, as you can imagine it's difficult to fight of an alien infestation with the DT's which leads to some desperate measures on his part. Also turning in a solid performance is Victoria DeMare as porn-actress Maria whom Troy totally has the hots for. You may recall DeMare from her memorable performance as Batty Boop in Lechago's KILLJOY 3 and this is a fun part, particularly after she is absorbed into the creature and interacts with Troy playing on his desires for her. There's a fun group dynamic throughout the film, and while at times there are perhaps too many characters onscreen for my tastes Lechago does his best to make it work despite some awkward dialogue and stilted acting.

Tom Devlin's (SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR) special effects make-up on the film are of the 80's old school horror variety with some cheap CGI thrown in which tends not to be the greatest but overall the practical effects are top-notch for what surely must have been a limited budget. The creature effects are slimy, gloopy and really call back to Chuck Russells's THE BLOB and with a bit of SPIDER-MAN 3's Venom thrown in. The way that it absorbs it's prey and incorporates them into  itself is pretty creepy stuff.

A few of the action set pieces felt a bit awkwardly staged but Lechago makes up for it with some very effective creature effects and some sleazy nudity courtesy of the porn operation. BIO SLIME is a flesh-eating blob flick that's not too original and not nearly a stunner but its definitely a fun b-movie with some elements of THE BLOB, THE THING, SPECIES and SPLINTER. The film as of yet has no distribution but hopefully will see a DVD release sometime in the near future, this would be a great rental. 3/5