DROPPING EVIL (2012)
Label: Wild Eye Releasing
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 82 mins
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Cast: Edwin Neal, Fred Williamson, Armin Shimerman, Tiffany Shepis
Director: Adam Protextor
Synopsis: After his group of friends slip him some LSD during a camping trip, the ultra-nerdy and God-loving Nancy begins to hunt them down one by one after the the drug reveals their "true" natures to him. But a mysterious corporation is very interested in this teenage
Now here's a film I about half liked when all is said and done. The initial story is that Mike and his girlfriend Sam are off to the countryside for a weekend of camping boozing and sex along with their friend Becky. They decide to set Becky up with their friend Nancy (a guy) who is a super-religious nut, a total Jesus-freak who looks down on Mike and Sam's pre-martial sexcapades - a self-righteous wet blanket on teen fun for sure, why they would hang out with this guy is confusing because they seem like a fun couple why hang out with this. We get a clip of Nancy being bullied in the gym locker room, it's a weird one too with the bully threatening to stick a paddle stick a pink pong paddle up his ass and making him eat a shit-covered paddle.
En route to the camp site Mike, Sam and Becky decide to loosen up the Jesus-fan number one by spiking his apple juice with an eighth of a tab of LSD which at first mellows him out quite nicely to their enjoyment but it's not long before he breaks from reality and has a full-on psychotic episode wherein he believes the trio of teens are in fact demons and sets out to slaughter them in the name of the Lord one by one.
Okay, this part of the movie while not very original was pretty cool in an old school slasher throwback sorta way. He attacks the car with a large branch from a tree which pierces the eye of one of the young women - right through the eye-socket. It's not Lucio Fulci gore-tastic with awesome effects but you get the idea. The other two flee the car and are perused though the forest by the acid-tripping nut. Not all the effects in this film are up to snuff but I give 'em points for ridiculousness at times, one kill features Nancy snagging someone through the cheek with a fishing rod and bait hook, reeling them in to their ultimate decapitated demise, another has the an epic indoor battle pitching two men in battle, one armed with an ax the other with a car door ending rather unexpectedly when a pistol emerges from one of the combatants in a scene that would feel quite at home in Cronenberg's VIDEODROME which was sorta awesome but just felt way out of place for this film and it continues on with a bit of conspiracy/secret agent weirdness that was far beyond the scope of the initial film and what the filmmakers could offer, in my opinion.
So, the film's second half really lost my interest and I feel it's gonna be a love it or hate it scenario for most viewers. I felt the story was convoluted, pretty clunky and hard to follow, while I say that the more traditional slasher elements of the first half of the film were typical fare I found the four actors more successful in their roles and there was a decline in performance for the second half.
Special Features:
- Director's commentary
- 2 Deleted Scenes (3:46)
- Indian Man Music Video (3:03)
- 5 Trailers (5:04)
- 3 Short Films (55:12)
- ValYou Corp Commercial (1:20)
Verdict: DROPPING EVIL is about a half a decent old school slasher with an LSD fueled religious nut chasing teens through the woods with an ax - which I enjoyed, it's not great, not original but definitely fun. The other half is a confusing conspiratorial mess with some Cronenberg elements which I just didn't care for. That said, worth a watch for the slasher nuts and bonus points for the fantastic DVD artwork - killer stuff. (2.5 Outta 5)
