BOSS NIGGER (1975) (The Sprocket Vault Blu-ray Review)

BOSS NIGGER  (1975) 

Label: The Sprocket Vault
Region Code: A
Rating: PG
Duration: 93 Minutes
Audio: English 2.0 PCM Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Jack Arnold
Cast: Fred Williamson, D’Urville Martin, William Smith, R. G. Armstrong, Don “Red” Barry

Blaxploitation western Boss Nigger (1975) stars former pro-footballer turned bad-ass black cinema hero Fred Williamson (1990: The Bronx Warriors) as "Boss" and comic sidekick Amos (D'Urville Martin, Sheba Baby), a pair of black-skinned bounty hunters in the Old West. After years of being enslaved by whitey they've turned the tables and have begun hunting down bad white men for a change! At the top of the film the pair gun down a group of bank robbers and find a note from the Mayor of a nearby town offering one of the crooks a position as the town's sheriff, which seems odd but it turns out the Mayor, played by R.G. Armstrong (The Car), is in the back pocket of notorious outlaw Jed Clayton (William Smith, Invasion of the Bee Girls). Boss uses this bit of information to blackmail the mayor into giving him the vacant Sheriff position, making his sidekick Amos deputy, much to the dismay of the local white-folks who don't take kindly to a black sheriff in a white town! 

Amos begins posting notices around town laying down the new law, fining the not-so-good folk for racial slurs and general impoliteness, humorously jailing the bank president for using the n-word to the consternation of the befuddled Mayor. The film is a ragged bit of cinema that's poorly shot and edited but it has some charms, namely the presence of Fred "The Hammer" Williamson and D'Urville Martin as the gun-slinging bounty hunters turned local lawmen, plus a cast of fun side characters like Armstrong, and Carmen Hayward (Father of the Bride) as an ebony love-interest for Boss, and white-lady Barbara Leigh (Terminal Island) as a real-thirsty for lovin' schoolteacher! 

The film is filled with a typical western tropes with a blaxploitation slant, scripted by Williamson the film is loaded with bad dialogue, but some of it as uttered by Williamson is pretty cool, the guy is just bad-ass clad in all black leather from head to toe, plus Martin offers up loads of laughs as the sidekick. The film struggles a bit to find and maintain a tone though, at first it delivers the humor in force but then goes for some pervy leering and rape (via Armstrong's Mayor character) and then we have the death of a small Mexican child who is trampled by a baddie on a galloping horse, coming to a close with the torture of out hero and some grim revenge. That said, all the key players are a blast to watch and I found the technical shortcomings of the film forgivable. Director Jack Arnold made some iconic sci-fi and horror films in the fifties with Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Tarantula, (1955) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) before moving onto Westerns and TV fare in the sixties, this is not his best film by any means but it is entertaining slice of blaxploitation featuring Fred Williamson kicking ass and taking names in the old west, it's schlocky but fun.

Audio/Video: Boss Nigger (1975) arrives on Blu-ray from MVD Visual and The Sprocket Vault in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The flat murky image leaves a lot to be desired in regard to contemporary HD viewing with lots of softness, anemic blacks than leans towards dark green, and the color temps are all over the place. There's some print damage evident throughout but it's mostly minor white speckling, but it does look like it's been put through the proverbial DNR-wringer, it's just a shame this didn't get more love for it's Blu-ray debut. The mono PCM audio sounds okay, it's flat with some crackling and hiss in places but it does the job, the main theme song sounds good, optional English subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extras we get carry-overs from the previous DVD by way of an 8-min interview with Associate Producer Myrl Schrelbman who discusses his mentor and friend Jack Arnold, he speaks about how Arnold struggled to film the death of the little boy by horse trampling, and the difficulty casting an appropriate villain to go up against the imposing Fred Williamson. He also gives a brief tribute to the director , recalling Arnold's entry in the military where he made documentaries before going on to make horror, sci-fi and western films.

We also get a 27-min interview with star Fred Williams who discusses his career as a footballer before turning to TV and film, and how he earned "The Hammer" nickname, the disc is buttoned-up with a trailer for the film. The 2-disc DVD/Blu-ray release comes housed in a stylish clear Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, the a-side is a sanitized "Boss"-titled variant, the b-side featuring the original illustrated one-sheet baring the Boss Nigger title. The Blu-ray disc features the Boss artwork, while the DVD disc, which features the same film and extras, has a sepia tone image of Williamson on a white background. 

Special Features: 
- “A Conversation with Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson” with Joel Blumberg (27 min) 
- “A Boss Memory” with Producer Myrl Schrelbman (8 min) 
Jack Arnold Tribute by producer Myrl Schrelbman (4 min) 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 min) 

Boss Nigger (1975) is a bit on the shabby side of Western film making but it entertaining and fun, I love seeing Fred Williamson do his thing in an Old West setting, and D'Urville Martin threatens throughout to run away with the show, still managing to be decked out in velvety pimping threads as the wisecracking deputy.

LEWIS BLACK: BLACK TO THE FUTURE (DVD Review)

LEWIS BLACK - BLACK TO THE FUTURE (2017) 

Label: MVD Visual 

Region Code: 1 NTSC 

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 50 Minutes 

Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 with Optional English  Subtitles 

Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)

I've always loved Lewis Black and his curmudgeonly, acerbic views on the world, the rant-riddled comic came into my life with a fun tirade about NyQuil and has stayed with me ever since. This time out the comedian offers up his pre-election views of the presidential candidates of Hillary Clinton, Cruz and Donald Trump, and we all know how that ended - apparently no one listened to his argument against the Doritos-colored douche. He also pokes at the dim witted weirdness of lizard-eyed Ben Carson, gun control and mental illness as prescribed by the NRA and exemplified by the members Congress. Black is aging, he's in his 60's, and has plenty of that irritable grandfather charm I seem to enjoy so much, his stand-up is laced with profanity but he's always driving home the point, ranting about Christian's clinging on to the Old Testament, which he again affirms is not their book, and is irritated by people who buy their pets Valentine's gifts, while extolling the virtues of mouth-watering, glistening titties is advertising and the pro gun-control benefits of lactating robbers.

Black has arguably lost some of his comedic edge over the years but none of his patented angry-man rage and kinetic/frenetic delivery, not all the jokes/tirades land 100% but the ones that do still kill, so there's just more padding than usual around the edges of the comedy deathblows but there's still plenty to love about the ranty grandpa of comedy and his "jewy-jewness".  

Aside from the main stand-up routine there's also a bonus feature, a 50-minute Q/A titled "The Rant Is Due: Live From Napa" that was streamed to members of Black's fan club at some point, moderated by fellow comedian Kathleen Madigan, with Black answering questions from the crowd with his usual irritable charm. 

Audio/Video: Black to the Future(2017) arrives on single-disc DVD from MVD Visual framed in anamorphic widescreen, the image is solid and the English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 audio is crisp and clean, optional English subtitles are provided for both programs. It comes housed in digibook cardboard case with a clear plastic tray.  

Black to the Future Tracklist: 

1. What's My Job'

2. Ben Carson

3. The Media

4. Gun Control

5. Mental Illness

6. Pet Lovers (Bark Mitzvah)

7. Old Testament

8. Copenhagen

9. Lactating German Woman

10. Election

11. Ted Cruz

12. Donald Trump

13. Hillary Clinton

14. Optimism

Special Features: 
- "The Rant Is Due: Live From Napa" (50 min) 

The Rant is Due Tracklist: 
1. This Could All Go Horribly wrong
2. Moms
3. Knowing Your Audience 
4. Social Media
5. Great Gay Man
6. Public School Teachers
7. Gluten-Free
8. Public Office 
9. Best And worst Countries
10. Your Plays
11. Childhood
12. Funnier As A Woman
13. Golf Score
14 Favorite Republicans 15. Legalize It
16. Meeting Kathleen  

If you love Lewis Black's ranting fervor and passionate profanity you will no doubt have a fun time with Black to the Future, the release is available on a variety of formats, aside from the DVD there's a 2-disc CD and 2xLP, both of which feature the bonus program "This Should Have Been A Special", a 65-minute set from 2016, but do not include "The Rant Is Due" extra which is on the DVD. 

CHILD EATER (2016) (DVD Review)

CHILD EATER (2016) 

Label: MVD Visual
Rating: Unrated Region Code: 1
Duration: 82 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Surround 5.1, Stereo 2.0 
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Erlingur Thoroddsen
Cast: Cait Bliss, Brandon Smalls, Dave Klasko, James Wilcox, Melinda Chilton, Jason Martin, Colin Critchley

Indie horror Child Eater (2016) opens with a creepy prologue of a young girl wandering through the forest near a stream, making her way to the road where a woman in a passing car stops to offer assistance, only to find the girl is a victim, her face is bloodied, she's missing an eye, which she holds in her hand. 

Flash forward 25 years in the same town and we have the daughter of the local sheriff Helen (Cait Bliss) discovering she's pregnant, and not too happy about it, the father Tom (Dave Klasko) doesn't seem to be the most stand-up guy. She's also been tasked with babysitting a pre-teen kid named Lucas (Colin Critchley), who has just arrived in town with his father Matthew Parker (Weston Wilson). Turns out the old house that the Parker's bought belonged to a murderer and local legend, a man by the name of Robert Bowery (Jason Martin, You Can't Kill Stephen King), who twenty-five years earlier murdered a bunch of local children, plucking out their eyes and eating them in a demented attempt to thwart his own degenerative eyesight. Bowery seemingly was killed years ago, but the legend of the area persists, and when young Lucas hears of the legend he begins to believe he is being watched, that old man Bowery has returned, and he wants his eyes. While Helen is watching the boy he disappears from his bedroom, wandering out into the dark forest with his flashlight in search of answers, brave kid, but also maybe a bit foolish, damn kid.

Director Erlingur Thoroddsen has crafted a good micro-budget film with some charm and a decent amount of atmosphere, it sort of brought to mind the movie Lady In White (1998) with a young boy protagonist facing off against a small town evil, the kid also has the wide-eyed naivety I liked about Lukas Haas in Lady In white. Bowery, a gruesome ghoul, also brought to mind certain elements from Jeepers Creepers (2002), what with the organ eating.  The eye-eating boogie-man is gaunt, rail thin, has icky long fingernails, wears dark glasses and has a Kane (Poltergeist) type wicked grin plastered across his grey skinned face, they did some cool make-up work on this baddie, he never failed to make my skin crawl. 
  
Originality is not the movie strong suit, but it does have some creepy out-in-the-woods atmosphere, a semi-strong mythology that is cool, but also needed a bit more fleshing out in my opinion. The indie flick also has some nice lensing, while it's low-budget and it shows in various places, the movie is well-shot. On the negative side, the movie is a bit heavy with unnecessary filler, there's some melodrama sprinkled about that need nought be there, there are a few too many moments where you feel the fact that the movie began life as an effective short film, and had to be padded to bring it to feature length. Also, I think lead actress Cait Bliss is a bit bland, she's not bad,she plays the girl next door well, but her performance is too flat in some scenes. 

Child Eater is a solid watch, Bowery makes for an appropriately wicked villain, though I do wish he had more screen time, and that some of the scenes weren't so awkwardly edited. Director Erlingur Thoroddsen has made a decent fright flick, worth a watch, but I'm more looking forward to what he does next then re watching Child Eater. 

Child Eater arrives on DVD from  Child Eater Productions LLC and MVD Entertainment Group on March 28th. The movie is presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital stereo and surround audio, plus an audio commentary and 16-minutes of deleted scenes. 2.5/5

FLESH FOR THE INFERNO (2015) (DVD Review)

FLESH FOR THE INFERNO (2015) 

Label:Scoprio Film Releasing 
Release Date: March 8th 2016 
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Duration: 78 Minutes
Rating: Unrated 
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Richard Griffin
Cast:  Anna Rizzo, Jamie Dufault, Michael Thurber, Sarah Nicklin, Monica Saviolakis, Sean Leser, Kevin Michael Strauss, Samantha Acampora

Director Richard Griffin always brings a ton of fun to his low budget horror movies, blending wit and camp with gruesome and bloody frights. From sci-fi and Lovecraftian horror on through to a straight-up slashers the man has toured through many of the beloved sub genres of terror with aplomb, and few have failed to make me giddy with delight. His latest movie available on home video to the masses is the supernatural nunspoitation entry Flesh for the Inferno (2015).

The movie opens in 1999 when a group of nuns confront a naughty priest about his penchant for molesting the young boys at the Catholic school. In response to the accusations Father Renault (The Sins of Dracula) pulls out a gun and shoots one of the nuns in the head and forcing the remaining three into basement below, where he bricks them up inside a wall, adding a touch of Edgar Allen Poe's Black Cat, or maybe Luci Fulci's The Psychic (1977) to the movie. While bricking them up behind the wall the nuns renounce a God who would allow such awfulness, they make a pact with the Devil, swearing their souls to the dark Lord. 

Sixteen years later the Catholic school has been abandoned and a neighborhood youth group arrive on scene under the direction of Mr. Maupin (Michael Thurber, The Sins of Dracula). The group have volunteered to do some clean-up work at the school before re-construction begins on the dilapidated building. They are greeted by the "caretaker", a sloppy young man named Halsey (Sean Lesser, Future Justice), who warns them that they should leave. The group are a fun and dynamic bunch, an array of teen stereotypes ripe for the picking-off, we have the Churchy Meredith (Jamue Lyn Bagely, Frankenstein's Hungry Dead), the straight-A student Gwen (Laura Minadeo), the honry douche Chester (Andrew Morais), young couple Becka and Patton (Ryan Nunes), the guy who is not gay Ian (Kevin Michael Strauss), redhead Kat (Anna Rizzo, Future Justice)  and the new guy Noah (Jamie Dufault, Murder University), who is the visiting nephew of Mr. Maupin. 

The group arrives and begin cleaning-up around the old school with varying degrees of commitment, some are there to do good in the neighborhood while others are clearly there to get laid. Of course the goody-goody Meredith begins judging the other teens right from the start, but she doesn't have too much time for judgement, for when two horny teens accidentally unleash the trio demonic nuns they all find themselves on the run for their lives. 

From here on in the teens are picked off  one by one in a myriad of gruesome ways. The first victim is peeping through a hole in the basement wall when she has her eye plucked out from her skull, another has his tongue ripped out, and a third bashes her face into a bloody pulp. The nuns themselves are fun, they interact with the teens and play around with them a bit before they kill them, poor horny Chester is seduced by all three before he is forced to leap to his death. The gore is cheap, plentiful and fun, not all of it worked for me, but it was still plenty fun. The garish green, red and blue lighting of the film gives the movie the look of Lamberto Bava's Demons (1985), as does the way that the nuns stalk the kids throughout the sprawling school. 

Like most of Richard Griffin's best movies this one features some great teen characters who throw off witty and fun dialogue, both of the straight and campy variety, blended to perfection with just the right amount of wit and snappy line delivery. t makes me think that part of his process must be rehearsal time, honing each line to perfection before committing it to film. I love that the annoying Meredith is set-up as a character that is a bit too easy to hate, but she does not necessarily hold that distinction for the duration of the movie. Early on I was hoping she would die off quick and painfully, but Griffin gives her some heroic moments and a very slight character arc, which is played for laughs, of course. 

Other characters of note are a local hooker with a heart of gold named Claudette (Sarah Nicklin, Nun of That) and two donut loving local cops, played by Rich Tretheway and Andrew Andrade from Future Justice. I would be remiss not to mention Aaron Andrade (the upcoming Seven Dorms of Death) ion a scene stealing performance as the big cheese of evil, The Devil, played with a menacingly smooth charm that is truly befitting of the unholy one. 

Special Features: 
- Commentary Track with director, writer, producer and assistant director.
- Commentary Track with Cast .
- Trailer (1 Min) 

Flesh for the Inferno (2015) is a hugely entertaining horror movie that manages to be funny, eerie and gruesome in equal measure. Griffin always does a lot with a little, the production is helped by a good script from writer Michael Varrati (The Sins of Dracula) and strong performances from a cast Griffin has worked with for the past few years. If you love indie horror comedies and are not familiar with director Richard Griffin do yourself a favor and marathon a handful of his movies, this guy is a low budget wonder of fun horror movies, you won't regret it. 3/5

A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT (2013)

A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT (2013) 

Label: Wild Eye Releasing
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 80 Minutes 
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo 
Video: Anamorphc Widescreen 
Director: Benjamin Roberts
Cast: David Chandler, Max Moody, Eve Boehenke, Kaylee Bridge, George McDonald, Mandy Riley 

It is damn rare that I open up a bubble-wrap package and come face to face with  a zombie movie that I am honestly excited to tear into. I am not saying that they're all awful, just that the really good ones which do something different are few and far between. Wild Eye Releasing's release of A Plague So Pleasant sort of caught my attention on just the name alone, but even that stopped me from sitting on it for a week or so before I peeled off the shrink wrap and gave it a watch. With very low expectations I popped it into the player and was drawn in right from the start. It begins as a slightly art school black and white movie centered around a young man named Clay, his strangely persuasive roommate, and Clay's sister Mia. The roommate has a thing for Mia and somehow convinces Clay to put in a good word for him with her, but poor Mia is hung-up on her ex boyfriend... who just so happens to be a zombie. 

In this version of the world zombies are a certain reality, it s established that there was a short-lived zombie apocalypse which lasted all of twelve hours. In the aftermath zombies have become a protected species of sorts, allowed to roam free through the streets and cities or protected in large fenced-in reservations. It is now illegal to kill a zombie, they're more a nuisance than a threat to the living, causing traffic issues not unlike a herd of cows who have escaped the pasture and are blocking the road, only we have shambling Romero-styled zombies instead of heffers. 

We have some strange narration by way of Clay and his roommate, the movie has a sort of Richard Linklatter Slacker (1991) vibe about it at first, offbeat, lo-fi and spunky. Through some poor decision making the zombies are provoked and in an instant the black and white turns to vibrant color and the shambling zombies turn into the Dawn of the Dead remake styled runners out for blood and guts, and our protagonist Clay is the reason why. 

It might not be a classic in the making or even have any sort of cult-classic prospects but at least this slice of zombie cinema offers something a little different and marches to it's own drummer, which I sort of loved, even if I don't see myself re watching it anytime soon, I admired the originality and spunk of the filmmakers. 

A Plague So Pleasant (2013) might have some pacing issues, and some low-budget movie making constraints but it never did lose my attention from the beginning right up to the end, which for a contemporary zombie movie is actually pretty damn special. 2.5/5 

 

FUTURE JUSTICE (2014)

FUTURE JUSTICE (2014) 

Label: Scorpio Film Releasing Region Code: Region-FREE 

Duration: 83 Minutes
Rating: Unrated 

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 

Director: Richard Griffin
Cast: Nat Sylva, Steven O'Broin, Aaron Andrade, Anna Rizzo, Dan Mauro, Johnny Sederquist, Tiffany Lee Ferris

Richard Griffin must be one of the most prolific makers of low-budget b-movie genre pictures out there today, averaging about three finished feature and short films a year. His latest movie Future Justice (2014)  is a tasty no-budget riff on John Carpenter's Escape from New York, and stars Nat Sylva (Murder University) as the bad ass anti-hero Python Dallas, a dangerous insurrectionist who at the start of the film is imprisoned on Saturn's moon of Titan. He's in the process of being transported back to Earth to answer for his crimes, but what exactly those crimes are exactly is a bit of mystery throughout the movie, we have numerous references to an incident that happened in Baltimore that ended with a high body count, but it keeps a bit of mystery about it. 

En route to Earth Python is interrogated by Major Uxbridge (Aaron Andrade) who clearly has contempt for the war criminal, though the tougher he gets the more sarcastic Python becomes, which only further enrages the Major. Approaching Earth the crew are unable to establish radio contact with anyone back at the base command, it soon becomes apparent that the Earth has fallen victim to some apocalyptic nuclear event, the cities lay in ruin and the few survivors left alive scrap over food and scramble for shelter. 

Arriving on the Earth Python is coerced into joining the crew on the surface on a mission to search for survivors. Eventually they find a small group who scientist and various survivors who have banded together and are holed-up in the basement of a building. Opposition arrives in the form of a motley crew of post-nuke pirates headed by baddie Gazebo (Steven O’Broin), a sneering Southern-fried menace who leads a band of redneck outlaws armed with lasers and explosive-tipped crossbow darts. 

Adding to the menace is the threat of a tunnel dwelling mutant-human who oozes irradiated goo, the creature appears from time to time to claim a victim. 

Richard Griffin is channelling the 80s sci-fi action films of his and our youth and the result is a ton of cheap b-movie fun anchored by the fun performances of Nathaniel Sylva, obviously channeling his inner Snake Plisken, and baddie Steven O’Broin, both do a fantastic job in their roles, neither of which requires much depth but it makes for fun action-movie caricatures . 

The special effects of the movie by John C. Dusek are wonderfully cheesy and pretty dated - which is keeping within the Scorpio Film Releasing aesthetic we've come to know and love 'em for through the years. The opening title credit sequence is fantastic, the retro sci-fi font and the accompanying score does a bang-up job of channeling vintage 80s science fiction with plenty of Carpenter's Escape from New York with maybe a little Richard Band thrown into the mix, kudos to Daniel Hildreth for the awesome score, it adds a lot of texture to the movie. 

The opening scenes in outer space are early 90s computer graphics type stuff that might illicit a chuckle, and that's not unfair, its part of the charm of the production, and I think both a result of necessity and design - one of the opening scenes of Python encased in ice -- or crinkled plastic wrap more precisely, made me laugh, it might just be the worse effect of the film, but I still loved it. The command center of the ship is a tight and cramped space, which is straight out of John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon's seminal low-budget science fiction student film Dark Star (1974), a film which surely must have been an inspiration for Griffin.

Special Features:
- Commentary Track with Director, Producer, Cast and Crew
- Short Film 'Mutants of the Apocalypse' (7 Mins)
- Trailer ( 3 Mins) 

A post-apocalyptic science fiction movie is pretty damn difficult to do on what amounts to a shoe-string budget, and this is proof of how challenging it can be. Sure, it has a lot of warts on the surface but I loved the concept and the spirit of the execution, it's hard to convey a nuclear wasteland when your back lot is green with vegetation, but they make a real go for it anyway, and the end result is a shit ton of retro-80s sci-fi apocalypse fun. 2.5/5

THROWBACK (2013)

THROWBACK (2013) 

Label: Monster Pictures I MVD Visual
Region Code: 1 NTSC

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 93 Minutes

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo 

Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Travis Bain

Cast: Vernon Wells, Melanie Serafin, Anthony Ring, Shawn Brack

We begin with a funny scene of an Asian immigrant panning for gold in a stream sometime in the early 1800s, the lucky prospector finds a nice nugget of gold in his pan, but no sooner has he found it than a bushranger comes along and swipes it from him at gunpoint. A few moments later the thief has the pilfered nugget taken away from him in a nice Karmic moment by another bushranger, the dreaded ‘Thunderclap Newman’. Unfortunately for all three they are savaged and killed by a fearsome creature which turns out to be a Yowie, the Australian Aboriginal folklore version of Bigfoot , that's right, we have a bonafide Ozploitation version of a Bigfoot movie on our hands.

Moving forward to the modern age and we have a pair of would-be fortune hunters named Jack (Shawn Brack) and Kent (Anthony Ring) in search of the fabled treasure of the aforementioned bushranger, ‘Thunderclap Newman’, in the wilds of Queensland, Australia, which they actually do find. Things quickly turns for the worse when one of the treasure seekers tuns against the other in a moment of murderous greed, but they must also fight for their lives to survive the dreaded mythical Yowie who prowls the valley.

The movie is very low-budget and it shows through in nearly every scene, which is not to say that it is awful, but it's not short on very high-end digital video and if you aren't use to the lo-fi HD aesthetic it might be a bit of a hurdle to overcome. While this may be on the higher-end of dirt cheap it is what it is. It didn't ruin it for me though, thanks in no small part to strong cast of unknowns who deliver some pretty decent dialogue, there's something about the way that Australians deliver their dialogue I just love. Anthony Ring and Shawn Brack have a good rapport with each other and the exchanges ring true enough, though once the betrayal sets in I don't think either show enough malice towards each other considering the life and death nature of the adversaries.  

Along the way they encounter a forest ranger named Rhiannon (Melanie Serafin) and a detective investigating the disappearance of at least nine people in the area, Detective McNab is played by Ozploitation veteran Vernon Welles who you will definitely remember as "Wez" in The Road Warrior, a classic 80s villain. While his cameo is fun it doesn't exactly add a lot to the story. but if I ever make a low-budget movie and I was able to wrangle someone along the lines of Vernon Welles you know I would do it in a heartbeat. Serafin also doesn't add a lot to the story but is decent just the same, not given a lot to do but no harm. At ninety-three minutes this ends up being a bit long in the tooth and would have made a better film eighty-three minute film with better pacing a tighter editing. 

The creature design of the Yowie is honestly pretty rough, a more simian version of Bigfoot that is only glimpsed for the most part, usually obscured by trees and whatnot, and I think that was a wise move on the part of the director. I do love the idea of the Australian Aboriginal folklore version of Bigfoot but I do wish that Bain had had more funds to properly put it onscreen and maybe amp up the gore a bit, this one is very gore-poor and I think some blood and guts would have been welcome.

The  Queensland Tropical Rainforests of Australia look fantastic even with the lower-end digital cinematography, gorgeous green scenery that adds a lot of production value to the movie, the views are fantastic and are captured quite nicely with good framing and shot composition. It's too easy to kick back and knit pick the deficits of the movie, but keep in mind that Director Travis Bain was pretty much a one-man film crew during the production, who wrote, produced, directed, shot and edited the low-budget movie, which is quite an accomplishment. Surprisingly the one thing he did not do was compose the score, while I was watching the movie the score sounded so familiar to me, I kept thinking to myself that someone did a pretty good job of channeling Richard Band (Re-Animator), I was surprised when I peeked at the credits and saw that it was in fact Richard Band, along with Amotz Plessner, who scored the movie, which is very cool. The score combined with the gorgeous Queensland locations adds a lot of production value to this low-budget indie. 

The disc from Monster Pictures is loaded with a wealth of info about the making of the movie, There's over an hour of Behind the Scenes Production Diaries and Video Blogs, a brief deleted scene excised for pacing issues, trailers, a series of radio interviews with the main actors, plus an excerpt Henry Lawson's "The Hairy Man"  read by Vernon Welles. 

Also included are three early short films by Travis Bain which are amusing but not up to par with the main feature, which should not be a surprise. The short film 'Parrot Ice Tours' involves two kids trying to raise money to pay for a window repair, it's fun stuff and the best of the bunch. Considering the low budget nature of the movie you have to admire Monster Pictures for not only distributing it but for jam-packing it with cool bonus content 

Special Features: 

- Alternate Ending (14 Mins)
- Behind the Scenes Production Diaries (45 Mins) 

- Video Blogs (23 Mins)
- Three Short Films from Travis Bain:  Daniel's Jack (6 Minutes), Full Moon, Dirty Laundry (8 Mins), Parrot Ice Tours (5 Mins)
- Deleted Scenes (3 Mins) 

- Trailers (5 Mins)
- Radio Interviews with actors Shawn Black and Anthony Ring (44 Mins) 

- Excerpt of Henry Lawson's "The Hairy Man" read by actor Vernon Welles  (1 Mins) 

Throwback is a fun enough Bigfoot type movie with some good moments of humor but I am sure this would be a difficult watch for general audiences because it is rough around the edges, a bit overlong and the creature design is laughable, but it had a lot of heart and a admirable do-it-yourself spirit that is hard to deny. I am looking forward to what comes next for director Travis Bain, expecting some good stuff will be on the way. 2/5