BLOODY GIBLETS: THE LEGEND OF LADY VANDALAY
PLOT-A reporter investigating a bloodthirsty local legend gets more than she bargained for when her younger brother becomes tangled in its' path.
VIOLENCE-Extremely gory decapitation and castration.
SEX/NUDITY-Clothed, implied comedic sex occurs, along with several cleavage shots.
WHY I WATCHED IT-Ever since the day I saw FILTHY McNASTY my life was forever changed, and I've been a huge fan of Low Budget Pictures. Since then, I've seen many of their productions, and each one left me smiling (and bleeding from all cavities, no less). BLOODY GIBLETS was no exception.
THE DOPE-Ever watch a movie and find yourself fast-forwarding through the boring parts? Long scenes of a guy driving around in his car while music plays, endless shots of mountains, countryside, or run-down city slums...fast-forward fast-forward. Boring. Some people might say, "Andrew, you're part of this damn MTV generation, everything has to be fast fast fast or you don't understand it." True, I grew up watching way more MTV than I should have. However, many of today's most talented filmmakers came from a background in making music videos (Michael Gondry, David Fincher, Mark Romanek, and Spike Jonze just to name a few). Why? Because they mastered the art of being able to tell a complete story in a short period of time. In a music video, you've got 2 or 3 minutes to leave an impression. That's it. Often with low-budget movies, the producers will do what is known as "padding out" their film's running time to make it longer. They add a lot of filler material (driving, music montages, lesbian sex, scenery, etc) so that they'll have a "feature" instead of a "short". If you're making a movie like LORD OF THE RINGS, that's a huge story and you really do need 10 hours to tell it. But when you're talking about chainsaw killers, aliens and cheerleaders in b-movies...that's a little much. Some of the ones I've seen could have been wrapped up in 10 minutes.
With BLOODY GIBLETS, writer/director Chris Seaver gives indie filmmakers a lesson in just how much you can do in a short amount of time with a small budget, and achieves in the span of 30 minutes what takes most b-filmmakers an entire career to do. Not only is Seaver able to set up an entire mythology and back story for the deadly Lady Vandalay, but he introduces a completely new set of characters (with the exception of the ever-present TeenApe, of course) which are well-developed and instantly engaging in terms of plot relevance. Along with that, we get the requisite quirky disgusting pop-culture informed dialogue and well-executed gore fx that, as an LBP fan I've come to expect (yet strangely am never prepared for and am continually thrilled by). With every film he makes, Seaver boosts the quality of camera movement, editing and storytelling, making BLOODY GIBLETS stand out even more in terms of craftsmanship. Several scenes left me wondering how they achieved the on-screen result!
Additionally, Thary Kok gives a standout performance as "Abby", the heroic reporter who treats TeenApe the way he really deserves. I loved the "date" scene with the two of them, seeing for once how a sane, rational, clear-headed female character would react to this brash ape-bastard who generally has the ladies falling at his hairy feet. It was a great change of pace, entriely unexpected, and while I do understand what Seaver is saying with the character of TeenApe in his other flicks, mixing it up this way was pretty cool indeed.
For those unfamiliar with Low Budget Pictures and the work of Chris Seaver, this is as fine a point as any to be introduced into their unique style of filmmaking. And for those who think they've got Seaver pegged, there are plenty of surprises to be had with BLOODY GIBLETS. His skill continues to evolve, his talent flourishes, and it's as fun as ever, proving that storytelling and entertainment are still the bottom line in ANY great movie...regardless of running time.
MEMORABLE SCENES-This movie contains a disturbingly realistic nut-sack that gets ripped from between a poor gentleman's legs. Someone in LBP's special effects department did a bang-up job here. The group I watched this with didn't know whether to cringe or laugh hysterically, myself included. Bravo!
NOTES-The DVD is packed with highly entertaining extras, they did excellent work on this one. To purchase it and other nut-rageous offerings, visit the Low Budget Pictures website. Tell 'em Freddy sent ya!
(April 2004)