Shattered Ravings

Sweatshop
Directed by Stacy Davidson
Courtesy of Bloodline Entertainment
Released: 2010

I have to tell you up front: I absolutely loved this movie.

Although Sweatshop is yet to be released to the public, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing this movie over the weekend, as one of the Texas Frightmare Weekend exclusive film picks. Then, as an added bonus, the cast and crew came out and did a Q&A session with the crowd after the movie was over. Talk about awesome!

In case you are not familiar with this film, here is the plot, courtesy of imdb.com:

Charlie and her friends (yes, Charlie is a woman) break into an abandoned warehouse and begin setting up for an impromptu party (rave). Unbeknownst to them, something lurks in this dark place… a presence so horrific, so monstrous, it has no name. Fueled by uncontrollable, unprovoked rage, this Beast knows only one thing – Charlie and her companions chose the wrong building, and they’re about to pay for it.

And pay for it they do! Wow. The carnage in this film is phenomenal. The Beast (played by the hulking Jeremy Sumrall) is a massive guy dressed up in coveralls and a welder’s mask, and his favorite massacre-tool of choice is an anvil with a pipe stuck into it. He wields this device like a hammer and takes great joy in crushing and mutilating his victims with it.

I have to tip my hat to director Stacy Davidson and co-writer Ted Geohegan for thinking up original and gruesome ways to off their characters. One of the greatest death scenes in the movie occurs when The Beast uses his anvil-hammer to smash a helpless victim through a grate. And yes, folks, this is indeed as disgustingly graphic as it sounds! He literally pounds her through the small holes, squishing her into chunky goo. It’s awesome!

Obviously, this is not a movie for the squeamish. But if you can appreciate thrills and gore, you will love this flick. There’s no back-story to describe who The Beast is, where he comes from, or why he has several ghoul-like-girl-creatures working for him. But none of that matters: take this movie at face-value and don’t try to read anything into it past what’s there.

Aside from the effects, the production on the film is superb. The acting is excellent, the tone and mood are perfect, and for being a lower-budget film, the overall look is definitely high-budget in scope. I had to watch this in a crowded room with a bunch of rowdy strangers and no surround-sound; I cannot wait to get my hands on a DVD copy so I can watch it at home in 5.1 surround!

Fans of good, gory horror should DEFINITELY check out Sweatshop. Just make sure you don’t eat before you do.

MSB

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.