Directed by Tim Connery
Written by Tim Connery and Kevin Koppes
Starring Alex Stein, Grace Melon, Charlie Lind
Unrated, for immature audiences that are old enough for nudity and blasphemy
Runtime: 78 minutes
Streaming now on digital

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

The film opens quoting Romans 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," followed directly by a death metal song with its lyrics “Fuck your god” on the screen. As the song continues, our first scene is of obnoxious, metalhead, teen bullies picking on a young Christian kid and pissing on his bible. Many people are gonna be done with this movie right there, and that’s totally understandable. 

For me, the blasphemy wasn’t really a big deal. What had me curious was the authentic (and pretty good) metal soundtrack playing while being given a negative representation of metalheads. Was I getting suckered into pro-Christian propaganda posing as a horror flick here? I wasn’t sure for the first few scenes, but thankfully I was not. Turns out, like many metalheads, the movie isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. The bible pisser was a tiny-dicked douchebag and you totally get why the little kid grows up to be a fire and brimstone priest with a vendetta against pop culture, in general, and heavy metal, especially.

However, the priest is taking it too far and the church isn’t happy with all of his hateful rhetoric. He goes off on a furious walk and ends up accidentally falling into some toxic waste sludge and, à la The Toxic Avenger, becomes a mutated beast. Then he dons an old brown monk’s cloak and heads to the local metal fest to go on a killing spree. 

The more relatable storyline follows Zane on a shitty day as he gets kicked out of his band and dumped by his girlfriend. Luckily, his buddy Mariah (who isn't into metal) is there to help him through it, convincing him to soldier on and go to the metal fest. Little do they know, it's only gonna make their day worse as they have to attempt to outmaneuver the mutated priest. 

The effects and make up for the kills are surprisingly good. There's a bit of T&A during some ridiculously unnecessary sex scenes. It feels like they are just checking a box on the checklist, but they are played for some dumb laughs that I chose to ignore/forgive. There's lots of fun dumb laughs, specifically geared towards metalheads, sprinkled throughout that give this its charm.  Charlie Lind (who plays the promoter of the metal fest) has good delivery on some of the best jokes.

There were also some animation/drawings early on that were very impressive and gory. I wished these had played a heavier role in the film, because I felt they were quite effective. However, as I mentioned before, the effects managed to be pretty good on their own.

Really, the highlight for me was the music. I wasn't familiar with any of these bands prior to the film, but there wasn't a dud in the bunch. Several of them are local to Iowa, where the film was made, but there's a couple international bands as well. I can't vouch for the politics or lyrical content, but the music rips. I'll provide a list of the bands and their bandcamp pages at the bottom for your reference, if you're interested. 

At any rate, this was an enjoyable entry in the trashy horror genre. If you like the sort of flicks that show up on Joe Bob’s Last Drive In or used to watch USA Up All Night, you'd probably dig this movie. 
The Bands

Boar (Finland)
Inquiring Blood (Germany)
Monolithe (France)
Exmortus (California)
The Rising Plague (Iowa)
Mutilated by Zombies (Iowa)
Telekinetic Yeti (Iowa)
Nethervoid (Iowa)