Cover Art

Credits

Director: Matthew Leutwyler Starring: Ever Carradine, Erik Paladino, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jeremy Sisto, Gina Phillips, Oz Perkins, David Carradine, Portia DiRossi, Bianca Lawson Screenplay: Matthew Leutwyler Music: Brian Vander Ark Tagline: It's Like a Bad Horror Movie…. Only Worse! Country: USA

Whilst traveling in an RV en route to the wedding of a friend (Geelong's finest, Portia Di Rossi in a 30-second cameo), a group of friends stop over in the peculiar rural hamlet of Lovelock. Lovelock is home to a strange assortment of characters (singing gas station attendant, cowboy-hatted macho sherrif, super-zealous town offical, David Carradine, etc…) and – just as you'd expect in a redneck American burg - a mysterious little box which houses a demon known as the Kumon Thong (yes, Thong). Before long the mildest of the friends, Johnny (Oz Perkins) has unwittingly unleashed the fearsome power of the um, Thong, becoming possessed by it and transforming the townsfolk into flesh-ripping zombies.

In-jokes fly fast and furious, especially given the casting of Anthony Perkins' son Oz, (as the possessed leader of the Kumon Thong, erm, throng) who makes a Bates Motel reference and later performs a ventriloquist act with a severed head. An Evil Dead poster makes a welcome appearance, whilst David Carradine (uncle of lead actress Ever Carradine) and Diedrich Bader turn up in forgettable cameos, and Six Feet Under's excellent Jeremy Sisto is completely wasted as one of the travelers. There's enthusiasm to spare, but not a lot of wit. Aside from the amusing inclusion of some CGI-animated scene transitions and a genuinely enjoyable Greek Chorus (in the form of Zach Selwyn's Randall Keith Randall), Leutwyler's direction feels oddly lifeless, especially in the moments that the film should really be cutting loose. What's more, the gore effects sit on the wrong side of cheesy, looking rubbery and fake instead of bracingly gross.