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Director: Lucifer Valentine
Starring: Ameara LaVey
Screenplay: Lucifer Valentine
Duration: 75 minutes Country: Canada
Year: 2005 |
Director and emetophiliac Lucifer Valentine
hit the horror forums like a whirlwind. From here
at Terror Australis to the forums at the Canadian
Rue Morgue Magazine and the UK's Slasherama,
he came and told us all about his brand new type
of horror movie that had never been experienced
before: vomit gore. That's right: vomit
gore. Vomit is not enough and neither is gore,
but to find that unique mixture of the two, to
Lucifer anyway, is truly satisfying. To be a part
of the independent horror scene was not enough
for Mr. Valentine, he created this genre to satisfy
the needs of people who… um … like
vomit and gore. I am all for people who find a
niche to fill in any genre of films, no matter
how slim it might be, so at the very least Valentine
needs to be congratulated on not just acting on
his creative impulses, but also his aggressive
self promotion. It seems to survive in the film
game you need the one thing that Valentine has
a lot of: chutzpah!
A fairly non linear storyline involving a suicidal,
bulimic stripper/prostitute who is tormented by
visions of people being tortured and murdered,
but is she a victim, or perpetrator, or is she
descending into madness? Actually I feel the plot
is up to the individual's interpretation,
which is where Valentine's story is clever,
at various times through the movie I had different
ideas as to what the story was about.
Slaughtered Vomit Dolls was
filmed in various locations around Vancouver British
Colombia over a period of five months, including
Valentine's own house. The post production
period was ten months, as Valentine is basically
a one man band, doing the shooting, editing, sound
and visual effects himself on various computers
all over the world. His influences range from
the notorious Guinea Pig movies
to family favorites like Henry and Blue Velvet. The lovely star
of this film is porn actress/ stripper Ameara
La Vey, an ex-flame of Valentines, who has a great
presence in this flick, and spends most of the
time naked; actually, most of the female cast
spends a lot of their time naked. As a small aside,
fans of grunge music will notice a number of references
to Kurt Cobain and his suicide within this film,
apparently due to the fact that Valentine came
up with the idea for this flick while standing
out the front of Cobain's house.
At times it felt like I was watching an extended
version of a Marilyn Manson clip, but all in all Slaughtered Vomit Dolls is a
unique experience.Valentine's unusual lighting
techniques, handheld camerawork and quick cut
editing swing between being inspired and annoying.
The usual small film problems come up, such as
the one man show syndrome. Slaughtered
Vomit Dolls could have definitely done
with someone else editing, as writer/ director/editors
tend to love all of their own shots and have problems
cutting anything. On occasion I felt some of the
mundane, and the gore and vomit shots could have
been trimmed. Personally I feel this would have
been a far more effective 30 to 40 minute short,
rather than a 70 odd minute feature. The gore
effects are absolutely brilliant and occasionally
outstanding. Not for everyone…actually,
hardly for anyone at all, Valentine cannot be
criticized for coming up with something contrived
or imitative. Violent, gruesome and, with its
bucketloads of vomit, sickening, this movie also
has an underlying thread of, not just physical,
but mental cruelty as well…and I mean all
that in a good way.
Slaughtered Vomit Dolls and
Lucifer Valentine have taught me something: that
liking and enjoying a film is two completely different
things. Worth a watch just to say you have seen
it. This film is to be released eventually on
DVD with extras, for more information www.slaughteredvomitdolls.com. |
