Deathgasm

After his meth-addict mum is sent to a mental asylum, teenage metal-head Brodie (Milo Cawthorne) moves to the suburban town of Greypoint to live with his bible-bashing Uncle Albert (Colin Moy), Aunt Mary (Jodie Rimmer), and obnoxious cousin David (Nick Hoskins-Smith). There he befriends role playing game-nerds Dion and Giles (Sam Berkley and Daniel Cresswell) and wild rocker Zakk (James Blake), with whom he forms a band, Deathgasm.

When the guys chance upon and perform a song written by Satanic metal star Ricky Daggers (Stephen Ure), they unwittingly unleash a plague of demons that possess the locals and kill the living in order to pave the way for the coming of an ancient evil known as Aeloth, The Blind One. With the help of axe-wielding blonde hottie Medina (Kimberley Crossman), the metal-heads try to find a way to prevent Hell on Earth.

Is there anything more sublime in this world than a heavy metal horror movie? The world's foremost form of music fused with the greatest genre of film known to man to create an exquisite elysian experience for connoisseurs of peerless audio visual entertainment. If I'm brutally honest, the script for Deathgasm is a bit of a mess, the action lurching awkwardly from one scene to the next, but its combination of metal mayhem and outrageous splatter is so irresistible that a completely coherent narrative is of little consequence. The riffs are heavy and the gore is very gory (with the graphic dismemberment achieved through the use of practical effects), which is what matters most with this type of flick.

Directed by Jason Lei Howden, who clearly knows his music and his horror, Deathgasm owes a lot to the splatter classics of Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, his film possessing a similarly energetic and madcap style. When the demons attack, anything and everything becomes a weapon: an angle grinder, an engine block, a chainsaw, an axe, a weed whacker, a big, black, double-ended dildo, some love beads, and a pair of vibrators. That's right… Deathgasm features a fight scene in which the heroes are armed with sex toys, which should give you some idea of just how demented the film really is.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

There is no doubt that this will strike more of a chord (see what I did there?) with metalheads, though anyone faintly aware of its existence will be able to enjoy this non-stop gore-fest. Put simply, a group of friends find some old music on tattered paper. Its title is in Latin. When they play it, it sounds like a classic Black Sabbath doom song, only darker. The song is so heavy that everyone who hears it begins to leak blood from every orifice as they turn into demons.

The rest of the movie features these four friends decapitating and castrating demons. And here, anything goes and no one is safe. Can't find a weapon? Use a dildo, or some anal beads. The humour is great as there are many funny moments within the carnage, and only a few are 'inside-jokes' for metal fans.

The makers of this film must have spent half their budget on the special effects, as some of the kills are brutal and leave the victims in a state that David Cronenberg would be proud of. I'm not usually a fan of slasher flicks but there were some pretty gruesome moments once the foursome go on their rampage.

It's obvious the filmmakers had a blast making this, so watch it now and have a blast yourself!!

www.epilepticmoondancer.net

This is what I like when it's about gore. It has to be funny, otherwise just watch a horror movie instead. I would not call this horror but just gory comedy. The best movie in that genre still remains Braindead, and of course the Evil Dead movies, but this one I will remember as well. The exaggeration in the gory details is what makes it funny. The amount of slashed body parts and the inventive ways they use to do it is just hilarious. The script might not be the best ever but that's not what it is about with a movie like Deathgasm. It's just a bit fun. Fun for people like me that get that kind of humor. Some others will probably hate that movie and that's okay. If you like metal music and gore then you will for sure love this movie. I did and I will watch this one again in a few years.

This hilariously disgusting, twisted, insane little gem from New Zealand is a must for fans of Evil Dead 2, Braindead and similarly gory low-budget horror comedies. If you're into those kinds of films AND you're into Metal, don't miss out on this one: it's a blast. And it was obviously made by very talented people; especially the camera work is fantastic. The gore effects are good, most of the jokes are funny (depending on your sense of humor), and the actors may not win any Oscars any time soon but they seem perfectly well suited for their parts.

Writer/director Jason Lei Howden has a background in effects work and it shows: despite the low budget, the production values are much higher than what you'd normally expect in this kind of film. The direction is wildly inventive and reminded me a lot of the early Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson (mark my words: Howden is a director to watch in the future). A warning, though: even a film like Braindead looks almost sophisticated and tame compared to Deathgasm; a lot of the humor in this film is very, very (did I mention: VERY!!!) rude or downright sick. Do NOT watch this if, say, you have a problem watching genital (and rectal) mutilations in graphic detail.

My verdict: This is a splat-fest of the first order for gore-hounds with a twisted sense of humor, a love for Metal and a very high tolerance for some really cringe inducing nastiness. It's a very well made film - especially for a first-time-director - and I absolutely adored every minute of it. 7 stars out of 10.

Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-Known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

I've waited for this movie since it was announced. Then I saw the trailer which looked like movie is gonna be gory flick that doesn't take itself too seriously, while metal music plays in background... and movie is exactly that.

"Deathgasm" while not taking itself too seriously, it still hits all the marks of what made other horror-comedies like Evil Dead 2 and Braindead great. It has style, it has life, and enough gore to satisfy even hardcore horror fans. Story follows group of metalhead losers who accidentally play some "devil's music" which in fact is a summoning tune to some Arch Demon, and as rest of the people in town are turning into demons, it's up to our "losers" to save the world.

The Demons resemble Deadites from Evil Dead 2, which this movie clearly pays homage to among other several horror movies (most notable, Braindead). There's also a lot of dark humor and while some scenes do go crazy with gore, it never really gets over-the-top. It's all in good fun.

Screenplay itself pokes fun at metalhead stereotypes, with characters reacting to certain events with lines like "Brutal!" or "Metal!" (little nod to Metalocalypse). Production is rather good, much better then you would expect from this type of movie, and overall it looks lot more expensive then it's budget.

Some minor problems here and there (climax could have been a bit better), but nothing too troubling.

One of the best horror-comedies in a while, and if you love your metal and your horror, check it out.