The Editor

As the other reviews have stated this was a tongue and cheek spoof on some older horror genre films. It was well done, and once the movie started the whole theater (Ryerson during TIFF) was in stitches. The acting was on point, the lighting was perfect and the script was right in live with what you would expect. And the effects. What can I say about the effects. they did the job and then some.

I really felt like I was watching a movie from the good old days of horror just like I used to watch on Sci Fi theater, and Creature Features on Saturday afternoons.

I am pretty sure that if you watch this while having a few drinks and with a couple of friends you guys will have a hoot.

I showed up 9:15 AM at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) to watch the editor. I went into the movie only seeing the poster. I am a huge fan of Astron 6 and I wanted to be surprised once I saw the movie.

Plot: Rey Cisco (Adam Brooks) is the longtime film editor, who is editing a schlock crime thriller film circa 1980. But starting with the leading actor, someone starts killing the cast and crew. Though, in typical giallo fashion, everyone acts suspiciously, macho police detective Peter Porfiry (Matthew Kennedy) trains his eye on meek Rey, against whom the case does look pretty bad.

Now if you haven't heard/seen the Giallo Italian crime films then you will have a problem understanding the style in which the film was shot. Bad intentional dubbing, amazing use of color lighting, gore effects. Everything about this film was top notch. It is a low budget dark comedy, only shot with $150,000. Astron 6's earlier film "Father's Day" (2011) was only shot for less than $10,000. They used the money they had well, and made an amazing movie.

The only con I had with the movie was it slowed down on a couple of parts, that's it. Everything else was great. It was a great homage/parody to trashy Giallo films. Adam Brooks, Matthew Kennedy, and Coonor Sweeney showed up after the movie for a Q&A I got a picture with them and amazing actress Sheila Campbell. I suggest you check this film out once it has an official release.

Rey Ciso (Adam Brooks) was once a top film editor. Then a nasty accident resulted in the loss of some fingers, and he ends up cutting trashy horror pictures. Murders begin to plague the production of his current film, and the inspector on the case (Matthew Kennedy) is sure he's responsible.

There's a fair amount of suspects in this very knowing, dead-on parody of the Italian murder mysteries known as Gialli. The Canadian filmmaking collective Astron-6 (including Brooks, Kennedy, and co-star Conor Sweeney, who plays untalented actor Cal Konitz) obviously took a fair amount of care with this one, and had a bigger budget than usual. They also shot it in 2.35:1 to keep it stylishly connected to Gialli of the past. The story has its share of twists (among them, the ending), and it keeps viewers amused and interested. The gore is delightfully way over the top, and nicely realized. The film is not always terribly funny, but when it hits, it hits HARD. Among the brightest gags are references to both Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci; Fulci's body of work in particular gets a frequent shout-out. The music is great - among the composers credited is Claudio Simonetti, so it's no surprise that the score is Goblin-esque at times.

The acting is much like what one would see in a vintage Giallo. Brooks actually does a passable Italian accent, and is a likeable hero. Kennedy is fun as the bumbling inspector. Paz de la Huerta ("Nurse 3-D") vamps it up something fierce as Rey's wife, a faded former film star. Laurence R. Harvey ("Human Centipede" 2 and 3) is a flustered priest, Tristan Risk ("American Mary") the sexy Veronica, but German legend Udo Kier is rather wasted as the briefly seen head of an asylum. Still, it's always nice to see him in anything.

Overall, a good, respectable effort, worth a look for any fan of the Gialli genre.

Seven out of 10.

It's the sexy 1970s and a horror movie editor finds himself involved in a string of killings when his coworkers start to die.

It's hard to give this as score for bad acting, editing, goofy plot points and bad dialogue because that was the point of the movie. The entirety of the production is intended to be a parodied version of Giallo films, so everything is intentionally goofy and poorly done. Unfortunately, that's not enough to construct a joke, let alone a movie. One of the most recurring "jokes" is the massive amount of full-frontal nudity (99.99% female and 0.01% male.) So again, that's the entirety of the joke: "Hey guys, look at how much nudity and exploitation of women used to go on in those movies. We did it too. Isn't that hilarious?"

This movie is like later seasons of The Simpsons and Family Guy when the joke is "hey, remember that?" Everything is intended to be referential, and not stand-alone high quality production or effect. It's almost like the filmmakers made this movie specifically for hipster fans of 70s Giallo movies to watch with their friends, so the cool hipster can showcase every aspect of their knowledge of Giallo films.

I sincerely did not enjoy the viewing and I am very likely not to ever seek out seeing it again. However, there were a handful of things that made me chuckle, so this scores higher than a 3. I also slightly enjoyed the lighting and the attention granted to practical horror effects.

If you are a fan of Giallo and you want to show off to all your loser friends how much cooler you are than them, by pointing out all of the elements of Giallo, then watch this movie. If you don't know anything about Giallo and your friends makes you watch: they think they are cooler than you. Ditch that friend, and seek out a better horror comedy.

It is pretty clear that much fun was had in making this but perhaps more effort was put into emulating previous affects and scenarios and less on creating a coherent story within which to set them. There are marvellous sequences like the homage to Black Belly of the Tarantula and Hitch-Hike but maybe things go a little far with the inclusion of Videodrome and Poltergeist. Fantastic though much of the gore and re-enactments and jokes are, we simply don't care about the main protagonists here and the flat, almost bored performing (intentional?) at times is off putting. Again references to gays and disabled - referring to the main guy with fingers missing once as a cripple was startling and maybe vaguely amusing but again and again? Similarly the face slapping gets a bit much but I suppose somewhat salutary especially where used prior to sex. Mixed bag but maybe more fun after a few drinks especially if you only have a very rudimentary awareness of gialli.