Halloween Macabro

This movie is twisted and wrong in all the right ways. Gravy is a fun movie with a lot of gore. It's a stoner flick at it heart. It smacks of Always Sunny, but leads with a Saw-esque theme that lacks the seriousness that most horror films take on. Nice job, cheers all around..!

Arriving at a Mexican cantina, a group of criminals hold the remaining employees hostage and force them to participate in a series of depraved games intending to devour them afterwards and forcing them to fight back in order to avoid becoming a meal.

For the most part this one here ended up being quite a bit more bizarre rather than outright horror effort. One of the main challenges facing the film is the fact that this one just doesn't seem to be concerned at all with logic or coherent motives, making for quite a challenging time here trying to figure out what's happening here. The initial plot of choosing this particular restaurant doesn't come up, how long the group's been doing this or how they even turned to cannibalism, making this so confusing as to their motives that it doesn't really strike any kind of chord at all because the inherent goofiness really undermines how they could've been portrayed. By playing them as frightening figures in an absurd situation and then gone off-the-wall with the goofiness could've been an enjoyable time here, but instead we get completely goofy characters acting in a totally confusing manner which really undermines this one considerably. That said, the goofy humor and rather jarring tonal shifts between everything here is another problem, as on the one hand there's certainly an attempt to make them seem tough and imposing with the way they hold the group hostage and begin spelling out the different games with them, but then it goes for goofy off-the-wall humor with the utterly irritating and endless manners in which they overtake the restaurant, deal with the group and basically just the very hard- boiled nature of not taking anything seriously despite the entire purpose for being there being to kill and eat them. That alone should've made this a lot more chilling in nature, but it's jarring tonal shifts make for a wholly off-beat experience. Still, there's a lot of positives on display here, which begins with the rather impressive kills here resulting in some rather brutal and graphic kills throughout that are just so silly while also being admittedly quite unique as well, and the fact that there's quite a large amount of really bloody deaths within here. As well, the comedy featured in here does get in a few good moments here where it generates a laugh due to the outrageousness of the situations presented here and really giving this the part of the film's overall best quality in the exciting and enjoyable pace here. This one doesn't really slow down all that much and stays involved for the most part, keeping this one going forward with a lot of interesting confrontations, lots of action and a generally fun air about it that gives this one plenty of bizarre and really entertaining parts to it as it whips through the zany situations. There's still some some problems here, but it's not that bad.

Rated R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and minor sexual acts.

It's All Hallow's Eve. A trio of costumed misfits with very special dietary requirements seizes a Mexican cantina and force the staff to engage in a late night of gaming, food and libations. The only caveat is what's on the menu.

Noel Murray says the film "seems little more than a lark for all involved, not a project with anything to say." That sums it up rather nicely. The gore is good enough for horror fans, the humor is there at times. And we have plenty of B-list actors in this thing. But what is the point? Unlike other recent horror-comedies (most notably the hugely successful "Tucker and Dale"), this never really seems to go anywhere.

Is it worth a look? Sure. James Roday is a fun guy, and it is great to see him venturing more into writing and directing. But I feel like we needed so much more here.

This is one of those movies you go into thinking you're probably not going to like it for any number of reasons - low production costs, comically misleading trailer, a cast of largely unknown actors - but when you come out the other side it turns out to be a pleasant surprise.

The star actor takes a little getting used to which has more to do with the makeup artist than anything else. She's dressed like a pro football player, for one thing. Padded shoulders, thick black ink smeared across her face. But the writing is way above average which helps carry this delightful miscarriage through to its conclusion.

Two of the actors are actually well-known for their comedic sensibilities. They both are on the side of the lunatics holding up a small-town close-knit family of diner workers (they're not really family but they act like it), one of whom stars in a little show called It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where he assumes the role of a milk- sipping, possibly incestuous, brother of a couple of weirdo antagonists, and the other scored a bit role on stage with Dr. House, a role that he tackles well with more wit than comedy but still spot on. In this movie both shine and graduate with flying colors.

For hardcore traditionalists even though the protagonist is dressed like a football player with sweet moves, the belle of the film is draped in a prize-winning ribbon as if to remind viewers that she's the prettiest girl on the set, but also has fun with a point made long ago by the American short-story writer Edgar Allan Poe who once penned the words 'The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.' And there's an excellent soundtrack to boot.

However, what really makes this a prize-winning catch is the script-writing, along with a few unexpected twists thrown in there to appease the naysayers and the cynics. It's really a great movie. So if you're out there surfing the web for a new horror flick to watch to pass the time, do not miss this opportunity for laughs, shockin' awesome horror, and good old-fashioned family values with a demented weirdo atmosphere, look no further than Gravy. Personally I filed this movie under chance discoveries. Do with it what you will.

It feels like this movie might have been originally written for the stage? Awesome if so, particularly if they ever published the script, because it would be a cracker to produce.

I can see why it has mixed reviews, given the very specific sweet spot of obscure film references plus 80s-era non-CG gore plus the self consciously snarky machine style dialogue that is very much of the 90s but folks, this movie is SO much fun.

If you grew up on a diet of 80s and 90s horror and enjoy fast paced absurdist comedy I definitely recommend this tiny bleeding gem.