American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon

This one was so bad and an extreme let down. Nothing like the other american guinea pig movies. The whole vibe was off. And tbh I really have nothing good to say about it other than the ending was kind of funny. It's straight up a badly done dark comedy. Also.. the guinea pig and american guinea pig movies are known for the gore. The gore in this movie is so poorly done...its like they bought some cheap props from a Halloween shop and put slime on it. I dont think I could ever reccomend this movie to folks. If you want to see an extremely badly done movie..this one will be the movie for you no doubt about it.

Where do I begin with this pathetic third installment of the American guinea pig films. The horrendous acting or the lamest dialogue ever written. I felt insulted for being tricked into watching this C-movie. I wish I could remember the reviewers name who actually said this was a pretty good film because I would put his ass on blast, He needs to quit giving advice immediately because he has no clue when a film is a crock of Sh$%. One of these user reviews stated this film was far fetched but that was too kind for this abomination. How can a movie even be made about priests performing exorcisms without the writers or directors who are obviously not religious do no research on the topic at hand. I mean the lords prayer was the only prayer said through the whole movie and they did it 10 times as if a priest only knows 1 prayer (Our father who art in heaven) That's a dead giveaway to anybody who worships that you are not well versed in God's word, And for a priest to appear in that fashion crushes any belief that he possesses faith. The special effects were the worst I've seen from the guinea pig collection long drawn out moans and character reactions were abhorrent and comical at best and it really does a disservice to the first "American Guinea Pig" which by all accounts was the best one because atleast it attempted to look some what real with an OK dialogue but if this is the first Guinea pig film someone gets to see they will never attempt to watch another. I forced myself to sit and watch these 82 mins. Of my life being wasted because I wanted to be totally sure this atrocity was from start to finish and I was right. At one point I broke out into laughter because the possessed girl started singing which I guess was the song of soloman and all of a sudden it turned into a musical. Please do yourself a favor and do not waste almost an hour and a half watching this way below average pile of garbage because that's why I wrote this review to save you from wasted time. And yes you are welcome in advance.

The Song of Solomon is a bit of a departure for the American Guinea Pig series: instead of virtually plot-free systematic torture, the film depicts the exorcism of a young woman, Mary (Jessica Cameron), by a series of Catholic priests, which, in true Unearthed Films style, results in lots of gory mayhem. In fact, director Stephen Biro piles on so much splatter that his film becomes comedic in its excess, which I don't believe was the intention.

For me, the gore that broke the camel's back was a scene clearly inspired by Fulci's Gates of Hell (AKA City of the Living Dead), wherein Mary yarfs up her insides. After a lot of reaching, up come her small intestines-but wait, there's more: a couple of organs are thrown up onto her bed in a bloody heap, followed by a large intestine. But Biro doesn't stop there... he has Mary pick up each glistening organ and stuff them back into her mouth one-by-one. This goes on for so long that it's hard to take seriously. Also giving me the giggles is the moment when the final priest gives up reading stuff from his Little Book of Exorcism and climbs on top of Mary to hump the demon out of her - it's supposed to be shocking (I think), but I couldn't keep a straight face.

The best moment comes towards the end of the film (just before the humping), when Mary's contorted limbs snap and split open (sterling work by make-up effects guys Jerami Cruise and Marcus Koch) - that part was as close to revolting as it gets - but the rest of the film is just a poor man's The Exorcist with much more blood and a silly 'twist' ending.

My spoiler free review for The Bloody Asylum that can be found at WordPress, Mr Geeky blog:

The American Guinea Pig series of films, produced by Unearthed Films, are an homage to the hugely controversial Japanese Guinea Pig films of the 1980s and 1990s, a series of extreme horror films that pushed boundaries with their graphic depictions of brutality, violence, blood, and gore, leading them to being banned in many countries to this day. Unearthed Films distributed the films in the US in the early 2000s, then when the use of the Guinea Pig name was made illegal in Japan they purchased the rights to the name. The first film produced in the American Guinea Pig series was "Bouquet of Blood and Gore" this was followed up by "Bloodshock". The third film in the series "The Song of Solomon" is produced, written, and directed by Stephen Biro, co-founder and CEO of Unearthed Films. The first of the series to have far more of a story and narrative structure. An exorcism/possession film as only Unearthed films could produce.

Stephen Biro's solid writing and directing is complimented by film-makers who so obviously have a passion for extreme horror as he does, all wanting to do something different with the exorcism/possession genre. They certainly have with The Song of Solomon, a low budget film that is far more accomplished than many mainstream studio horror films of recent years. Even more impressive is that it was produced on a very small fraction of the budgets of those films. The film-makers understand how to combine sound, music, visuals, and editing to good effect to create an effective atmosphere, not falling back on cheap jump scares as many horror films tend to do nowadays. For the most part there is an unnerving feeling of mounting dread and tension throughout the entire film, interspersed with shocking scenes of extreme blood and gore. These effects are all achieved through hugely impressive practical effects by Marcus Koch of Oddtopsy FX (We Are Still Here) and Jerami Cruise of TOETAG EFX (Tales of Halloween, Murder Set Pieces) that never overwhelm the other aspects of the film, although for those who are familiar with Unearthed Films, and are watching for those blood and gore scenes they will definitely not be disappointed.

By making The Song of Solomon a part of the American Guinea Pig series it somewhat hinders expectations because the resulting film is far more than just a blood and gore film. However, the series is exactly as the Japanese originals were, becoming far more story and character based with the latter films. Regardless of how accurate the actual exorcism ritual scenes are, a great amount of research was undertaken to ensure those scenes were in fact as realistic as they could be. In the context of the film they are extremely effective, with a lot of the credit going to JESSICA CAMERON as Mary the victim of possession, the standout performance of the entire film. Her portrayal is committed, fearless, and most of all disturbing. Moving effortlessly from innocent to being genuinely unnerving, and very convincing. Almost at times making it feel as if there is a demon inside her. Taking into account that she has gone on record as saying she feels she is not the best of actors. Here she without a doubt proved herself wrong. However, more of an introduction in the initial set up of the film to Mary and her family rather than the film picking up the story after she has been possessed would have added more of an emotional impact to her performance and so accentuated the horrors that unfold as the film progressed, especially the opening scenes, but Jessica Cameron did enough in the few early scenes to invest enough depth into her character to give the film an emotional edge.

There are some unexpected twists and turns with the story and characters, especially in the depictions of the priests, particularly Gene Palubicki in his first major film role, who also composed some of the superb music for the film. David E. McMahon is very impressive, having maybe one of the most controversial scenes in the film. Jim Van Bebber is also very effective when the extreme scenes of the exorcism kick in.

The film has some faults, a far grittier look and feel with stronger acting at times would have heightened the impact of the film. Although it is extremely impressive what was achieved on a very low budget, with the skill of the film-makers and particularly Jessica Cameron's performance balancing out the weaker elements of the film.

The Song of Solomon for the most part is an assured film and pretty much did what a horror film should do. Creepy, unsettling, and disturbing, added to that is of course the gut wrenching blood and gore that is to be expected from an American Guinea Pig film.

Fans of the series, exorcism/possession films, low budget independent horror films, and of course blood and gore films will not be disappointed.

There aren't enough words in the English language to describe just how awful this film is. Completely devoid of substance and lacking of any redeeming quality. Not to mention what an awful person the director is. Absolutely nothing worth anything here.