|
 WOODCHIPPER
MASSACRE (Camp
Motion Pictures
) 1988.
Black Comedy. 90 Minutes. Not Rated. Some implied violence, a smattering
of blood and tongue firmly inserted in cheek. Dad has a business trip and
has to leave the three kids, Jon, Denice and Tom alone with his sister.
Their dreaded aunt is a harpy in disguise and disapproves of everything
that the kids do. Whether it’s Jon having a date that weekend or little
Tom getting his official Rambo survival knife in the mail. It’s the
knife that proves her undoing, though as she attempts to take it away from
Tom and in the scuffle, gets stabbed for her trouble. The kids panic and
instead of reporting the accident to the local authorities decide to throw
their aunt in the woodchipper dad has rented for the weekend. Of course
they freeze her first so that she goes through the chipper a little
easier. They figure they can tell dad that she had a call and had to leave
early. The perfect crime and the perfect end to a horrid old woman. Then
her no good, shiftless son shows up…
Jon McBride made Woodchipper
Massacre for 400 dollars. That’s what it cost for the rental of the
woodchipper. The acting is all pretty local theater type and you can tell
this was shot with the video camera of the day.
That’s the first strike. The second strike is that this came on
the tails of his ultra gore epic, Cannibal
Campout. These two films are like night and day. Where Cannibal
Campout was dark, bloody and creepy; Woodchipper
Massacre is sort of The Brady Bunch gone horribly awry. With these two
strikes against it you’d think that I hated this flick. Actually, it
works for me. The black comedy is always funny if done right and these
people manage to deadpan their way through this one right to the end. Add
to that some great extras like interviews with the cast and a lengthy
interview with Jon McBride and you get a true feeling for what micro
budget film making was like in it’s infancy. This was the time of the
mom and pop video store, hungry for product and this one sold like hot
cakes. Sure, a lot of people were probably disappointed when it turned out
to be a bloodless affair and everyone kept their clothes on, but it still
manages to capture the time that it was made. As long as you go into this
thing knowing what to expect, Woodchipper Massacre is a pretty good flick on a Friday night with
beer and popcorn. -Douglas A. Waltz
|
