Phil's Horror Watch: Entry 32: Phil watches CHILLERAMA (2011)-December 3, 2011

Hello there my faithful followers and welcome to the return of Phil's Horror Watch! Now there's quite a lot of you out there that deep down inside, whether you want to admit it or not, are big time horror fans. And a lot of you really enjoyed my month-long horror movie marathon back in October. So tonight I decided to "resurrect" the series, picking up right where I left off in October. Now with this new installment, I couldn't help but review tonight's movie. Directed by four of the freshest, talented, and twisted new voices of horror comes the horrifying, the grotesque, the disturbing, and the hilarious film called CHILLERAMA!!

Theatrical Movie Poster (2011)

So here is the plot in a nutshell: It's the closing night of the last drive-in theater in America and Cecil B. Kaufman (Richard Riehle) has planned the ultimate movie marathon: screening four long lost horror films to his faithful drive-in patrons. These films so rare that they have never been shown publicly ever in America until this very special night! Sounds like it's gonna be a fun-filled night right? So what could possibly go wrong you might ask? Everything and anything!

In the tradition of classic anthology films such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT and CREEPSHOW, the film offers four different tales of terror brought to life by four talented directors. These films push the envelope with their subject matter, their gratuitous amounts of gore and sexual innuendos, bad jokes, and their blatant disregard of moral and god taste. So you know you're gonna have a good time! The film offers these cinematic gems:

WADZILLA: Directed by Adam Rifkin (DETROIT ROCK CITY), the film's about a middle-aged man named Miles Munson (Rifkin) whose personal physician Dr. Weems (Ray Wise) prescribes him the experimental drug Spermupermine to strengthen the sperm Miles already produces. However the side effect is that the drug increases the size of his one good sperm to mammoth proportions! This hilarious tribute to 50s monster movies boasts a really fun cast (which includes Sarah Mutch, Owen Benjamin, Tracy Dawson, Lin Shaye, and the great Eric Roberts) and amazing special effects by The Chiodo Brothers (Stephan, Charles, and Edward), the creative guys who brought us the cult classic KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE. A great film to kick things off with!

I WAS A TEENAGE WEREBEAR: Written and directed by Tim Sullivan (2001 MANIACS series), this loving musical tribute and spoof of classic teen films such as REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, GREASE, and TWILIGHT is set in 1962 in sunny Southern California and focuses on a sexually confused teen named Ricky (ex-porn star Sean Paul Lockheart) who becomes a harry, leather clad werebear after being bitten on the ass during a wrestling match by bad boy rebel Talon (Anton Troy). Sullivan also wrote the songs in the film, like "Love Bit Me On The Ass," "Purge This Urge," and "Do The Werebear." Sullivan, who is openly gay, included many gay culture references in his film, such as bears which are "big hairy burly men" in the gay community. Kudos to Mr. Sullivan being brave enough and exposing horror fans to the queer subculture. The film also includes actors Gabby West (winner of the TV reality series SCREAM QUEENS), Adam Robitel, Lin Shaye (again) and Ron Jeremy (on the cover of a bear magazine, of course).

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKENSTEIN: Written and directed Adam Green (HATCHET series, FROZEN), this black and white film is about Hitler "trying to create the perfect killing machine to win the war." Joel David Moore hams it up as Hitler, reducing him to a hilarious parody. During the making of the film, Green on purpose had Moore not learn any German. While the cast were German actors and spoke fluent German, Moore's sexy co-star Kristine Klebe (Eva Braun) only taught him how to say stupid, irrelevant German. Moore speaks "gibberish" throughout the film, but correct subtitles are displayed. Moore's German included words like "Boba Fett" and "Osh Kosh B'Gosh" which only made by laugh harder! Also Hitler's Frankenstein monster called Meshugannah is played by the iconic Kane Hodder (FRIDAY THE 13th's Jason Vorhees and HATCHET's Victor Crowley). The film is hysterical and is one of my favorite segments.

ZOM-B-MOVIE: Written and directed by Joe Lynch (WRONG TURN 2), the film is the wrap around to CHILLERAMA. Taking place at the formentioned drive-in, the film features a buffet of killer and horny zombies, hellbent on having sex with anything and everybody! Starring Corey Jones (Tobe), Kali Thorne (Mayna), Brendan McCreary (Ryan Miller), Ward Roberts (Miller), and Laura Ortiz (Des), the film contains enough sex, boobs, gore, and naughty bits that it's a wonder it didn't receive an X rating! Also, there are numerous movie quotes to fill a space cruiser, from STAR WARS and DIE HARD to THE GOONIES and SPACEBALLS, you can make it into a drinking game! Of course the best line comes from Tobe (ala Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD), "When there's no more room in Hell, the dead shall fuck the Earth!" Oh yeah, did I mention the zombie orgy at the drive-in? OK, there's a zombie orgy at the drive-in. Yeah, you gotta see it to believe it folks!

The film was released in various major cities across the country from September 15, 2011 to October 29, 2011. While the film's been receiving mixed reviews all across the board, make no mistake, it is still entertaining as all Hell. Trust me when I say that you will not be bored with this film. And while it's not everybody's cup of tea, I wouldn't be surprised if it lives on as a midnight movie. It's funny, scary, gory, and sure to entice people to dance in the aisle. Also the film has some great acting in it and everybody obviously had a lot of fun making this, and it shows! You're not supposed to take the film seriously, you're supposed to have fun watching it, and the entire cast and crew accomplishes this in spades!

CHILLERAMA is rip-roaring, gore-soaked, sexually exposed, queer loving, horror film to ever come out! What other film out there can you see leather clad queer werebears wrestling, Hitler singing a sorrow filled song,  a dancing Jewish Frankenstein, zombies sexing it up, and a giant sperm molesting the Statue of Liberty? I'll tell you where! Right here people, so check out this mother of all tribute to horror anthologies! 4 1/2 out of 5 stars!!

CHILLERAMA is currently available on Blu-Ray and on DVD from Image Entertainment. To purchase a copy, visit the Amazon website at www.amazon.com.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!