Chillerama

So my brother is home from New York for a visit, and our original plan was to head to Sloss Furnace in Birmingham for their haunted tour. It's supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the country, and even though it's only 3 hours away, we've never been. Plans had to be changed though, as last night was the one and only time that Chillerama was playing in Atlanta, and believe me Chillerama trumps Sloss Furnace every single time. So we got a group together and headed to the Midtown Arts Center for a midnight screening. I had never been to this theater before, and despite not being overly impressed with the staff, who immediately identified us as "Chillerama people" when we walked in, it was a decent enough place. I have to give it props for the Chillerama screening, and when I bought my tickets the guy behind the window asked if I would be back the next night for Human Centipede 2 (which sadly I will not be).

The movie itself is every bit as good as the trailer. If you've seen it and liked what you saw, the movie will absolutely not disappoint. My face is literally still hurting this morning from laughing so hard through the entire thing last night. I'm not going to do a review or whatever you want to call my normal movie posts, as I really don't want to spoil anything for anybody else. Just trust me, if you don't laugh at Chillerama, then your sense of humor is broken. There were times when I was laughing so hard I was crying.

I will say that of all three short films, my favorite was Adam Green's Diary of Anne Frankenstein. My overall "blah" feelings toward Adam Green's movies is well documented here in the Batcave, as to date I've only really loved Frozen, and certainly don't worship the Hatchet movies. I couldn't help but love his entry in Chillerama though. Joel David Moore is absolutely hilarious as Hitler, pay close attention to his "German" when he speaks. He was definitely the stand-out of Chillerama for me, to say he stole the movie would be an understatement. But then he tends to do that in almost everything he's in, in my opinion.

The other shorts are both great though, with "Wadzilla" being my second favorite, and Tim Sullivan's "I Was a Teenage Werebear" sadly being the weakest of the bunch. That's not to say it was bad though, being the worst thing in Chillerama is still better than most things. I dig Tim Sullivan's movies, especially the first 2001 Maniacs, but for some reason Teenage Werebear felt like it was trying a little too hard for me. Not bad, just not as outright funny as Wadzilla and Diary. The drive-in feature that tied everything together, "Zom-B-Movie" from director Joe Lynch was also great. There are cameo's aplenty, along with a fantastic cast of regulars, including Richard Riehle, Ray Wise, Eric Roberts, Kane Hodder, Lin Shaye, and more. I even think I saw Eli Roth, but if it was in fact him, he wasn't credited.

It's impossible not to recommend Chillerama, but at the same time it definitely won't be for everybody. I feel safe in saying that if you're reading this blog, then you'll more than likely dig it. It basically feels like four guys who are buds and love the old drive-in theater splatter flicks of yester-year got together and decided to pool their collective talents to write a love letter to those old movies they probably grew up watching. If you can't make it to one of the limited theatrical showings, worry not, it's already out on VOD, and your chance to own it for yourself isn't that far off. The dvd and bluray are set to release just after Thanksgiving, on November 29th. I know I will definitely be adding it to my Halloween rotation beginning next year, and I highly recommend checking it out for yourself. If nothing else, you'll have plenty of  new quotes to interject into your daily conversation.