Painkiller (2014)

Body Horror is a interesting sub-genre for me.  Just seeing someone going through horrifying changes in their body can be frightening.  Especially since they have no control over it.  Painkiller, a short directed by Jeremiah Kipp and written by Jerry Janda,  takes that sub-genre into a interesting place.
 Painkiller is a short film, about two scientist  (both who are couples) who try to create a organism,to help people with a terminal disease.  What this organism does is make the pain less enduring by feeding off  from the pain.  The girlfriend volunteers to have the organism implanted in her.  Of course the special effects in this scene is very well done.  After that, they finally test out this new type of painkiller, which was very harsh to see.  Sadly, the girlfriend would later be addicted to pain.  She would do anything for someone to hurt her, even attack people so they can retaliate on her.  Tired of hurting his girlfriend, the boyfriend tries to look for some professionals to bring the pain for the girlfiend.
The opening scene with Thomas Mendolia and Jerry Janda was great.  There was a nice flow when both were doing their dialogues.  And Kelly Rae LeGault did a nice job of portraying someone who's going through a terrible change in her body.  Kipp did a great job in bringing Janda's script to life.  And with Jeffrey S. Gould as DP also made Painkiller look really nice.
I do have to say that some people may not fancy the ending to much.  As shocking as it is, it did make me want to know more about Jerry Janda's character.  I can enjoy doing a open interpretation of the ending, but I don't think that it will do it justice.  Only because only Jerry Janda knows what's in the head of the man in the suit.  But overall, it's pretty good fora short film.  The special features includes the trailer and their crowd funding video, which gives a little about what Painkiller is about.  If you want to purchase the DVD or rent it for $1, then please check out www.painkillerfilm.com.

Tusk (2014)

Kevin Smith, who most people have known him as the "Clerks Guy" or "Silent Bob", has finally made his second horror film, Tusk.  If you ever hear his podcast that he does with his friend/producer, Scott Mosier, then you've probably heard the story he told about a ad he read on a website called Gumtree.  In the ad, someone was looking for a lodger to live with him.  The rent is free, but the lodger has to dress up as a walrus for two hours a day.  And on that episode of Smodcast, Kevin and Scott started pitching the idea of a walrus movie.  Even though Kevin had already finish the script for Clerks III, he was willing to hold it so he can do a walrus movie.  He asked his fans to go on Twitter and hashtag walrus yes, if his fans wanted him to make the movie, or hashtag walrus no, if they don't.  The people have spoken and said "#WalrusYes".  Therefore, Kevin Smith made his walrus movie called Tusk.  And it was pretty fucked up.

The movie is about a bloke name Wallace Bryton (Justin Long), who does a podcast with his friend, Teddy Craft (Haley Joel Osment), called "The Not-See Party".  In this podcast, Wallace goes around to interview people who are strange and/or interesting, then comes back and tell Teddy all about it.  In one of the episodes, they find a video on youtube, where a dude cuts his leg off with a sword.  The guys, who is referred to as "The Kill Bill Kid" reaches out to Wallace to do a interview.  So Wallace plans a trip to Canada and visit the Kill Bill Kid.  Wallace's girlfriend, Ally (Genesis Rodriguez), is against it because she doesn't want him to ridicule the poor guy.

So Wallace arrives to Winnipeg and goes to the house where the Kill Bill Kid lives.  Sadly, Wallace finds out that the kid died.  He goes to a bar and calls Teddy to tell him all about it.  And since Wallace needs something for the show, he plans to stay for a while and hopes to find someone who's a bit out there.  When he goes to drain the lizard, he sees a ad in the bathroom wall, about a guy named Howard Howe (Michael Parks) looking for a lodger, pretty much similar to the Gumtree ad.  So Wallace goes out to find Howard Howe, and do an interview with him for the podcast.  When Wallace goes to Howe's place, he finds him in a wheelchair, all alone and very harmless.  Like your typical old man.  Howard goes on to tell Wallace the story about how he was saved by a walrus  As Howard continues to tell the story, Wallace passes out and we find out that his tea was drugged.  When he wakes up, he finds himself in a wheelchair.  Howe tells him that he was bitten by a spider.  But Wallace knew he was bullshitting him.  In the dinner scene, Howard tells Wallace his plan to turn him into a walrus.  While trying to get some sleep, Wallace hears his phone.  He tries to look for it, and when he does, he sees it's Ally trying to call him.  He tries to call her back, but ends up leaving a voice mail.  Sadly, Mr. Howe catches him and knocks him out.

Back home, Ally and Teddy haven't heard from Wallace for a long time.  One morning, Ally went to check her voicemail and heard Wallace's message.  She tells Teddy about it and they go to Canada to look for Wallace.  They visit Detective Frank Garmin (Ralph Garman), and have him listen to the voicemail.  The detective wasn't sure what to make of it, but he referred Ally and Teddy to a investigator name Guy LaPointe (Johnny Depp).  LaPointe tells Ally and Teddy about a case two years prior and that the person who captured Wallace, may be the person that LePointe is after.

As Guy, Teddy, and Ally go and search for Wallace, we see the transformation and it looks really fucked up. Maybe silly and goofy, too, but it still looks fucked up.  And seeing Howe training Wallace to be a walrus is pretty disturbing.  And just seeing Wallace in that suit is very depressing.  Because now we know there's no coming back.  And when I saw the fight seen, it looks pretty funny, but felt so wrong.  And hearing Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" playing in the background, made it a bit darker.  Of course Ally and Teddy find Wallace, and I don't need to go any further.

If you're a fan of Smodcast, then you'll enjoy the references, which you've probably heard in the podcast.  They mention the brown recluse spider.  Red, White, but never Blue.  The Gimli Slider.  And if you listen to Hollywood Babble-On, Wallace has the "Hollywood Helpers" theme song as a ringtone.  

I also enjoyed Michael Parks performance in Tusk.  And to me, Howard Howe seems more mental than Abin Cooper from Red State.  There's a scene with Parks and Depp which I found to be hilarious.  And also made me a fan of the Guy LaPointe character.

So if you found the trailer to be interesting, then go check it out.  Of course don't take it too seriously.  It's about a man turning another man into a walrus.  It's suppose to be silly.  Really glad Kevin Smith made this, because I don't know if anyone else will.  And if you enjoyed this, then also check out "The Island of Dr. Moreau" and "Sssssss".  Both are crazy films.

#WalrusFuckYeah

p.s.  If you enjoyed Guy Lapointe, there's a little extra after the credits.