Late Night Double Feature (2015)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Brian Scott Carleton, Grace Armstrong, Lewis Beach
Directed by Torin Langen, Navin Ramaswaran, Zachary Ramelan, Kelly Michael Stewart, Jason Tannis
Harking back to the glorious days of public access cable TV midnight shock cinema, Late Night Double Feature grabs its audience with a refreshing mix of just enough comedy to complement its horror backbone, resulting in a pretty damn entertaining film.
Led by a five-headed Hydra of directorial proportions (just read the names above), the movie takes a sizable jab at the production and presentation of “Dr. Nasty’s Cavalcade of Horrors” show and the movies it showcases with a “behind-the-scenes” look at the drama entailed within when the drunk host of the show, Dr. Nasty himself (Carleton), continues his boozing ways and follows the lead of a womanizing director, all the while upsetting his beautiful co-host, Nurse Nasty, in the process.
In any event, the problems on the show will remain for some time so let’s jump into the two horrific features that are on the slab!
In Dinner for Monsters, a struggling chef gets the opportunity of a lifetime to step outside his fledgling restaurant and make some serious dough simply for cooking a spectacular meal for a private list of heavyweight clientele. What he comes to realize is that the meal isn’t the usual “wine and dine” product that’s thrown out on the table during one of these events – grab yer knives cause it’s time to cut right down to the bone! With an ample supply of gore and a sprinkling of black humor, this “dinner” should fulfill even the most picky eaters… that is, until you see what you’re about to chomp down into.
The second movie being broadcast among some goofy commercials is Slit – a much darker peek into the world of “cutting” and the man who offers his services to those who wish to be sliced but not necessarily diced. His undoing is clearly enveloping all around him when his next client isn’t quite that interested in being the victim. While it seems as if the comic element was abandoned for more of a bleaker atmosphere, it still worked and the story was even more worthwhile to lay eyes upon than its predecessor.
Looking at the movie as a whole, I’d have to surmise that beyond some of the lamer bits of humor that clearly came off as stale and filler-like, the premise of the seedy undertakings that went on behind the scenes of the show itself were a savior to the presentation overall. Complemented by two decent photoplays sandwiched in the middle, this “Cavalcade of Horrors” is one show that I wish would have found its way onto my public access channels. Recommended for those who reveled in the days (and nights) of the after-hours shock-a-thons that entertained the masses for so long.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
