Dark Side Releasing Readies Blu-ray Edition Of Writer/Director Joshua Hull’s Chopping Block On Sept. 17

A psycho killer tale with a twist and a sense of humor is not the norm for genre films of this ilk, but writer/director Joshua Hull’s Chopping Block is just such a film. 

Dark Side Releasing, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will be releasing a new, updated Blu-ray edition of Chopping Block on Sept. 17.

In what can best be described as a foreshadowing of what is to come, a young woman, who we will eventually come to know as Danielle (Haley Madison — CarousHELL), is covered with blood and staggering down the sidewalk … obviously something pretty nasty has happened.   

We then turn our attention to Donnie (Michael Malone) and his co-workers, Hilary (Jasper Sams), Will (Bryan Wilson), Steve (Raymond Kester) and Richie (Alex Raaen ), who are all fired for Donnie’s incompetence.   This, of course, requires drinks at the local bar so that the events of the day make sense.

Drinks mean alcohol and pretty soon the five come up with a revenge scheme, which is hazy at best, but nevertheless it makes sense to the five of them in some sort of weird way.   They will kidnap the daughter of their boss (played by Dennis Crosswhite) and hold her for ransom … how that actually helps their cause is one of the loose ends of their plan as there is no dot-to-dot-to-dot end game that leads to a happy outcome.

If you haven’t guessed who the bosses’ daughter is, then you haven’t been paying attention.   We circle back to the opening sequence, which finds our five inept kidnappers stumbling upon the bloody Danielle and grabbing her off the street.   

Once back to their “secret hideout” they learn from her that she is being stalked by a serial killer, which has forced her to move again and again as the body count of her friends has piled up.   “You are all going to die.”   And soon enough, guess who is at the door.

Chopping Block is great fun and is certainly more of a stand-up sketch comedy then it is a horror film … discounting the slaughter of the pizza delivery guy and one of the members of this hearty band of kidnappers, oh yes, and the chopped-off hand of another member of the “gang.”

Bonus features include cast and crew commentary, deleted scenes, outtakes and a gag reel.