Do you need a break from super heroes? Sure, those big budget, CGI-infused
studio-produced films are wonderful eye candy, but there is a certain sameness
about them that plays out like A-to-B-to-C.
Even the good ones can overwhelm the senses.
Indican Pictures to the rescue this summer, with not
one, but two off-the-grid genre films that are akin to a dream vacation away
from the main, and well-traveled, theatrical road.
Up first on DVD on Aug. 6 is director Drew Bolton’s LGBT
slasher flick, Killer Unicorn,
which achieved instant cult status once it began to make the film festival
rounds in October of last year. Word
spread and this indie production quickly found a home at Indican Pictures for
both theatrical and home entertainment distribution.
Indican was able to secure five theatrical screens
for Killer Unicorn in
mid-June (which is a tough thing to do during the summer as the studios rollout
their big-budget monsters cobbling up 2,500 to 3,500 screens at a whack). The average was an impressive $5,000 per
screen, including prime-time sellouts on Friday and Saturday evenings!!
For the record, the ARR is 53 days.
Indeed, the word had spread that Killer
Unicorn was a must-see event. It is, however, the DVD launch that will
finally get the film to the wider audience that it deserves.
Bolton’s film plays out at three levels. First it is a traditional slasher film, with
our hero, Danny (Alejandro La Rosa), a wannabe drag queen nearly a victim in
the opening prologue. Attacked by a buff
young man in shorts and a Unicorn mask (played by Dennis Budesheim), Danny
fails to notice the danger … his eyes are fixated on the heavenly sight before
him (more on that in a second). Sliced
and diced, he is left for dead!
We pick up on the action one year later and Danny is
ready to venture out again. He joins a
drag queen and party boy party (in slasher film terminology, this is the
“victim pool”), where fun elements are introduced. Screenwriter José D. Álvarez, in various
interviews with filmmaker Drew Bolton, spent quite a bit of time with each of
the drag queen personas to write specific scenes to showcase their talents …
overlapping and snappy dialog — and oh those ladies — gives Killer
Unicorn an edge that filmgoers have
enjoyed immensely.
The third element is the “Unicorn Killer”
himself. There is a subtle message here
from Bolton, eye-candy is all well and good, but if you are going to party, do
so with caution. As with Danny in the
opening sequences, several of the victims of the Unicorn Killer seem to almost
go willingly to their grisly ends without ever recognizing the obvious danger
of a blood-soaked killer with a knife!
Also added to the summer DVD release calendar this
past week by Indican Pictures in the Brit-import, director Simon P. Edwards’
fan-funded Six Hot Chicks in a Warehouse. The DVD street date is Sept. 3.
Writer, director and producer Simon P. Edwards,
along with actress Jessica Messenger, worked on getting this film into
production for several years, finally with a little help from their fans,
production got underway in 2017, it opened at the Unrestricted View Horror Film
Festival in November of that same year and then went on a globe-trotting tour
of genre-themed festivals all over the world.
At some point Indican Pictures got word of the
film’s successes and now here we have the DVD ready for domestic audiences to
savor on Sept. 3.
The story centers around a psycho named Adrian (Oliver
Malam — Dead Love, This Is Not Happening),
who fancies himself a fashion photographer, but along way he became more of a
creep to the models than photographer.
His career is going nowhere and guess who he blames (look in the mirror
buddy, you are creepy!!!) … the fashion models who shun him.
Giving off that “Norman Bates” vibe, he comes up
with a plan to have his revenge. He
talks Mira (Jessica Messenger — Beneath a Neon Tide, Dead Heading)
into putting the past behind them and doing a high-paying photo-shoot with him
… oh, and by way, could you bring along some of your model friends.
Do you smell a trap? Of course, the tasty young models arrive —
including Sabine Crossen as Ana, Jade Wallis as Sera and Emma Lock as April —
and goes through the motions of photographing them. And then into the electrified cage they
go!!!
Sept. 3, Six Hot
Chicks in a Warehouse … find out what happens
next!! No spoilers here!!!
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