Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Verotika
Directed by Glenn Danzig
Dark Risen Pictures; UFO Pictures; Cleopatra
Entertainment; MVD Entertainment
90 minutes, 2019 / 2020
www.mvdentertainment.com
Heavy music
and horror films have always had a symbiotic relationship. This is especially
true with independent films of the genre, who oft times use metal or punk for
their soundtracks. Metal star Rob Zombie took it a step further and started
writing and directing, and has built up quite the canon now of more than half a
dozen of his own films, mostly on the Firefly family and revamping the
franchise of the classic Halloween.
Now enter Glenn
Danzig, vocalist of heavy punk bands The Misfits, Samhain and Danzig (and who officially
becomes a senior citizen this year). But he also has his own decade-old comic
book imprint of erotic EC Comics-style short horror stories from which these
tales are adapted, likewise by the name of Verotika, which is the
background work for his directorial debut with this release. It’s exciting
news.
 |
| Kayden Kross |
Critics have
been harsh with this film, to say the least, but I am going in open minded.
Sometimes the heart is bigger than the end result, but to me, that’s also a part
of it. Most reviewers tend to look at all releases on the same level, but I
keep my expectations on what is accomplished more than what is missed. Here we
go.
Right off the
start, we are introduced to our host, Morella (Kayden Kross), with upside-down Iron
Crosses on her cheeks, as she performs a violent act on a chained woman that
I’m sure was meant to invoke an iconic scene from Fulci’s Zombie (1979).
It’s a bit overdone, but most horror host(ess) bits historically tend to be
like that, from the likes of Elvira and Zacherle; they have more cheese than a
Whole Foods store.
 |
| Ashley Wisdom and Scotch Hopkins |
The first story is “The
Albino Spider of Dajette,” which I am assuming is supposed to take place in
France, considering the attempt at accents. Poor Dajette (fluffed-lipped Ashely
Wisdom) has eyes instead of nipples on her ponderous bosoms, which freaks guys
out. Her tears after being rejected by some abusive guy change a white, cartoonish-CGI
spider into a six-armed man (Scotch Hopkins) who kills for her by reading her
subconscious. Oddly, he kills women, rather than the doods that abuse
her. This is a world where women are prostitutes and men are machismo morons. There’s
lots of Creepshow (1982) kinds of primary color lighting, and close-ups
of faces. The editing is kind of choppy, and the line reading stunningly wooden,
but the downfall for me is the pretentiousness of the dialog. It tries to
elevate itself into some kind of lyrical poetry or art, but falls flat, right
from the beginning.
The story not only
makes little sense, but has no explanations. I mean, how did a particular group
(I don’t want to give away too much) know that the spider man with six arms was
“the neckbreaker” murderer, and why were they fascinated by Dajette’s eye/boobs,
but not that the guy had six arms? I actually have so many more questions, but
I can’t ask them here without giving away too much. It’s a rocky start.
 |
| Rachel Alig (with knife) |
After a very brief visit
with Morella, we’re off with “Change of Face,” the second story. Loosely an
homage to the French film from 1960, Eyes Without a Face (or perhaps
even more laxly with 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?), a mysterious and
scarred dancer (Rachel Alig) has a predilection for killing women and stealing
their faces… then wearing them… while stripping… wearing a schmata to
cover her face. Wait, what? Now, I’m not a strip club denizen, but being
the featured dancer and having three people in the audience does not seem like a
good career move. But that’s just me, I guess…
 |
| Alice Tate |
The last story is “Drukija:
Countess of Blood,” freely based on the true story of Countess Bathory (also
the source for other films, like 1971’s Countess Dracula, with the late,
great Ingrid Pitt [d. 2010]). Drukija (Alice Tate, who has a really interesting
look and outfit to die for, in a cosplay scenario) has a thing for virgins in the
Middle Ages ‘hood of Hungary; of course, if you know the Bathory story, it’s not
for nurturing but rather “bathing.”
I realize that odds
are Danzig was going for a Hammer Films look in this segment, but he doesn’t quite
achieve that, as he tends to “linger” a bit too long. Shots of Drukija bathing
in a peasant girl’s blood, both of them starkers, stays longer than a relative
at Thanksgiving, letting tedium build (much like the dancers in the previous “Change
of Face”), which is not for what scenes like this are intended.
This story actually does
not really have a plot, but is a series of set pieces to show women bled, eviscerated
and chopped up. Even the torturous level of gore in 1970’s Mark of the Devil
at least had a narrative to justify its actions, such as it was.
Perhaps what Danzig should have done is start off with some meat-and-taters films to get his hands dirty and figure
out what he wants and what he is doing, even if there is some artistic ambience
thrown in to elevate it a bit, and then experiment with a goal in mind that
is achievable at an earned level of experience. Perhaps his life of fame and
right wing conspiracy posturing has given him the confidence that is beyond his
skills.
It’s easy to cry “sexist”
when seeing this, even though the main character of each of the three stories and
its wraparound is female. But so are nearly all of the victims. The men are
just there to make the rest of us look like drooling, sex-obsessed maroons. Naturally,
there is a scene in a strip club (which looks like a music video stuck in to expand
the time without really adding much to the story, as with the insertion shots
in 1979’s Caligula), a porno theater, and a fetish modeling shoot (with
a 35mm film camera as its recording medium?).
Perhaps the problem is
actually me, that I’m no longer a super-horny and hormone-ridden teen (or young
adult), and I want to get to the meat of the matter (pun intended) of the story
and the mayhem that it entails, rather than just hanging out watching near-nekkid
people rubbing themselves on poles like DJ Trump does to flags. Both are pointless
to the situations at hand.
Part of the issue may
be that Danzig tends to use severely augmented hardcore adult actors of varying
acting talent; being that Danzig is a fan of David Cronenberg, who used Marilyn
Chambers in Rabid (1977), that may be the paradigm he used (and gives
him a reason to hang out with them in fanboy form).
The biggest problem,
though, in my opinion, is that he both wrote and directed the film, and with
the kind of ego he’s been known to postulate, he may not be inclined to listen
to others because he knows what he wants. With a lack of experience in
filmmaking, more often than not it is important to have a middle person between
the writing and the directing for editorial purposes. I have said this before
in other reviews, and I stand by it. The editing is also on the choppy side,
with a few continuity issues; but that’s somewhat easier to forgive with a relative
newbie to feature films, rather than his experience with his own music videos. I’m
hoping when a sequel comes out, and it should, there will be more cohesion.
This box set comes with
three discs: a Blu-ray and DVD of the film and extras, and a really nice
metal-based soundtrack CD (see listing below).
CD Listing:
Danzig: Eyes Ripping Fire
Ministry: Dancing Madly Backwards
on a Sea of Air
Jyrki 69: Close Your Eyes
Vile a Sin: Crimson Lust
Fantôme: Je Suis a Toi
Pink Velvet: Allez Prenons Un
Autre Verre
Kore Rozzik: Can't Stop Won't
Stop
Switchblade Symphony: Gutter Glitter
Vile a Sin: The Return
Studio 69: Il Est Juste la
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