Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Mind Melters 2: A Collection of Even More Short Films
Directed by James Balsamo
Acid Bath Productions
90 minutes, 2020
When you are as prolific
a filmmaker as James Balsamo, what is one to do during a global pandemic? Well,
all those films he worked on, all those conventions he’s attended, and those
cameos he coerced (via kindness) from other actors, filmmakers, and musicians,
can come in handy.
There must be tons of
footage from his films that have been excised for time, or just short bits,
laying around the house, figurately speaking (since they’re on a computer), so
zipping together a menagerie of clips from previous films and other works
surely is a good way to keep Satan away from those idle hands.
Balsamo, who if you’re
not familiar with his work – and you should be – falls into a subgenre of
directors/actors that use the medium with themselves as the focal point, and
all hell goes on around them in a charming, yet amateurish way, that is genuinely
endearing, albeit based on some incredibly adolescent humor (such as Bill Zebub).
Version Deux here has some
commonalities with the first Mind Melters (2019), but there is one
glaring difference that I think puts this above the introductory release, and
that is a level of cohesion. Mind Melters was kind of a mixed-up
mish-mash of little, unconnected bits, mostly, and thereby a bit inconsistent;
not bad, just more stream-of-consciousness, kinda. Here, the separation is more
flowing and straightforward in a series of short films rather than just “bits.”
For example, it starts
off with the short, “Lunch Meeting,” where a bunch of middle aged male
executives each have their own fantasies about someone trying out for the Administrative
Assistant position. Hilarity and nudity abound.
There is a bit a
lunacy as well, or one might think of it more as surrealistic, such as the
short “Vampire Laundry Machine,” where a vampire’s bite turns a washer/dryer
combo into, well, you know.
This is followed by a
series of shorts of people talking into the camera, sort of like professional
wrestlers, be it a pair of vampires (in front of said washer/dryer), or a very
strange and extended bit with heavy curtain chewing by Craig Muckler (of 1979’s
Microwave Massacre), holding a large bat stuffy down by some river and
waterfall, after being interviewed by a reporter cleverly named Lewis N. Clark
(Bob Cummings). These latter two pick up again a couple of times later as the
same characters, but this time discussing a snake (feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl)
and then with a giant spider (puppet). Shot in the woods, the best part is the
guy in the background who is cleaning off the trail, not sure what was going on
in the foreground. Just pitch perfect for an off-the-wall bit, raising it to a
higher level of laughter. Then there is the Andy Kaufmann effect: was that guy
real, or a planted actor? I’m not sure I even want to know.
 |
| James Balsamo |
While it’s obvious that
Balsamo likes to be the center of attention (and I have no issue with that), some
of the fine moments is when he lets other people just go off. For example, next
up – and bits are shown throughout the film – is the centerpiece where Balsamo
interviews cult filmmaker Ted Nicolaou (including 1988’s TerrorVision
and the Full Moon Subspecies franchise, which started in 1991 and
continues). It was originally done for Mad Monster Radio, and there’s lots of
tidbits about filmmaking. In another bit later, during “James Quall Sings,” he
lets the comic do a full, original song, “I’m Still Stamping” –
that’s what it sounds like, anyway – which is quite bemusing.
One of my favorites is
“Creature of Science,” which starts off slow, with a mutant pooch that kills a
group of people, one in an especially sensitive moment; actor and vlogger Shawn
C. Phillips is hysterical as the amateur scientist doing his own podcast about
warning people to not try his “giant dog” experiment.
Another completely
ridiculous and WTF short is “Johnny De Dead,” dealing with jealousy, the
afterlife, and “ghost sex.” It lasts a good couple of minutes, but that’s also
probably how long I laughed at it after, for it’s sheer ridiculousness. Left me
smiling.
 |
| TITAN |
Balsamo shows a bit of
his artistic side with a full music video for black metal (death metal? I’m a
punk rocker, so the subtleties of this genre escape me) band TITAN, which
consists of a vocalist/guitarist and a drummer. It’s filled with satanic imagery
and ritual (and a nice cameo by the director). The song, “Abramelin,” pounds
away as a good black/death metal ditty should.
If you like animation,
there a bit of that two, including the theme song to “The Glork Show,”
featuring an alien who becomes a talk show host, and a full episode cartoon featuring
Fester Fish (Aaron Long Productions, 2012) titled “Fester Makes Friends.”
Many of the usual
Balsamo regulars are not here for this release, but don’t be alarmed, there are
a few, such as a clip with the late, great Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus, of
Gwar; d. 2014), Dan E. Danger, Billy Walsh, who appears at least three times,
and Balsamo’s dog Alf (not to be confused with the “big dog” experiment.
I actually had quite a
bit of fun with this, and because it was more cohesive than the first, I
probably liked it even better than the first Mind Melters. The only thing
I would have added would have been some captioning for the Nicolaou interview, because
due to circumstances that is life, the master sound recording was lost and it
is using the camera mic, which makes it a bit hard to hear in spots.
If you’re a Balsamo
fan, like gonzo filmmaking, lots of variety and lunacy, and looking at nude women,
you really can’t go completely wrong here.
Mind Melters 2 trailer
HERE
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