Text © Richard
Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
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the Internet
The Necro Files
Directed
by Matt Jaissle
Visual Vengeance; Threat Theatre International Inc.; Wild Eye Releasing; MVD Entertainment
72 minutes, 1997 / 2022
www.facebook.com/thenecrofiles/
www.wildeyereleasing.com
www.MVDEntertainment.com/
This film is a classic in the home
movie subgenre. Essentially, what that means it that it was shot on video.
Visual Vengeance is one of the few companies that are rereleasing the lowest
quality looking films imaginable, which is, well, fantastic. The reason?
Because of the imagination behind it. The execution? Well… Note that this film
has been cleaned up significantly, and the quality of the visuals are quite
good, unlike most of the VV fare which is seen in their trailers.
Named after “The X Files,” you gotta love a film that starts with the obligatory shower scene with full frontal nudity (Theresa Bestul). Serial killer and rapist Logan (Isaac Cooper) is not far behind, chased by a couple of police detectives: the ultra-violent after a bomp on the noggin Martin Manners (Steve Sheppard) and his partner, the mustachioed Orville Sloane (Gary Browning), that latter of whom has a personal stake in the whole affair as his sister was a previous victim.
Steve Sheppard and Gary Browning
Long story short, dead killer, who is raised from his “slumber” by a group of Satan worshipers by killing the baby of the rapist’s victim (yes, an obvious doll). Be careful what you wish for because what arises is a flesh eating and extremely violent zombie.
Two of the surviving Satanists (who were in the group to hopefully get laid), the not-too-smart Barney (Jason McGee), who wears a Smashing Pumpkins Mission to Mars tee which is apparently quite rare these days and selling in the hundreds of dollars, and Jack (Christian Curmudgeon; like others in the cast, such as Ann R. Key and Drew Burymore, I am going to go out on a limb and say that’s not his real name), who wears plaid flannel (remember, this is filmed in Olympia, WA, in the ‘90s), try to resurrect a demon that will take care of the zombie, but instead raise the baby (again, it’s a doll) that flies around, also killing people while it searches for its zombie daddy. You read that right. I am only expressing this here because that is part of what makes this film so infamous among the subgenre. Well, that and the extreme level of gore.
I will be honest, and posit that I do not like scenes of rape, even if it is with a zombie and a 12” prosthetic dong/dildo). Never did. If you will pardon this soapbox paragraph, I once got into conversation with Frank Farel, the producer of Street Trash (1987) at a private pre-release showing of the film about how I objected to the rape scene in that film, and that it was gratuitous. I enjoyed the rest of the film, but that part just seemed so unnecessary and sexist. Then again, it was the 1980s, and envelopes were purposely pushed. But I stand by my conviction.
Isaac Cooper
The gore level in this film is over the top, and of course, that’s a good thing in this case. Piles of offal more than blood fill the screen often. For a gorehound, it is a pleasure, especially since it looks like they got it from a slaughterhouse; and yet, it is so extreme, it is almost cartoonish at the same time. Good times.
The acting is horrendously wooden, but I will chime the same tune I have been stating since the beginning of this review, and that is, it is what is expected in this subgenre. If you are looking for, say, Halloween (1978, 2007) quality, you are looking in the wrong place and will not be satisfied. If, however, you are like me, and marvel at how something this low budget and independent managed to do as much as they did with the means they have, this film is actually better than most.
Part of the relative success of the release, in my opinion, is the camerawork and editing by the director, Matt Jaissle, who works with the material (cameras, etc.) at his disposal, and has made this to look, well (and I mean this as a compliment), better than it should. Sure, the story itself (by first-time screenwriter Todd Tjersland, who also plays the head of the Satanic cult) is kinda ridiculous; the flying baby is priceless.
Speaking of fake names, it comes to the crew as well, such as “The X Files” related Dana Duchovny and David Fox, but the one that caught my eye was Gilles de Rias (if you are into serial killers, he’s worth looking up on Wikipedia; I have known about him for decades).
The music is often a varying hum, which actually works well for the film. There is some humor woven into the story (especially around the flying baby and the sounds it makes), though I would not necessarily call this a comedy.
Having heard of this film for years, I was not sure exactly what to expect from this, but I was not disappointed. In fact, it was much better than I was expecting, and again, I give that credit to the director who took a really silly story and, on some level, made it all work.
There is a whopping number of extras on the region-free Blu-ray that took me quite the time to get through. They include (but not all) a new, full-length audio commentary with the director, Matt Jaissle, where he has lots of good stories about the filming, and what’s going on in a particular scene you may not have noticed. A second full-length audio commentary is with Matt Desiderio of the VHS distribution label and podcast, “Horror Boobs,” and Billy Burgess of the Druid Underground Film Festival. They are knowledgeable about the film, and yet are not clinical, as I find some of the commentaries for, say, Fulci films. They seem to be there to have a good time and share that. It’s also amusing how they attach things that aren’t related to “show off” a bit (I would do the same), such as calling the opening shower scene a nod to Psycho (1960), and the Cassio soundtrack reminiscent of Blood Feast (1963). They are there to do a job, but because they are having so much fun doing it, that is transferred to the listener.
Next up is a brand-new video, “A Chat with Director Matt Jaissle” (7 min), as he roams around a cemetery with a handheld camera (with no stedi-cam) as he discusses other films he’s made, his influences, and getting The Necro Files started. It’s short and sweet. This is followed by a couple of Matt Jaissle’s Super 8 Short Films from when he was a teenager: “The Paroxysm Plague”, a zombie flick, and “The Adventures of the Walla Monster” (which includes a homage to Leatherface, Michael, and Jason). They are as amateurish as you can get, but that’s part of what makes it so much fun. A third 8mm short, “The Corpse” (1987; 9 min.) is a bit better realized along storyline and execution.
The Chilean Talk Show Segment (4 min.) is okay, except I do not speak Spanish. However, I am impressed they showed some of the graphic details (including dildos) both sexual and violent, while the group of hosts laugh it off. I wish this was captioned. More importantly is the documentary, “Dong of the Dead: The Making of The Necro Files” (20 min.). This is essentially a one-shot of Jaissle (with some brief clips) where he once again talks about the beginning of the film, the shooting, and especially the reaction afterwards (including a Chris Farley story!). It is engaging. Then there are also some Visual Vengeance trailers, including two original ones for the main film.
Included is a bonus Movie, the sequel Necro Files 3000 (2017) and its trailer, the film of which is reviewed below.
Some of the physical extras include a Limited
Edition Slipcover for the first pressing, a retro VHS sticker set, the Necro
Files Official Condom (yes, you read that correctly), a Reversible Sleeve
featuring the original VHS art, a Collectible Mini Poster, and a 2-Sided Insert.
IMDB listing HERE The trailer is at the bottom of the reviews.
Necro
Files 3000
Directed
by Matt Jaissle
Superpuppetanimation; VidEvil Video Company; Carilliam Pictures; Gravehill
Production
62 minutes, 2017 / 2022
www.facebook.com/necrofiles3000/
This is actually the second sequel
for the film, the first of which was The Necro Files 2 (2003), which Jaissle
only had a limited contribution. It took 20 years for this second and official sequel
to be released.
In the beginning… is the prologue. It shows a clip of the Satanists in the first film, raising up Logan, but in black and white. Instead of Isaac Cooper, we get a rapacious and cannibalistic… skeleton marionette. Yes, you read that right. In fact, from this point on, which is in color, all the characters are either puppets or dolls; the women victims are Barbie-esque, reminding me of Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), which also used dolls. The obvious question is, of course, how does a skeleton (never mind a puppet) rape with no foot-long schlong as did the original Logan, never mind a plastic one?
Professor Blackthorne and Phineas Hogweather
We are then introduced to the protagonists of the film, Professor Blackthorne, an expert in the occults whose beard and eyebrows are drawn on with a marker, and Logan is brought to his attention by an investigative journalist, Phineas Hogweather (the latter is played by an elfin-eared “yokel” puppet; is that a commentary on modern journalism? Neil Postman would be proud).
Odd thing is, the gore level is high, and actually looks decent next to the plastic “victims” which are torn asunder. Not only that, but his plan is to resurrect “a death god to roam the planet,” exclaims the professor. They chase skeleton Logan to different parts of the globe, such as the Amazon Forest. Apparently, Logan travels to these destinations via supernatural portals. Then again, I’m watching a film about puppets. There are humans in the film, usually in the background or B-roll, shot in Ann Arbor, MI, such as trick or treaters, or crowd shots. Being shot around Halloween makes some nice costumes.
Victim and skeletal Logan
While the film tries to be funny, it kinda doesn’t achieve it much, but is still fascinating to me to watch how far they’ll go. For example, in a somewhat racist scene in the Amazon, there is an almost direct reference to a particular Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs meets an Aboriginal tribesman from Australia (“WhadIsay?” was Bugs’ response, rather than the professors, “Oh, shit”).
And what happens when the prof and Phineas hack into the Pentagon’s deadly Godzilla-sized Killbot 9000 (referencing Alex Jones conspiracies, of all people). This leads to the irony of the story, that P&P are responsible for killing a multitude of more people than Logan. While all that is happening, can you find Waldo? (I did.)
Stick around for the blooper
reel in the credits. Okay, so much of the film is just ridiculous, but I
certainly enjoyed particular aspects of it, like the bravery of the crew creating
this in the first place, and for $1000. Also, there are a lot of cool references
that pop up here and there (like the Waldo thing). Do I recommend it? For the
right frame of mind, certainly. If you have a low threshold of insanity, well…
IMDB listing HERE
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