Independent genre cinema is alive and kicking all around the globe with micro/medium budget efforts seeing the light of day on DVD from all manner of territories including the US, Canada, Japan and Spain. However, with the exception of some pretty heavy weight titles such as '
28 Days Latter' and '
Shaun of the Dead', the UK seems to lack that 'Weekend Warrior' mentality that spurs budding film makers into braving the freezing British Winter to create a little piece of cine fantastiqu. Thankfully Christian James and fellow writer Dan Palmer have done for British comedy horror what Peter Jackson equally did for New Zealand with his gleefully camp alien romp '
Bad Taste'. Similar in tone but much less messy, Freak Out has rightfully generated a buzz through the media channels and should rightfully become a cult classic on its eventual release to the fans.
Merv Doody loves horror! He likes nothing more than hanging out with his idiotic friend Onkey and whiling away the day watching the latest and greatest splatter flicks. Living in rural England and occupying the roof space of his grannies house, Merv's life is deficient of any real thrills and usually finds that Onkey's foolish antics are just about all the excitement he needs. After yet another horror movie marathon spent in his dingy bedroom, Merv is disturbed to find a hooded stranger standing in his shower. Merv's delight is tangible as he thinks that he has finally come face to face with the one thing he idolises the most, a monstrous serial killer, but looks can be deceptive and the stranger turns out to be nothing more than a 6' 4", Larry Hagman loving nancy boy. For once in his life, Merv see's a point to his feeble existence and, armed with his extensive knowledge of murderous deeds thanks to the hours of horror film viewing, decides to take the stranger under his wing and train him to be the next Leatherface.
With its hilariously immature sense of humour and glaring appreciation of all things horror, Freak Out dares to blend the un-blendable, dabbling dangerously in a volatile mix of horror and comedy. Where others have failed so badly, James pulls off a small miracle considering his inexperience in film production and has managed to create a giggle heavy slasherthon which say's a lot about this passion for the best of horror. The Freak Out crew have been watching the genre closely which becomes blindingly evident from the host of tribunal moments that litter the films running time. Classic horror fair such as '
The Evil Dead', '
Friday the 13th' and '
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' get huge tributes as do the abundance of films represented via posters on the bedroom wall of James Heathcote's character Merv. Even the shopping centre location used for the films finale offers more than passing nod in the direction of '
Dawn of the Dead'. Always' the danger with this approach is that the new material may become lost and fail to find an identity amongst the fragments of horror history and its self referential approach also enhances the chances of this becoming nothing more than a trip down memory lane. But this is certainly not another '
Scream' and thanks to some pretty sharp visual slap slick, witty one liners, entertaining performances and fresh plot themes Freak Out perches itself skillfully on the top of the horror/comedy sub genre.
The soundtrack that accompanies the movie is again an excellent addition to such a low budget affair with several 80's rock style tributes which reminded me more of the musical drama '
Footloose' than a horror film, but as this film is more about comedy and less about scary horror respect has to be paid for the alternate approach. Whilst we are mentioning 80's tributes, its also worth noting that despite the British-ness of the film there was still enough time to cast a whole gaggle of shapely females to drape about various scenes and, although the nudity is non-existent, there's still plenty of heaving cleavage about to brighten the darkest of days. Great fun all round!
