Shreck (1990, Don Adams & Harry James Picardy) No Ogres, Here!

1990's Shreck is a movie that should not work at all. It's amateurish to the highest degree, it deals with subject matter that even handled delicately can rock boats, and... the list goes on. The fact of the matter is that the movie DOES work; it's exceedingly entertaining. The sheer love of moviemaking is evident throughout the flick, and the moments of intentional humor lead me to believe they knew they weren't making a classic here.

Shreck concerns a group of three teenagers, Roger, Mike, and Neal; three horror fans in a club called The Dogs of Gore. Roger lives in a house that once belonged to Nazi War Criminal, and prolific serial killer, Max Shreck. Through Roger's hilarious homemade documentary on the subject, we find out that this was an alias chosen from the name of the lead actor in the film Nosferatu. In 1958, Shreck had one last rampage until he was finally struck down, and guess what? It's the anniversary of his death, and Roger's mom is out of town. What are three horror fanatic teenagers to do? Why, have a seance in an attempt to resurrect Shreck in order to strike down their enemies, of course. Well, to everyone's surprise it works leading to a very alive, and very rampaging Max Shreck. Sound simple enough? Well it is and it isn't.

First off, there is no denying it; the movie is flat-out entertaining. It is in spite of itself, because it has a lot of strikes against it. I don't count the fact that it's shot on video or made by amateurs a strike against it, but even in the realm of SOV this movie looks like shit. This is mainly due to the video effects they use throughout to give the illusion of night in the outdoor scenes, a blue tint. Depending on the shots and the context this is alternately surreal and creepy or annoying.

This leads me to an interesting point, like numerous other SOV features the flaws and shortcomings become strengths in an odd way. The super lo-fi video picture, and primitive (to say the least) video effects to more often than not create a creepy, surreal atmosphere. I mentioned above them becoming annoying, and they can, simply because sometimes you can't tell what the hell is going on. The good outweighs the bad in this regard, however. The amateur quality of the acting and the whole production also help because it creates a kind of naive charm. This was obviously a group of 20-somethings (tops) who loved horror movies getting together and making this for the fun of it. It's quite obvious in every frame, and when they don't know what they're doing you smile and cheer their enthusiasm. The fact is, they're dealing with Nazi stuff here. Sensitive stuff by anybody's measure, and the subject matter isn't exactly handled maturely. Nazis are never glorified in any way shape or form, but tasteful this is not. We have christmas-light swastikas, swastika necklaces used as ninja stars, swastika pizzas, swastika fan-blades used in decapitations, etc etc. Obviously, this is all insane and beyond ridiculous, and if you're not looking for insane and ridiculous why are you checking out SOV horror flicks?

The movie is genuinely funny at times, and honestly engaging and entertaining for most of it's running time. It's never boring, and that's saying a lot. The gore is not as plentiful as it should have been given it's absurd premise, but it's there. The plot gets downright weird involving a timewarp back to his rampage in 1958, ghosts that are people wearing sheets (seriously), and other bizarre what-the-fuckness. Through it all, Shreck is an entertaining example of the American SOV flick. Offensive, ridiculous, ingenious, entertaining, weird, and pretty inept. I had a blast with it.

My clamshell release was put out by Video Outlaw, and my copy came from Ron Bonk and Sub Rosa. Contact him to see if he has anymore left!