Gimme Skelter
By John Oak Dalton • Jan 29th, 2008 • Category: Horror, Reviews
I don’t know if I would say that the “retro-grindhouse” look is a movement, but certainly there have been some gestures towards it lately with directors like Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino and their double-feature experiment. But Scott Phillips’ Gimme Skelter, from its opening shot of a ribbon of two-lane blacktop disappearing into the night, may be the most pitch-perfect rendition to date.
Gimme Skelter features a dangerous, bloodthirsty “family” traveling in a van (natch) who decide to outdo a previous notorious “family” by slaughtering every person in a remote small town. The frenzied, gore-spattered battle between the family and the surprisingly rambunctious citizens over a long night make up the core of this entertaining thriller.
Gimme Skelter features one of the most eclectic casts I’ve ever seen in microcinema, including Gunnar “Leatherface” Hansen (and his niece!), a former Miss Teen USA, screenwriter Trent Haaga, and a number of other directors, writers and performers. It’s notable when the magnetic Kurly Tlapoyawa, whose charisma reminds one of a no-budget “The Rock” and who carried Phillips’ first feature The Stink of Flesh on his burly shoulders, barely registers a blip here.
I especially liked “family” leader Billy Garberina, all throbbing veins and bulging eyes, and Jaymi McNulty, a 70s ingenue if there ever was one, whose memorable debut scene has her leaning over and biting the end off of someone’s candy bar and staring at him with a fixed, ice-blue gaze, channeling a Badlands-era Sissy Spacek.
Scott Phillips earned his chops writing, and he delivers a sly, energetic script here, but his directing is sure-handed as well, and he makes much of his cast and southwestern locations. Many features trying for that “grindhouse” fare never find their footing, but Phillips hits every target he shoots at, delivering a gleeful, pulpy outing overall.
Writer/Director: Scott Phillips
Featuring: Billy Garberina, Elske McCain, Jillian Parry, Gunnar Hansen, Kristin Hansen, Trent Haaga, Kurly Tlapoyawa, Jaymi McNulty
Availability Information:www.edpmovies.com
Score: * * * * stars.
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John Oak Dalton is a Community Television Station Manager by day, and a DIY acolyte by night. In the 80s he made Super-8 movies and his own basement mix tapes. In the 90s he hosted a cable-access show and made his own zines and minicomics. In the 21st Century he began working with grassroots video and microcinema and writing b-movies, and has more than a dozen projects on the shelf, on screen, in development, or in production.
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