Deathgasm

Deathgasm
Directed by Jason Lei Howden
Produced by
  • Sarah Howden
  • Andrew Beattie
  • Morgan Leigh Stewart
Written by Jason Lei Howden
Starring
Music by
  • Chris van de Geer
  • Joost Langeveld
Cinematography Simon Raby
Edited by Jeff Hurrell
Production
companies
Distributed by Dark Sky Films (US)
Release dates
  • 15 March 2015 (2015-03-15) (SXSW)[1]
Running time
 86 minutes[2]
Country New Zealand
Language English

Deathgasm is a 2015 New Zealand comedy horror film written and directed by Jason Lei Howden in his directorial debut. Starring Milo Cawthorne and James Blake as a pair of misfit heavy metal fans who unintentionally summon a demon, the film premiered on 14 March 2015 at South by Southwest.

Plot

Long after the death of Brodies' father, his mother is institutionalized into a mental hospital. The teenager is thus obliged to move into his uncle's place in Greypoint. Brodie is a Heavy Metal fan which soon leads to tensions between him and uncle Albert's Christian orthodox family. In school, Brodie is bullied by his cousin David and his friends, but makes friends with two losers named Dion and Giles who spend most of their time with role plays. However, shortly after Brodie gets acquainted with another Heavy Metal fan named Zakk in a local record store. Zack, Brodie, Dion and Giles then form a Metal band which they name 'Deathgasm'.

To Brodies' surprise, the beautiful Medina appears to be interested in him and invites him to have ice cream with him. However, Brodie is too shy and misses the chance to kiss Medina by the end of the date.

Later, Zakk tells Brodie about the metal musician Rikki Daggers who is allegedly living nearby. He convinces Brodie to accompany him in a burglary into an abandoned house where he suspects Daggers to be hiding. In fact, they find Daggers sleeping in the house and try to steal a record which he is holding in his hands. Anyhow, Daggers wakes up and attacks them, but as he hears another noise in his house, he hands them the record and tells them to run away. Moments after Zakk and Brodie have left, a well-dressed man enters the house and kills Daggers. He appears to be part of a worship which is looking for medieval sheets of music because those are supposed to have occult powers. Since the killer failed to obtain the sheets of music, the cult's leader later gets him beheaded.

At home, Brodie notices the sheets of music which were hidden inside of the record's cover. The band tries to play them which already causes strange happenings: Brodie's uncle Albert hyperventilates and starts to bleed slightly from his eyes, but the band does not notice this. It is only Brodie who feels that something is going on which is why he abruptly stops to play his guitar before they manage to complete the hymn. As Zakk asks him why he did so, Brodie tells him he does not feel well.

The next day in school, Brodie translates the Latin writing on the old sheets of music. He finds out it reads: "The black hymn. Play it to invoke the deamon.". On the way home, Brodies cousin David lies in wait for him and beats him up violently to make him stay away from Medina in which he is also interested.

In the meanwhile, Medina meets Zakk by chance. She tells him that she could not find Brodie and asks him to give him a note. Zakk reads the note and finds out Medina wants to meet Brodie at the local park in the late evening. He does not pass it on to Brodie, but goes there himself and lies to Medina that Brodie does not want to see her. Then, he puts his jacket around her shoulders and they engage in kissing.

Brodie has the suspicion that playing the hymn on the sheets of notes is somehow connected to dark forces. Due to the humilation by David and his friend, he wants to take possession of these powers to take revenge and therefore calls the band together to play the hymn.

After having played it, the stereo equipment explodes and all band members fall unconscious. After waking up, all four notice that something has changed. Firstly, Brodie meets a strange and frightening being in the school's toilet which threatens him. Secondly, one of the teachers starts to bleed from his body's orifices and throws up blood on a student during a lesson.

In the evening, Brodie meets Zack in a repair shop to tell him what happened where they are attacked by Zakk's father. The latter acts like a zombie, tears out his own eyes and then tries to kill them, but the two manage to defend themselves and kill him.

Meanwhile, Dion and Giles too are attacked and nearly killed by a zombie, but Medina manages to save them by killing it using an axe. They decide to hide in the school's panic room and leave a note on Brodie's door to inform him about their whereabouts.

Trying to find out what is happening, Zakk and Brodies meets with a fortune teller. She tells them they have invoked the deamon Aeloth "The Blind One" by playing the hymn and that the residents of town are transforming into zombies which kill every human being in order to prepare Aeloth's arrival. By 3 AM, Aeloth will merge with the most evil human being present. Before she is able to tell them how to undo Aeloth's summoning, she is killed by two zombies.

Zakk is not interested in fighting Aeloth any further and decides to watch the town's doom from a nearby hill, but Brodie manages to convince him to help because he assumes the summoning will be undone by playing the black hymn backwards. They drive to Brodies house to obtain the sheets of music. However, Zakk secretly removes the note sticked to the door by Dion, Giles and Medina and the sheets of music are blown out of the window by the wind. Suddenly, they are attacked by Brodie's uncle Albert and his wife Mary who have transformed into zombies, but manage to kill them using three dildos and a chain saw. In contrast to his parents, Brodie's cousin David has not transformed yet, but anyways Brodie sews his head off in revenge using the chain saw as he enters the room and asks what is going on.

Having decided they will search the sheets of paper, Zakk and Brodie craft a few weapons and go after them.

In the meantime, the members of the cult have come to Greypoint to serve Aeloth. They meet the strange and frightening being which Brodie had met in the school's bathroom. It appears to be Aeloth's ambassador who promises the cult's leader that Aeloth will merge with him. In this moment, the leader is killed by his own mistress who then claims the lead of the cult.

After having found all the sheets of notes, Zakk and Brodie go to the school building since they know there are amplifiers which allow them to play the hymn backwards. There, they meet Dion, Giles and Medina. As Brodie notices Zakks jacket in Medina's bag, Zakk's lie is revealed. Zakk tells Jack he is not interested in Medina but simply wanted to have some fun to which Brodie responds with a punch to Zakks face. A fight ensures between the two which Zakk manages to win. He then decides to leave town.

Moments later, the remaining four are taken into custody by the members of the cult and brought into the house of Rikki Daggers in order to serve as sacrifice for Aeloth.

However, Zakk feels remorse for his friends and returns to his friends. He manages to free them and they attack the cult during their ritual for Aeloth. Brodie starts to play the black hymn backwards while the others defend him from the attacks by the cult members. In this fight, most of the cult members as well as Dion and Giles are killed. Brodie does not manage to play the hymn entirely before 3 AM, so Aeloth is able to enter the cult leader's body. Zakk then kills her, but since he is the most evil person amongst the remaining, Aeloth then takes possession of his body. It is only now that Brodie manages to complete the hymn which weakens the deamon. Zakk collapses and transforms back into his human body, but since Aeloth has already entered the dimension, he is about to retake possession of Zakk. Hence, Zakk urges Brodie to kill him in order to prevent the deamon's resurrection which Brodie eventually does.

A few months later, Brodie and Medina are a happy Death Metal couple in Greypoint. The scene ends with a friendly message by Zakk to Brodie which the latter hears through his record player. It seems Zakk is still melded with Aeloth in a parallel dimension.

Cast

Production

Howden took inspiration from his teenage years, in which he was a social outcast and fan of heavy metal music.[3] The film won the 2013 Make My Horror Movie contest and received a NZ$200,000 prize to go toward production, which took place in mid-2014. Executive producer Ant Timpson cited Howden's "sheer enthusiasm and utter commitment" as to why it won.[4]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes reports that 88% of 25 critics gave the film a positive notice; the average rating is 6.4/10. The site's consensus states: "Deathgasm plumbs the blood-spattered depths of grindhouse gore with enough giddy glee to satisfy genre enthusiasts looking for a thrill."[5] On Metacritic, the film has a 65 out of 100 rating, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]

Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that the script does not live up the vivid splatter effects, but the film's "consistent if undiscriminating high energy engenders a certain persuasive goodwill".[7] Richard Whittaker of The Austin Chronicle wrote, "Shamelessly low-brow, reaching a beer-fueled gleeful high with a zombie-vs.-sex toys battle, it's a very metal tribute to the grand tradition of Kiwi splatter comedies."[8] Matt Donato of We Got This Covered rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "Deathgasm is the ultimate midnight movie (for metalheads especially), hitting on notes of horror insanity that blend face-melting riffage with equally outstanding practical effects."[9]

At Bloody Disgusting, Brad Miska and Patrick Cooper reviewed the film, and both rated it four out of five stars. Miska called it "the most metal horror film ever",[10] and Cooper said that it was "the movie the SXSW Midnighters category was created for".[11] Drew Tinnin of Dread Central rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "Deathgasm knows exactly what it is and where its heart is, giving genre fans a welcome return to heavy metal in horror without cutting back on any of the splatstick that New Zealand has become known for, for better or worse."[12] Zach Gayne of Twitch Film wrote, "[T]he voice that shines through the hysterical dialogue and playfully comic editing, is so teenage, so punk, it makes a beat-to-death genre feel refreshing."[13] Heather Wixson of Daily Dead rated it 5/5 stars and called it a "ridiculously fun and bombastic celebration of horror and heavy metal".[14]

In early 2016, Walmart refused to sell Deathgasm in its current form. Walmart renamed the film to a more 'acceptable' title "Heavy Metal Apocalypse." [15]

Accolades

Nominated for a Fangoria Chainsaw Award, Best Makeup FX/Creature Design

Toronto After Dark Film Festival[16]
Best Feature Film – ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD WINNER: GOLD
Best Special Effects
Best Music
Best Title Sequence
Best Trailer
Best Film To Watch With A Crowd
Best Kill (Death by Sex Toy)
Best Gore
Best Screening Q&A
Knoxville Horror Film Festival[17]
Palm D'Gore
Best Director: Jason Lei Howden
Total Film Frightfest[18]
Best Gore for Dildos & chainsaws
Festival de cine de Terror de Molins de Rei[19]
Best Feature Film
Best Actor: Milo Cawthorne
Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival[20]
Audience Award
HARD LINE Film Festival, Germany[21]
Audience Award
L'Absurde Séance Film Festival
Audience Award
Arizona Underground Film Festival[22]
Audience Award

Sequel

A sequel, titled Deathgasm Part 2: Goremageddon, was revealed on 16 December 2015 to be in production.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Childers, Chad (2015-03-10). "Horror-Metal Film 'Deathgasm' Heading to 2015 South By Southwest Film Festival". Loudwire. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  2. ↑ "DEATHGASM (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Horror movie winner promises 'demons and chainsaws'". New Zealand Herald. 2014-02-20. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  4. ↑ "'Deathgasm' wins Make My Horror Movie". New Zealand Herald. 2014-02-14. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  5. ↑ "Deathgasm (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "Deathgasm reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Harvey, Dennis (2015-03-23). "SXSW Film Review: 'Deathgasm'". Variety. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  8. ↑ Whittaker, Richard (2015-03-15). "SXSW Film Review: Deathgasm". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  9. ↑ Donato, Matt (2015-03-15). "Deathgasm Review [SXSW 2015]". We Got This Covered. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  10. ↑ Miska, Brad (2015-03-17). "[SXSW '15 Review] 'Deathgasm' Delivers On Its Gory Promise!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  11. ↑ Cooper, Patrick (2015-03-15). "[SXSW '15 Review] 'Deathgasm' Is the Party Movie of 2015". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  12. ↑ Tinnin, Drew (2015-03-15). "Deathgasm (2015)". Dread Central. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  13. ↑ Gayne, Zach (2015-03-24). "SXSW 2015 Review: DEATHGASM Rocks!". Twitch Film. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  14. ↑ Wixson, Heather (2015-03-15). "SXSW 2015 Review: Deathgasm". Daily Dead. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  15. ↑ http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/145197/war-on-deathgasm-walmart-launches-a-heavy-metal-apocalypse/
  16. ↑ "AWARD WINNERS Announced for Toronto After Dark 2015! DEATHGASM, LOVE & PEACE, XMAS HORROR Win Big!". Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  17. ↑ "KHFF News". Knoxville Horror Filmfest. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  18. ↑ Graham, Jamie (2015-09-01). "The Total Film FrightFest 2015 Awards". Total Film. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  19. ↑ "Winners Official Selection Films 2015". Molins Film Festival. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  20. ↑ "And the winners are…". Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival (in Dutch). Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  21. ↑ "Publikumsliebling". HARD:LINE International Film Festival (in German). Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  22. ↑ "2015 Award Winners". Arizona Underground Film Festival. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  23. ↑ "'Deathgasm 2' Will Unleash 'Goremageddon'". MovieWeb. 16 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.

Further reading

External links

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