I’d read a little about Nathan Schiff and his movies. He wrote, directed and produced four features:
Weasels Rip my Flesh, The Long Island Cannibal Massacre, They Don't Cut the Grass Anymore,
and Vermillion Eyes. Weasels was made on a $400 budget when Schiff
was just 16 and I believe all of these films were shot on super 8. All but Vermillion are available on
DVD.
The plot here is really strange but enjoyable for this movie. You have to understand that this is
extremely low budget stuff with no real actors and unpolished gritty footage. If you don’t mind all that
then your in for a wild ride. The two main characters are Jim, an ex cop, and Jack, a confused guy that’s
mixed up in some recent killings. The story is that Jack’s father and four friends went to Africa and
returned with a feverish leprosy that invokes in it’s victims an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Now
since these men are weakened by their illness and shunned by society it’s up to Jack to provide them
with their meals. So Jack hires Bruce, a man that always wears a pillowcase and swimming goggles over
his head and Zed, a young biker, to kill victims for the hungry lepers.
Jim does some snooping around and does get some information from here or there but I think his
character is poorly developed through pointless scenes like the one on the yacht with his wife, and
conversations he has with his cop buddy. Therefore the quick change regarding his character at the
end confuses more than shocks me.
There are some pretty good gore scenes throughout including a lawnmower, a tire iron, a cinder block,
a van door, and a chainsaw used for gruesomely delightful purposes. Shall I add a fun scene where a
delusional Jack has a conversation with a garbage bag full of body parts, or when Jack brings food to
one of his dad’s friends who is crawling in the snow with a face full of what looks like squash yellow vomit.
You all know I rarely divulge much of the good stuff in the end of the film. I am only going to say that
Jack revolts against his father and has a final battle with him. There is some excellent work using a
chainsaw and an assault rifle. And the very end is creepy and it involves children... Oh my!
| - Jorge Antonio Lopez |
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