Skew (2010)

Simon, Rich, and Eva head out on a road trip to attend a friend's wedding with Simon's brand new video camera in hand. The trio of friends start out having a great time on their midsummer escape with plenty of laughs and a cooler of beer to keep them busy. The trip slowly starts to descend into anger and paranoia as a series of tragic events seemingly centered around Simon's camera derail the fun and reality comes crashing down.



Just moments into SKEW and I couldn't help but think "another found footage movie?". It is quickly becoming a cliche within the horror genre and is quickly becoming something I don't particularly look forward too as it is rarely handled with skill. I then immediately remembered that this production on this film began in 2005, before this style of film making had flooded the market. Luckily for us director Seve Schelenz handles the Verite style mostly with grace. There are a few moments that could have been more effective had the style not been used so much in the editing of the film, I'm speaking of one scene in particular towards the end of the film where it was unnecessary. These moments are few and far between and the principal cast does a nice job with making it seem real.



The similarities between SKEW and The Blair Witch Project are painfully obvious from the trio of young adults, 2 male and 1 female to many of the shots being very reminiscent of the 1999 cult hit. While SKEW trades the woods of my native Maryland for a Canadian road trip, mainly confined to the inside of a Jeep or hotel room, they play out largely the same, exchanging a folk lore witch for a deadly video camera. Take from that comparison what you will, but SKEW does stand on it's own feet.

While I could go on and on about the comparisons to other films, this is a film that shows promise for a new director and a film that is largely successful at what it set out to do within the limitations of a $25,000 budget.

7/10

PEELERS (2017)

USA/2017
Directed By: Seve Schelenz
Written By: Lisa DeVita, Seve Schelenz
Starring: Wren Walker, Caz Odin Darko, Madison J. Loos
VOD Release Date: March 28, 2017

The final night of business at the Tittyballs strip club isn't the cakewalk owner Blue Jeans (don't call her BJ!) was probably hoping for as she prepares to sell to a skeezy businessman with questionable intentions. The night is full of drunks, a new girl dancing for the first time because a regular is about to pop with a baby, jealous boyfriends and a group of workers from the local coal mine that come in covered in a weird black oil substance that turns anyone that comes into contact with it in to a bloodthirsty maniac. Is it closing time yet?

Seve Schelenz returns for his second feature film after making Skew back in 2010 (previously reviewed HERE) with an overly gory splatterfest that isn't out of line from body melt films like Street Trash and Slime City though it is played straighter than either of those films and doesn't go for the day-glo look instead opting for a thick, black splatter that is vomited and spewed by the gallon. PEELERS will have no trouble attracting an audience with all of the blood and guts flying around in addition to the black sludge. The film is wildly bloody and nobody is off limits. CGI is mixed in with large amounts of practical effects and while it is immediately and definitely a noticeable shift from the practical stuff it isn't off putting.

PEELERS will stand apart from similar films that are released each month because it takes far greater care in its writing and characters than the majority of independent horror films even think about. We get real relationships built within the confines of the walls of this strip club and it all begins and ends with Wren Walker's performance as Blue Jeans. She's a tough but loving owner and a total bad ass chick. Walker is damn good and really carries the film while the support from her security guard Remy played by Caz Odin Darko is more of a straight forward performance that doesn't need any nuance but he plays it exactly how he should. He's a sympathetic character that most guys can relate to in one way or another. It's not just good performances but actual character development that make it such a good script.

PEELERS is a really solid horror film, I can't say it's perfect because it isn't but it is damn entertaining and even though it's not the most original premise and reminds me of countless movies that came before it, it is one of the better strip club horror movies I've seen to date and I had a great time with it. It's rare these days that a movie as splatterific as PEELERS has such a quality production. This one is definitely worth a look.

PEELERS - Press Release May 2016

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE AND GRUESOME RELEASE

Contact Seve Schelenz
Tel: 604.889.4805
sleepapneaprods@hotmail.com

May 16th 2016 - Independent Horror Feature Film PEELERS to have CANADIAN PREMIERE at SHOCK STOCK FILM FESTIVAL, London, Ontario (May 27th-29th).

The makers of the Independent Cult Horror Feature SKEW (2011) step it up a bloody notch as they continue their amazing festival run with follow-up horror flick PEELERS.

PEELERS - What starts out as the last hurrah on the closing night of an infamous small-town strip club, quickly turns into a night of bloodshed when a crew of coal miners shows up and with them a deadly contaminant. Former baseball player and current club owner, Blue Jean Douglas has decided to hand over her bar to a new owner and leave town for good. But Blue Jean's plans are thwarted when she discovers the magnitude of the epidemic that has been unleashed. With victims piling up, Blue Jean must step up to the plate to protect her family, her friends, and her bar before it's too late and she loses everything she holds dear.

PEELERS destroys the cliche stripper horror sub-genre by giving us a story packed with exciting twists, baseball, strippers of unusual talent, and a strong female lead. What's being described as "Rodriguez meets Tarantino" and "Not just a great indie film, but destined to be one of the funniest films of 2016", has Director/Producer Seve Schelenz pretty stoked about giving fans a whole new ball game of horror.

Want more carnage?

Website: www.peelersthefilm.com
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emkSNaAAsEk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peelersthefilm