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Unspeakable (2000)

DVD Cover (Troma Entertainment)
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Overall Rating 37%
Overall Rating
Ranked #10,475
...out of 20,196 movies
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Impotent and unhappy middle-aged James Fhelleps goes murderously around the bend after an automobile accident claims the life of his beloved daughter Heather and turns his nagging wife Alice into a pathetic grotesquely disfigured cripple. James embarks on a savage killing spree, brutally butchering such low-life scum as hookers and drug dealers so he can reach Heather from the other side. --TMDb
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Review by Ginose
Added: January 5, 2008
Now, as far as excellent filmmakers go, I, personally, have quite a long list. Numerous directors have earned my admiration for one reason or another, normally they end up making a movie or two that I have found flawless, for what it is. But, on the flip-side, most directors who make exquisite films almost always have at least one movie that was just a piece of shit ("Spider", I'm looking at you). However, VERY rarely am I so taken by a director that I am willing to say that they have a flawless catalog; one of these directors is one Chad Ferrin.

Having only seen two out of the three films the man has directed, I can safely say that he has yet to disappoint me in the least (I love him so much that I'm actually willing to PAY for aw screener copy of his new movie... now THAT'S an achievement). His second outing in the world of feature films was a piece of work known as "The Ghouls", which will always be remembered as one of those zombie movies that just never got the recognition that it deserved rather than an amazing outing into the world of indie horror. What I'm covering tonight is his first feature (distributed by the truly independent film company Troma, of course) titled "Unspeakable", and let me just say that it is, without a doubt, one of the most wickedly dark films to ever be released under the Troma label.

One dark and stormy night, Jim, his wife and his daughter are traveling home from a party. After a very rude and vile verbal-slugfest between the couple they are struck head-on by another vehicle, apparently killing young Heather on impact. Now we arrive a time later to see that Jim is healed all fine and well, whereas his wife is now horribly scarred and wheel-chair bound (putting her in the care of a rather... excitable male nurse named Barry). Jim sees nothing much in his life that doesn't remind him of how much he loved his daughter, and how he is willing to give most anything to see her again. Everyday he goes to the park, feeding the birds as he had done with her so many times in the past, however, this day he meets with a seemingly nice young lady who needs a ride home. Being the gentleman he is, he does just this, and soon discovers that, if he helps her with her "school tuition", she'll help him relieve some stress; this only brings to mind terrible thoughts of the rude woman that his wife once was, and he violently dispatches of the woman. Soon after, he hears his daughter's voice, crying out to him, claiming that God is keeping her from returning to him. This one feeble moment is all Jim needs to finally declare war on both God and the vile world he's created.

Wow, and I mean, honestly, WOW. This movie really grabbed me by the neck the second I read the description, and it certainly gave me everything that it had promised and then some. Such a morbid story coming from a company that I had always trusted for good gore, shit-jokes and sex (all of which are included here, but for FAR from comical means) was more than a shock to the system. Of course, they'd always given me things that were outside of their norm ("Angel Negro", "The Stendhal Syndrome", etc.), but this wasn't an import, and it wasn't just a shock value movie. This was a low-budget horror film that truly felt horrific.

Aside from the morbidity that the plot suggests, things only get worse and worse as we learn about our lead characters. Bizarre and disturbing truths arise that always manage to turn a few heads in both disgust and curiosity. ESPECIALLY the things we hear from Jim's own thoughts. Wow, honestly quite chilling.

No one expects much, acting wise, from a low-budget horror film, but I can't name a performance in this movie that was bad at all (one or two that were just so-so), most of them were excellent in their roles. Particularly in the characters of Barry and Hell, both of which are seemingly very horrible men, that, for one reason or another, are likable characters through the performances of the actors portraying them. Quite a feat to make a scat-fetishist and child-whoring pimp out to be enjoyable and entertaining characters, but wow-o-wow, it has been done.

Did I talk about the gore-factor? Well, for such a slow-paced film, this one certainly didn't go light with the red, all the gore is well organized and extremely fun to watch. Nothing to disappoint there other then the one, very wanted, off-screen kill... that was just mean to the viewer, I tell you.

All in all the only FLAW in the film is the ending, a short maybe 50 second shot at the end that really just brings you down from your horror-high. I'm not entirely sure what it was implying, but, if it's what I think it is, I'm pissed off. Shame on you Ferrin! Shame on you.

This is the first Chad Ferrin movie I've seen, and it still is one of my favorite b-horrors out there. Here's to Mr. Ferrin's career, his ideas, and his unreleased feature "Easter Bunny Kill! Kill!" Looking forward to it, good sir.

8.6/10.
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