Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films,
2016
Images from the Internet
Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers
Story
Directed and edited by Justin
Channell
IWC
Films / Brainwrap Media
67
minutes, 2016
The
timing of this film is very – er – timely. What I mean by that is there is a
wave of nostalgia in the genre market for the quickie and cheap films that
arose during the 1980s, flooding the hungry retail market for horror films and
giving birth to the B-level slashers. Okay, sometimes C- or D-level. Yet, were
these films actually any good?
Don’t
get me wrong, I was one of those renting and watching as many as my time and
money (and occasional schoolwork) would allow. Even then, as now, I preferred
the indie, micro-budget films like The
Orbitrons (1990), as I do now, and I wallowed in the Foreign releases that
glorified (and rightfully so) the likes of Fulci and Argento, but also (and
perhaps not as rightfully so) Paul Naschy. It also gave prominence those such
as Fred Olen Ray and Jesse Franco. Thankfully it also began the careers of the
Scream Queen royalty, such as Brinke, Linnea and (my then-personal fave) Michelle
Bauer.
If
one were to look back at some of these releases that we enjoyed so much, if we
haven’t kept watching them over and over, would we still find them so
fascinating? Would The Boogey Man
(1980), Creepozoids (1987) and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama
(1988) still retain their charms? That is the premise of this mockumentary.
During
the late ‘80s, the fictional West Virginia-based Henderson Brothers, Michael
(Zane Crosby) and Richard (Josh Lively), made two straight-to-video films, The Curse of Stabberman and Cannibal Swim Club. And much like Nicholas
Garreau did in real life as an obsessed fan of George Romero in Fan of the Dead (2007), the Hendersons
also have their own both charming and creepy uber cheerleader in Henry Jacoby (Chris LaMartina).
 |
| Richard (Josh Lively) and Michael (Zane Crosby) |
Bonded
together by their love of horror films at the age of 10 when their parents
re-married, the step-brothers took advantage of both the outlet for indie VHS and
their lives basically being in the crapper (e.g., dropping out of college), to live their dream.
Mixed
in with the talking-head interviews with the brothers (and Henry, of course
doing solo “analysis” of their releases), sometimes together and sometimes by
themselves, is scenes from the two films, …Stabberman
and Cannibal…, with Michael and
Richard giving play-by-plays that essentially are like commentary tracks. Of
the two, the latter is the more wacky one, and thereby all the more fun. Many
of the scenes are joyfully stolen by the horrendous acting of the “swim club owner,” Jerry McElroy. His cackling and
on-screen script reading (like Brando in the “Gatfather” [sic] says Michael), kept me more than amused, as well as his tendency
to Jay Leno a pun by explaining it,
such as, “I don’t see this new job panning
out for you. ‘Cause it’s a pan!”
Not
only financial constraints darken the Bros filmmaking, but so do the occasional
rise of sibling rivalry, or weird choices, such as Richard’s tendency to put on
a Quint/Robert Shaw type gruff New England accent when one is not called for
the story.
 |
| Henry (Chris LaMartina) |
A
reality of this piece is how one of the main props (a hand) is used in both
films. If you tend to listen to as many commentaries as I do, you often hear
the directors or SFX people talking about the appropriation of sets, people and
paraphernalia in future endeavours. It was a wise choice to do this here, in a
bit of a subtle way as they don’t discuss it, though it is prominently placed.
Starting
especially in the ‘80s was the use of “themes” (as Michael Henderson might say),
which would become tropes used even to this day. There are a bunch of them that
are touched on here, such as one camper giving the history of the villain (i.e.,
Stabberman, whose real name made me laugh hard enough to pause the film) to the
others (and us viewers) around a campfire. But there is also taking advantage
of the moment scenes that are used (e.g., rain), which often happens in fly-by-seat-of-pants
productions.
There
is also a bit of reality in this story as well, being this is sort of how Hershell
Gordon Lewis became an icon after a series of fun and badly shot films reached
a fan, Jim Vraney (d. 2014) who promoted him (and others) via a VHS
distribution company called Something
Weird Video (I own a number of SWV films; yes, on VHS). Lewis was a direct marketing
guru at the time of his re-emergence (and still is), and now his films from the
early 1960s and ‘70s are considered horror classics – and rightfully so – even
though they are not exactly strong in the writing or acting.
Even
now, thanks to digital technology, people are shooting their own films and then
editing it on computers, such as then 15-year-old Johnny Dickie’s Slaughter Tales (2013; reviewed HERE).Will
Dickie be a future Lewis or Henderson Brothers? Time will tell, but I bet there
will be “Henry Jacoby”-type fans to support him and others like him.
So this particular film also looks like it
was made on a dime (and the use of a 110 camera, apparently!), but to the
better of the result than the hindrance, since that is the look it was going
for, in the long run.
Any
fan of micro-budget films, be it from the 1980s VHS boom to digi productions
now, is going to get the elbow in the ribs humor that runs from beginning to
end. If you’re more used to the bigger budget Sinister or Insidious
kinds of films, it may be a bit over your head (or under it), but I know I was smirking
at the least and laughing at the high-jinx of these three guys (including
Henry). The outtakes near the end with Michael and his whistle are particularly
enjoyable.
Be
sure to stick around and read the credits, as there are little “Easter Eggs” of
humor throughout the text and visuals.
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