DVD Release
When Julie is left to clean up an old abandoned house by her abusive Father, her friends decide to show up and offer a helping hand while he’s gone. The joint is run down, dirty and there’s some seriously wrong with the plumbing! When an experienced exorcist just so happens to be passing by, cleaning day takes a turn for the worse and the group are forced to confront an angry water demon!
I know there’s gonna be a lot of people out there that are going to be dumping caseloads of Hater-Aide all over this flick when it hits shelves but I gotta tell ya…this was kinda fun folks. It’s no horror classic nor is it, as the box claims, a cult classic by any means but the shit that made early 80’s horror cinema so damn entertaining is right here. Call it homage, call it a rip-off, call it whatever the hell you want but there’s not one ounce of pretension in Piper’s filmmaking. It’s evident, to me anyhow, that the man loves horror and wants to make the kind of horror that fans will enjoy as well.
Obviously this film has its pros and cons, which film doesn’t? Some of the pros include sweet claymation, physical FX and a lil’ nudity, the cons would definitely be the “FX-enhancing” and some plot holes big enough to drive two eighteen wheelers through side by side. In my opinion though the pros definitely outweigh the cons in this particular instance, it is a low budget film after all.
The acting was adequate and in some cases pretty damn good considering what Piper more than likely had to work with. Honestly I’ve seen far worse on way bigger films so I really couldn’t complain.
Concerning the “enhanced FX,” I was a bit disappointed that some of the cool puppets and tentacles were often completely obscured by the silly enhancements. I won’t say that some of the beefed up FX didn’t look cool but for the most part I think less would have been way better. Fans WANT the goofy fake looking latex monsters, we’re sick to death of CG enhancements. Hopefully someday we get the chance to see this film in its original incarnation sans Skinemax erotic sci-fi FX.
If you’re one of those fanboys (or fangirls) that ran out and purchased copies of Street Trash, Slime City and The Suckling when they first hit DVD (like I did), you’re more than likely going to dig this bit of low budget shlock entertainment. There’s very little plot, the story is just okay and too many cast members survive but who freaking cares?!! I had a better time watching this than I did the big budget remake of One Missed Call (2008). It’s got a wonderfully old school feel, bad ass Claymation monsters, gross tentacles and Alexandra Boylan’s breasts were hypnotic. Piper’s Drainiac may never spawn any action figures, t-shirts or midnight movie conventions but it’s still worth checking out and, if you’re into these kinds of flicks, a purchase.
