I’m generally not a fan of “so bad it’s good” films, but, my god. Except for the White Zombie-sounding tracks in the otherwise analog synth soundtrack, this 2017 film is a note-perfect simulation of gloriously over-the-top 1980s USA Up All Nite-style supernatural gorefest fare. Two gorgeous secret agents descend into a prison modeled after Dante’s Inferno and full of psychotic and/or supernatural killers. Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Adrienne Barbeau, Dee Wallace, Michael Berryman, and every one of them chewing the scenery like they’re loving every minute of it … this one is kind of the exception that proves the rule. It’s very, very hard to make a camp movie like this that I can sit through, but this one takes it so far, and takes itself so ridiculously seriously, that it accomplishes what few can. I would never recommend this as a movie for anyone else to watch, but for me, the consistency and purity of this vision and command of the genre earns my respect. One of the few movies that aims to be a “cult favorite”, in quotes, and actually could become a cult favorite, for real. Kind of like the “Pink Flamingos” of horror/gore films. (Edit: turns out the director went out of his way to include cameos from virtually every b-movie horror icon of the 70s and 80s, another risky conceit that might have worked better as an idea than in execution, but, hey, he pulled it off. )
