• Straight to Video
• Director: Jeremy Wallace
• Written by: Jeremy Wallace
• Running Time: 79 minutes
• Language: English
• MPAA Rating: UNRATED
• Cast: Emily Haack, Jason Christ, Trudy Bequette, Julie Farrar, Joseph Palermo, Chris Grega, Robin Garrels, Todd Tevlin, Jeff Atwater, Doc Brown, Ed Belt, Ceily Davis, Kevin Golden, John Moore, Sandy Dvorak, Brian Belt, John Dvorak, Eric Spudic, Jeremy Wallace, Brenda Golden, Don Gamble

Transcending its banal genre-specific trappings, Jeremy Wallace’s The Undertow is an ugly, grungy, and surprisingly exciting, throwback to the late 60s/early 70s grindhouse cinema; more specifically, the extreme slasher films of that capricious period. The conventional opening--five friends piling into a van and heading down some out-of-the-way dirt roads, looking for the perfect camping spot in some backwoods town known as Old Mines--quickly moves into improbability when roguish local deputy Foxy Watson, played by Joseph Palermo (1999's "Ice from the Sun"), pulls them over and proceeds to throw down the gauntlet in the form of a verbal tirade so fortuitously comical, he could stand to catch a few showings of R. Lee Ermy’s performance in "Full Metal Jacket" for an idea of how it’s done. After patting them down and dumping their beer, he sends the group off with a word of caution that they should consider turning back.

Things quickly return to formula when the group, a belligerent lot, led by one heavily tattooed, heavily pierced, foul-mouthed, Emily Haack (2001's "I Spit on Your Corpse, I Piss on Your Grave"), disregard the deputy’s warning, deeming that their kayaking trip is so important that they must go forward. Weaving tales of the town’s chilling past, and the homicidal maniac known to the locals as The Boy--a creepy fellow who stalks the forests around the small Missouri town--the friends go to great lengths to scare each other silly long before ever arriving at their campsite. After stopping off a local convenience store for some quick supplies, they meet Billie Hovis, played by Trudy Bequette (2006's "Savage Harvest 2: October Blood"), the daughter of the town mayor, who suggests they heed the stories they’ve heard because they might just be true. Of course, this doesn’t deter the five friends, who pile back into the van for the final leg of the trip.

Setting up camp along the river, the group is joined by their friendly local, Billie. Under the moonlight, and around a bright crackling campfire, Billie chronicles the chilling details of the town -- right before she is run off by the less than hospitable Eli, played by Jason Christ (2001's "The Christmas Season Massacre"). The history of The Boy, who is played by the freakishly large Doc Brown (2006's "Deadwood Park"), is revealed as a secondary, and bereft, component. His back story is weak, but helps to establish, a little, why he is so angry. The Boy, the son of the town mayor, is a hulking brute of a man, a deformed beast, kept locked away in a basement. He is routinely beaten and emotionally prodded by his sadistic father. Dabbling into the deep dark conspiracy of the town, The Boy, a veritable powder keg, has been trained to kill – not unlike a Doberman Pinscher. On occasion, he is released from his basement prison to systematically kill off those outsiders whom the townsfolk deem an annoyance – outsiders like the teens camped out along the river. When the locals decide that it’s time to do away with the teens, their powder keg quickly blows up in their face as The Boy decides to use this moment of freedom to rebel against his elders. Of course, in his case, rebelling doesn’t mean stealing a car, or getting his tongue pierced, it means going on the bloodiest, most violent, rampage the locals have ever seen -- a rampage that only ends when it has completely engulfed the entire town, the Hovis family, and, of course, those unsuspecting teens along the river. In the immortal words of Jim Morrison, “No One Here Gets Out Alive.”

Many kudos to Jeremy Wallace for creating one of the nastiest, grimiest, most brutal films I’ve seen since "Cannibal Holocaust" or "The Last House On Dead End Street". As I told Eric Spudic when it was over, I felt like I needed to take a shower. There are moments in this film that are so brutal that I still, many weeks after my initial screening, can’t seem to get out of my head, including watching tiny Julie Farrar -- all of about 90 pounds -- being pummeled over and over and over by the 300 pound Doc Brown. Much of the beating happens below the camera, but the sounds, so violent and forceful, are sure to fill in the blanks in your mind. They sure did in mine. A quick after shot of a pulverized Julie, covered head to foot in crimson, coughing up blood out of her ruptured coagulated lungs, is something I won’t easily forget. Gruesome! The cinematography by Eric Stanze (1999’s cult hit "Ice From The Sun") is great, and far beyond what I’m used to seeing in micro-budget films. So many of the scenes are spent either in the water, or rushing through a forest top-speed, that it’s a testament to Stanze’s command of the location and the camera that he’s able to make it look so good.

The cast is good, and despite virtually nothing by way of character development, some do manage to shine. Thanks mainly to her odd look, Emily Haack, the film’s main stand-out, chews the scenery every time she appears on screen. The rest of the actors, for the most part, just try to offer authentic performances. Early scenes in the van feel almost improvised, which means lots of yelling and screaming - something I despise about low-budget horror films. Why do amateur actors think yelling and screaming equals good acting? It doesn’t. Trudy Bequette gives one of the strangest performances I’ve seen. She has a real combustible quality to her. It’s hard to tell if she’s acting, or just generally angry with her co-stars. At any minute, it looks like she could start crying, just walk off, or start throwing punches. Bizarre.

In the end, I have to say, despite its weak plot, and lack of any kind of character growth, I generally enjoyed this film. It’s a throwback to those much sought after ‘Video Nasties’ of yesteryear - an ugly, nauseatingly visual experience, that you won’t easily forget when its over. Definitely a must for fans who long for a return to the bottom-rung gore films of the past.

Now that it's finished, I'm off to take a shower.