HOLE IN THE WALL
HOLE IN THE WALL (2014)
Directed by: Derrick Carey, Rob Michels, Cory J. Udler, Greg Johnson, Carolyn Baker, Steve Goltz, and Kevin Sommerfield.
Cast: Greg Johnson, Heather Dorff, Tom Lodewyck, Judith O’Dea, Alyssa Spangler, John Pata, Matt Kenyon, Tom Running, Draven Wagner, Blade Braxton, and Andrew Shearer.
Review by Mario Dominick
A collaboration of seven filmmakers from Wisconsin, HOLE IN THE WALL is a horror anthology that shocks, disturbs, disgusts, and offends like no other!
The wraparound story of the film is “The Plainfield Chopper” directed by Derrick Carey. It tells the tale of a rural Wisconsin kid who falls into the presence of a depraved backwoods psychopath who proceeds to teach the young man a lesson in serial killing at his secluded country shack. In the midst of the psycho’s sickening demonstrations of his barbaric acts, we are treated to a series of perverse stories starting with “Scumbag” directed by Rob Michels. This one takes us into the mind of a psychopath who keeps people locked up in animal cages. He gets his rocks off by making necklaces out of human fingers and occasionally masturbating onto his victims and putting his head in shitty underwear. In continuing with the Ed Gein theme the movie has, the next story “Ed Gein D.D.S.” directed by Cory J. Udler gives us an expose of the exploits of a psycho who goes to bars to find his victims. One woman he meets up with is engaged but he charms her into letting him walk her home at night. Thinking he’s got his next victim where he wants her, the tables end up getting turned on the maniac in an unexpected way. The next story “Last Dance” directed by Greg Johnson is a humorous short that pays tribute to John Waters and gives us a glimpse into the depraved lifestyle of a family made up of a Divine-esque housewife, a man-child that plays with aborted fetuses, and a wife beater husband. This one is a nice little homage to PINK FLAMINGOS and delivers the toilet humor in all the ways you would expect. The next story “Siren,” directed by Carolyn Baker, plays out as sort of a homage to the surrealist cinema of Alejandro Jodorowsky and CREMASTER’s Matthew Barney where a creature living in a bathtub drain turns a woman into an angel with bizarre markings on her body and she uses her voice as a “siren” to cause a painful disturbance in the brains of the people in a city. The final story acts as a precursor to the “Chopper” wraparound (it’s also directed by Carey) and is presented in black and white paying homage to E. Elias Merhige’s BEGOTTEN as an axe-wielding maniac is being guided by a mysterious otherworldly figure that leads him to the backwoods lodge where the main character of the wraparound ends up. This segment helps you understand how events ended up unfolding the way they did in “Chopper.” After the end credits, we are then treated to a bonus segment called “Glory Hole.” Directed by Steve Goltz and Kevin Sommerfield, “Glory Hole” is a brief but funny bit in which a man sitting on a toilet at home develops a fascination with a photo of a guy with the mouth cut out. What he ends up doing with the picture is rather disgusting to say the least.
HOLE IN THE WALL is a sick little anthology film that showcases great work from several Wisconsin indie horror production companies (including Rabid Child Films, Screaming Like Banshees Productions, and Shalenn Productions) and effectively provides you with disturbing horror, gross out humor, and surrealism bundled up in one nice little pus-filled 80-minute package! It’s deplorable and outrageous and delivers in gore and depravity. It also features an appearance by legendary horror actress Judith O’Dea from the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in the “Ed Gein D.D.S.” segment as Gein’s mother.
After Rabid Child Films and Screaming Like Banshees Productions did a small VHS run of HOLE IN THE WALL in late 2014, the DVD release has finally come out with extras for fans to enjoy like two filmmaker commentaries, a behind-the-scenes featurette focusing on aspects of all the different segments, a trailer, and a “Splat Reel.”
To order the DVD, go to the Screaming Like Banshees Storenvy page at www.screaminglikebanshee.storenvy.com
