Smash Cut

I don't think exploitation films have ever gone away but, thanks to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and their Grindhouse film, they have a higher profile than ever before with people setting out to make grindhouse or exploitation films.  Canadian filmmaker Lee Demarbre is a director of low budget movies and a fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis' work so decided to make an homage film in the vein of Color Me Blood Red (1965). 
 
Smash Cut centres on hack director Able Whitman who wants to make decent films but lacks the talent so his most recent project, a horror about a killer doll, is met with howls of derision.   Whitman wants to make decent films but lacks the talent so his most recent project, a horror about a killer doll, is met with howls of derision.  Whitman decides to comfort himself by going to a strip club where he picks up dancer Gigi.  Driving home, he crashes into a tree and Gigi is killed but, rather than going to the cops, he stuffs her body in the boot of his car.  On the set of his new film the next day, it's pointed out that the fake corpse looks far from convincing so Whitman brings in Gigi and is congratulated for making a prop that is so realistic.  Gigi's sister, local reporter April Carson, decides to investigate and enlists the help of P.I. Isaac Beaumonde whilst she poses as an actress to go undercover on Whitman's new film.
 
Desperate for success, Whitman embarks on a murderous spree, killing a critic who has panned all of his films and decides to use real people and real blood instead of the best that the art department can provide.  Apart from Lewis' Color Me Blood Red where a painter finds success by using real blood instead of red paint, this is very similar to Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood (1959) in which a waiter and wannabe artist accidentally finds fame and fortune by covering dead bodies in clay and passing them off as sculptures.
 
 

 
I spent the entire running time of Smash Cut wondering whether the incompetent direction and dreadful script were intentionally bad to create the feel of schlock in this homage or whether the filmmakers really are just inept and am still not sure.  One thing is certain; there are better schlock and exploitation movies that don't set out to massage the ego of an old director who is even given a small role!  It begins with a quote of his: "I see filmmaking as a business and pity anyone who sees it as an art form." And this is certainly true of Smash Cut.  It may make its money back but no-one will ever consider it art.
 
The one aspect that wasn't terrible was David Hess.  Forever know to horror fans as Krug in Wes Craven's The Last House On The Left, he shows here to have some comic timing and chews the scenery as if he hasn't eaten in a week.  The other members of the cast are pretty forgettable but Sasha Grey, a porn star who was subsequently cast by Steven Soderbergh to play a call girl in The Girlfriend Experience inexplicably keeps her clothes on.  If this was real exploitation trash, the least you'd expect is some gratuitous nudity to go with the bloody violence.  Michael Berryman also stars as the  studio executive and producer who gives Whitman a hard time and his appearance is overshadowed by his wig that looks like something a Muscovite would wear in the wintertime!
 
This isn't a perfect Herschell Gordon Lewis-type film, it's a long way from that as at least they had charm.  Lewis and other filmmakers like David Friedman and Ray Dennis Steckler made films with no money, even acting and doing other jobs under pseudonyms just to get the thing released and hope to break even.  Smash Cut doesn't have that charm as it's too professional! It's just a filmmaker trying to make a bad film rather than someone trying to make the best film they can for the money they have and failing miserably.
 
 
 
 

The Disc

 
Extra Features
The behind-the-scenes footage is pretty revealing as it goes through the three weeks of shooting in Ottawa with them working all hours and overcoming obstacles such as the make-up artist breaking her arm (her replacement was hit on the head by a loose light!).
 
There are nearly twelve minutes of outtakes, which seems excessive in any DVD package but this is even more bizarre as there are other bloopers which run through the end credits.  I found them tiresome and gave up.
 
The Picture and Sound
The picture quality is generally very good but the low budget nature is obvious with some ropey effects (those that aren't intentionally rubbish).   The colours and contrast are good and there is little in the way of grain or other detritus.
 
A clear Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track with good separation and crisp dialogue.  The surrounds are fairly redundant but there is no problem with the soundtrack.  The score is (I presume) intentionally hammy, adding to the B-Movie feel.
 
 
 
Final Thoughts
As an homage to Herschell Gordon Lewis it works in that the man himself stars in, and likes, the film and that's all I imagine Lee Demarbre wanted - satisfaction from HGL.  I didn't like it that much and would much rather watch Blood Feast or Two Thousand Maniacs than this again.  I like trash films and happily watch crap as there is something to love about the ambition and love of cinema exhibited by people like Lewis, Freidman and Steckler.  Demarbre is a man who likes what he does but I can't imagine that his films will have a cult following in decades to come.  If you really like Lewis' films, stick with those and give this a miss.