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Digital Dismemberment: I.B.S. DVD Review

ibs-600x923Digital Dismemberment: I.B.S. DVD Review

Director- Mike O’Mahoney
Producer- Mike O’Mahoney
Special FX- Mike O’Mahoney
Cast- James Costa, D.M. Folger, JR, Lauren Ojeda, Sean Flaherty, Matt Garafalo, Mario Melillo, Ericka Lynn, Andie Hall, Chris Lytle and Mike O’Mahoney.
Released By- Maniac Films
Release Date- April 2013

902158_10152698216800006_948728201_oThe Premise: “I.B.S. is the story of Larry, the loveable loser who can’t get over his intense Irritable Bowl Syndrome. He spends his days locked in his room while his playboy roommate parties and lives the life that Larry wished he could. One day Larry’s world changes when a workplace mishap helps him discover that murder cures what ails him. See a man desperate for change shoot, stab, and chainsaw his way to happiness.”

Mike O’Mahoney of Maniac Films, not far removed from Sloppy the Psychotic, strikes yet again with the highly comedic and bloody I.B.S.! In a time and place where toilet humor seems to be becoming the genre norm, this film literally is the shits (in a good way)! Mike seems to be able to find the right combinations of actors and actresses willing to be covered in gore and excrement, all while being able to keep the humor and the tone of the film at “acceptable” levels of grossness. While films like Monsturd, The Excremental and even The Vomit Gore trilogy went way over the top with the bodily fluids and scenes of human waste, I.B.S. is not a movie of giant monsters or demons made of feces, nor do we have forced scenes of people being sprayed with the offending material. The main character of Larry is suffering from a real life disease and quite on accident finds out that murder quells his upset stomach and bowels, not medication or talks with his doctor. Once he starts his murderous spree and enjoying his life for the first time in years, it all quickly starts to unravel as he loses control and goes on a wholesale rampage of slaughter and rage with not even his closest friends spared!

The film opens up with various fart noises playing over some rather somber yet heroically epic music while scenes of anatomical books flash by showing assorted diagrams of the bowels and toilets flush. The main character Larry is show waking from his sleep to run to the bathroom and flashbacks to scenes of him as a child in school dealing with the problem. He struggles through his day from the very beginning, his stomach bothering him while he simply waits for the bus to work. He is somewhat chastised by his boss because he runs to the bathroom as soon as he gets to work. He toils through his day as a janitor, his only bright spot occurring when he sees the beautiful Heather (Lauren Ojeda), who has a crush on him. But sadly, even that joy is taken from him when one of his coworkers goes out of his way to tease and torment him in front of Heather every chance he gets, and Larry simply ducks out of the situation…

Larry visits with his doctor, who gives him several ideas about diets and pills to control his condition, but none of them seem to work. His best friend and playboy roommate tries everything in his power to get Larry to loosen up and have a good time with the bevy of half naked girls he always seems to be bringing around, but he resists for a while until the roommate tells him he needs to make a change. Larry does, but he finds out after he unintentionally murders Keith, his office tormentor, by pushing him out of the docking area and impaling him on a metal post. He quickly disposes of the body in a dumpster, but quickly comes to the understanding that the murder has relieved him of his anxiety and his I.B.S.. We see an uptick in his attitude and he even musters up the courage to ask Heather out for a dinner date. While waiting for the bus, he has to go again, and while trying to go behind a dumpster, he is accosted by a homeless man that gets physical with him. Larry winds up killing the bum with a bootlace and rubs his stomach in satisfaction while his troubles go away…

This start to take a turn for the worse as he goes on his date with Heather, however. They make it back to his house and as things start to get heavy, Larry has to run to the bathroom as his I.B.S. kicks in again. Heather walks into the bathroom as Larry is about to kill his roommates cat and runs away screaming. Utterly heartbroken, Larry snaps and begins to off people to settle his stomach and in the process, further unhinges his mind and sanity. He starts off by murdering one of his roommates “sluts” with a a pencil to the eye, and furthers his murderous streak later the next day killing Heather in her car by strangling her with the waistband of his underwear and then having his way with her dead body! He continues his bloody rampage by killing in assorted ways: impaling a girl in the woods with a machete, hanging a guy in a tree, shoving a girls face into a running fan blade, drowning a guy in a toilet and then strangling his gimp friend with a towel and stabbing a guy in town. Not content with that, he buys an assortment of weapons from a crazed drug dealer and hits up yard sales in town to expand his weapons cache, furthering his killing spree in ways that include hitting his boss with a fire extinguisher and chocking him with a phone cord, running over a guy with a riding lawn mower, sniping a lady with a rifle, shooting a handicapped guy in the woods, shooting the neighbors dog, ramming a running chainsaw into the rectum of a couple having sex in his roommate room, dismembering a girl with an ax and decapitates his roommates girl with the same ax and then buries it in his head, all while we get happy music and Larry skipping around happily. Will anything end Larry’s I.B.S. and will he ever find happiness? You are going to have to watch the film to find out!

426201_10100737652096194_141998039_nBonus Features:

Discs: 1
Format: NTSC
Color: Color
Rating: UR
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
Language: English

Mike has once again brought a film to us that may not be on the list to show mom or dad, or even one to watch after having eating some spicy food, but he has delivered a film that while it may contain such a silly premise, is still worth being watched due to a script that keeps to the point, actors and actresses that understand the roles assigned to them and play their roles to the hilt, enough blood and gore to keep genre fans happy and a wickedly sick and sharp sense of humor to keep it all rolling. The camera work and sound are equally on par with Sloppy the Psychotic, and that is a good thing. The only thing about this release that was disappointing is that the DVD comes with no Special Features other than a mini poster of the cover. However, since at this current time the film is being self distributed by Mike and Maniac Films, this is something that can be overlooked for now until/if it gets a wider release. If you are a fan of Lloyd Kaufman and Troma Films, Mike and the crew at Maniac Films should be commended for not being afraid to take a premise and run over the top with it. For those looking to break into indie horror films, this film is an example of what you want from your cast and crew and is also an excellent baseline for how your sound and camera should be! The low DVD rating is not a slap at the quality and content of the film, just due to lack of extras! If your date has a sick sense of humor, I would highly recommend this film!

Movie Rating: 3.0 out of 5

DVD Rating: 2 out of 10

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Dedman13

Owner of Slit of the Wrist FX and producer, actor, FX artist and writer.

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