Director – Justin Channell (Raising the Stakes, Die and Let Live)
Starring – Zane Crosby (Bleeding Through, Basic Slaughter), Josh Lively (Faces of Schlock, Faces of Schlock Volume 2), and Chris LaMartina (Grave Mistakes, Call Girl of Cthulhu)
Release Date – 2016
Rating – 4/5
Tagline – “They blurred the lines between Hollywood and the backyard”
I started really coming into horror when I was a freshman in high school. I took an interest in horror at an early age, around 8 or 9, when Goosebumpshit the scene. I found the genre interesting and fun but it was not my obsession until high school when I started collecting the Evil Dead trilogy. Then I was hooked and started collecting regularly. I met some friends that were just as in to horror as I was but we were pretty much considered weird for our love of the genre. Unbeknownst to us, there was several indie directors in the state that were making horror that would inspire others to do the same.
In 2005 we had Eamon Hardiman and Razor Sharp Studios working on Catholic Ghoulgirls and Vampire Whores from Outer Space creating the legend of Burt Flemming. At that same time we had another filmmaker, Justin Channell, working on his film Raising the Stakes. This was not something that I was aware of at the time but over the years I became good friends with Eamon and recently became acquainted with Justin after seeing friends share Winners Tape All on their social media pages.
Sometime ago I purchased a Justin Channell double feature but I was unaware he was from my state. I was very interested in Winners Tape All but knowing the filmmaker was from the mountain state made me want to see it even more!
**Spoiler Alert**This mockumentary follows obsessed fan Henry Jacoby (indie director Chris LaMartina) who has brought together his favorite two filmmakers, the Henderson brothers, for a documentary about their two shot on video classics Curse of Stabbermanand Cannibal Swim Club. Henry grew up in a small town in West Virginia and regularly visited the local video store where he came across both films.
He became obsessed and over the years made contact with them where he now is interviewing them about what it was like filming these two forgotten films, as well as, where they are now forming another production company to make even more S.O.V. mayhem.**Spoiler Alert**
Mockumentaries are usually shit in my opinion. This is Spinal Tap andTight both had their moments but were very lackluster for the most part. In fact, they pretty much bored me until the humor kicked in which was very light. I honestly had no idea whatWinners Tape All had in store for me but I was not expecting the oddball comedy that we got.
The acting in this one is brilliant. The Henderson brothers, Zane Crosby and Josh Lively, were amazing together. They have a great on screen chemistry and fed off each other like some of the greatest comedy duos in history. These two need to star in more horror films and soon. The remainder of the cast is rather small. We have director Chris LaMartina who does a great job as an obsessed fan. He is very convincing and gives a solid performance but he is nowhere near as animated as Crosby and Lively.
The story for this one is simple, fun and downright brilliant. Though it is not entirely original, it still appeals to the horror fans out there who collect slashers and the rare S.O.V. horror flicks. Most of the mockumentaries out there follow a fictitious character, band, creature, and so on as they talk about their make believe life. This one is no different but it dives deep down into what real horror fans enjoy and gives us the minds behind two faux films that really needs to be made.
Finally, though this is a mockumentary it still has some kills when it plays scenes from the fake films. These kills were cheap and not meant to be taken seriously. The effects are not that great but that is not the point of these kills. The kills, along with the clips they are in, are meant to parody the S.O.V. boom of the late 80s and 90s. Overall, Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers Story is one fantastic film that shows there is still originality and fun in the indie horror scene. The film has laughs, some of the best acting I have seen in a no budget feature, and pokes fun at something horror fans really love. I can not recommend this one enough!
