I.B.S. (2013)
Directed by Mike O’Mahony
Review by Mario Dominick
Indie filmmaker Mike O’Mahony and his company Maniac Films have over the past couple years gotten the attention of low budget horror fans with two outrageous DIY gorefests, Deadly Detour and Sloppy the Psychotic. Both are slasher movies with moments of over-the-top gore, scatological humor, depravity, and various offensive material that breaks taboos. With the release of these two depraved spectacles (one from World Wide Multi Media and the other from Chemical Burn respectively), Mike and Maniac Films have started to establish themselves as a production crew that dares to be dangerous and give a big middle finger to the same old, tired, watered down gloss that floods the rental shelves at Family Video and clogs up Redbox. Mike and the Maniac crew are making movies that not only manage to shock, disturb and offend, but also have an added camp value reminiscent of many ’80s direct-to-video B-movies. With the release of their latest movie, I was curious to see what direction Mr. O’Mahony would take us in next and whether it could hold a candle to his previous two efforts. That brings us here to take a look at I.B.S.
I.B.S. stars James Costa as Larry, an office employee with a bad case of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (hence the title, I.B.S.) that he’s been plagued with since childhood. He always has to go to the bathroom at the worst times. On top of that, his job is boring and mostly consists of office clean-up work, he gets picked on by a macho co-worker who keeps getting in the way of his trying to form a relationship with a girl in the office who he likes, and he lives with a lazy roommate who only cares about partying, playing strip poker and having sex while poor Larry stays cooped up all day in the house with his endless bowel troubles. One day, Larry accidentally kills his bully co-worker and at this moment, it appears his constant urge to go has subsided. This then gives Larry the idea that the act of killing will cure his seemingly unstoppable Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It’s not before long that Larry finds himself on a bloody rampage, hacking up anyone unfortunate enough to be in his path when his urge to go occurs. Larry doesn’t have a growing problem, he has a GOING problem, and, as the tagline says, “When he’s got to go… You got to go!”
While I.B.S. isn’t as extreme as Deadly Detour and Sloppy the Psychotic, it is a fun, campy slasher that has a fair share of nudity, gore, and humor. There’s a really sick scene with a chainsaw and a funny moment when Larry’s date freaks out when she walks in on him in the bathroom and sees him standing up with his pants down and holding a cat. D.M. Folger Jr. as Larry’s roommate Buddy provides a good chunk of the film’s comedy and one downright hilarious moment happens after Larry kills a girl brought home by Buddy in his bedroom and Larry convinces Buddy that she ran off and the bloody mess is a result of her having a massive period. Hahaha! Director Mike O’Mahony also appears as a weapons salesman.
I.B.S. is now available to purchase on DVD from Maniac Films themselves through their Facebook page. Be sure to contact Mike for a copy and while you’re at it, I recommend ordering Deadly Detour and Sloppy the Psychotic from Amazon.com.
Maniac Films Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maniac-Films/358647710005
The next Maniac Films production will be a movie called Offline. You can visit Offline’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Offline/207082839459939
