I’ll be honest – Mr. Cleaver is rough around the edges. It’s incredibly low budget and the production, as a whole, is sloppy and riddled with mistakes. However, it’s almost mesmerizing because, just like Reel Nightmare Films’ other recent release An Idle Mind is the Devil’s Playground, Mr Cleaver is a time capsule of horror, stuffed full with the cult quality of early 90’s splatterflicks that littered VHS store shelves around the world. I was waiting for Linnea Quigley to come out at any moment, and was genuinely surprised to see this title is a brand new release. Based on the screenplay by Nik Wendelsdorf, Mr. Cleaver follows several punks, and one psychic, who breaks into an abandoned warehouse despite the warnings of the clairvoyant. Soon, they’re terrified to find themselves hunted by the bloodthirsty maniac who lives inside building. Alexandra Guerineaud, Ian M. Enriguez, Ronnie Kerr, Ly Pham, Santiago Morales, Sarah Korda, Shannon Lark, Patrick Donahue and Rosemary Maciel star in this throwback to straight-to-VHS slasher movies from the tail end of The Golden Age of Horror.
So, yeah, I really want to slaughter D.M.F. Productions and Mr. Cleaver for their lack of effort and B-movie quality, but I can’t help but appreciate it for capturing a long lost style of film-making from a great era of cinema; hap-hazardously slapped together, gory, sexy slasher flicks. I go back and forth so much on this one almost every other second. It’s almost a waste because we never get to see the true capabilities of cinematographer Greg DeFranzo and editor Nik Wendelsdorf, and we never get to see if any of the cast can actually act their way out of a paper bag. The audio is over-produced yet distorted, the camera work is slightly out of focus, and Mr. Cleaver has some pretty laughable stunt choreography and special effects that are underutilized. You can’t tout a movie based on early 90’s slasher flicks and then drop the ball during the kill scenes. They’re too quick! But, besides that, Mr. Cleaver accomplished what it set out to do – perfectly capture the grungy, rock-and-roll quality of VHS hits like Jason Goes to Hell and Slumber Party Massacre 3.
From here on out, I’m just going to focus on what I enjoyed about this indie flick. Director and producer Nik Wendelsdorf knows how to pander to an audience, and boy, does Mr. Cleaver have massive appeal to its target audience. I think it’s obvious who that audience is. Mr. Cleaver is simple and effective, and features a bunch of young people being hacked to pieces in an abandoned building. The killer’s motive is simple – murder and eat, murder and eat. It’s literally boiled down to the simplest concept and, besides the inclusion of the lead being some sort of psychic, it’s that type of mind-numbing horror that certain fans really appreciate. When watching Mr. Cleaver, you can just turn your brain off and enjoy the onslaught of violence and suspense on your screen, and fly back to a better time in cinema with this film’s palpable, electric atmosphere. Throw in a sex scene and a few crazy montages, and this one’s as early 90’s horror as you can get. Mr. Cleaver is Clerks meets The Dead Pit. Confusing and under-produced, but a worthwhile experience for those of us who weren’t old enough to experience straight-to-VHS horror. Final Score: 6.5 out of 10.
