Director – Brian Kilby (Boner and the Neudge, Road of Darkness)
Starring – Amanda Bell (Manuer), Patrick L. Dear (The Big F, Fangboner), and Adam Lorenz (Beyond the Vally of Belief, Blood Orgy at Beaver Lake)
Release Date – 2015
Rating – 4/5
There is so many indie filmmakers and production companies that I love but there is few that get me excited (hot and bothered) like Rock Bottom Video. This small group of actors and directors has released several unforgettable films like Fangboner, Beyond the Valley of Belief, The Big F, and Gay for Pray: The Erotic Adventures of Jesus Christ.
The team behind these films has said that they made a film in 2015 and didn’t release it. Guardia de Male was their take/parody of Italian horror films and has set in limbo until this year when they decided to take it off the shelf. They screened the film at Cinema Wasteland earlier this month and I was able to make the screening. I was drunk during the showing but I had a great fucking time. Everyone in the room was laughing and having a good time. I bought a copy to complete my Rock Bottom collection and decided to give the film a proper viewing while sober. The film held up and I laughed just as hard as I did at the screening.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows a group of young adults who enjoy a night out camping. What the group doesn’t know is that there is an evil force in the woods that jumps from host to host once the body is destroyed. Those possessed by the evil presence kills those around them. When their own falls victim to the entity they seek refuge in a nearby home where they encounter a stranger who has battled the evil before. They try to hold out until daylight but what they don’t know is that daylight is never going to come and their mortality hanging by a thread.**Spoiler Alert**
Rock Bottom Video has a sense of humor that translates very well in their films. I love their delivery and how everything can be a punch line. I’ve met and hung out with Nathan Rumler and Brian Papandrea and they are just as funny in real life as their films. Both are very animated and unique which is why the films they are apart of stands out against other indie flicks.
The acting in this one is fucking fantastic. The poor dubbing made the film as fun as it was and the fact the cast had to overact to make it work only shows how talented they are on camera. Sadie Tate and Mae Bell were great. The two look amazing on camera and delivered two fun performances. Patrick Dear, Adam Lorenze, Brian Papandrea, and Michael Soave did great as well. The best performance comes from Nathan Rumler who dolls himself up and kills it as a possessed woman. That last part is a lie, he shouldn’t wear a dress ever again.
The story for this one falls somewhere between Demon Wind and Evil Dead meets any poorly dubbed Italian film. Most horror dickheads would watch this and not appreciate what Rock Bottom did but fans of the cabin in the woods and Italian horror will love the mash up. The cabin in the woods possession tale has always been a favorite of mine and seeing it tossed in an Italian style film really worked for me. Sure, it is surrounded by heavy amounts of humor but it still works. You more than chuckle at the film. When you laugh it will be a belly laugh.
Finally, the film isn’t that gory. There is some blood but my favorite part (aside from the dubbing) is how the possessed look. Rock Bottom would really have something if they would have had a more serious approach to the film if they used those effects. Overall, Guardia de Male is a fun watch for fans of horror comedies and Italian horror. However, if you are a horror hipster sniffing your own farts you wont enjoy it. I can’t recommend this one enough. Please check it out.
