Halloween Mind Massacre is the second featuring film from Rob Michels following The Lurking and three shorts. As soon as you hear the eerie 80’s music leading into the opening shot, you know that Halloween Mind Massacre is going to be a retro good time. It’s edgy and grungy and, well, bizarre. Bizarre in a fun way, though. The film follows a man named Carl, who’s a little out of his mind and seeking help. His doctor decides to give him an experimental drug, which causes side effects that are out of his control. Stalkers. Aliens. Hallucinations. Acid Trips. Whatever. It all converges into a mesmerizing if not slightly out of this world experience for Carl on a dark Halloween night. Jason Phelps, Shayne White, Kaecy Livermore, Edan Phelps, Chad Teubert and Scruffy star in Halloween Mind Massacre. It’s hitting YouTube and Amazon Prime in the very new future, and you should keep an eye out for it if you enjoy true independent cinema, movies that are akin to Troma in style, or a taste of 80’s nostalgia when you could find crap VHS copies on shelves at the video store. This one isn’t going to be for everyone, and here’s why.
Rob Michels, Jason Phelps and Shayne White have worked on almost all of Michels’ previous works. I’d say they’re a unit that believes horror is best served with equal doses of rock and roll, action, dirty humor… and, ya know, mind altering substances. Here’s the thing, though. I haven’t seen their work prior to Halloween Mind Massacre. In this case, the film comes off as nothing short of juvenile and amateurish. It reads like three dudes said “hey let’s shoot a movie,” and did the whole feature in the span of one weekend. The thing is, hiding behind the errors and z-budget clusterfuck is the basis for actual talent. The script wasn’t terrible, the actors were too rehearsed at times but capable enough, and the camera work was pretty good. The junkyard scene at night was awesome to watch, and it my favorite visual in the whole flick. The special effects were made by practical means, and they were one of the best aspects of the production. The other backing scores, the flow between acts, and the overall cohesiveness needed a lot of work. However, I think the team at Scream Like Banshees Productions has the potential to get better and make a movie that’s surely worthwhile.
Despite my comments above, I’d actually describe Halloween Mind Massacre as grindhouse in nature. All it needed was some nudity and it would have encompassed the whole genre. Plus, it had dogs. What I’m trying to say here is…I have no idea where the alien came from and how Carl’s life spun out of control so fast that it resulted in a bloody massacre. But, I do know that Rob Michels and his team have talent. They’re brave. I could see that when they used red filters to highlight a specific scene. I could see that when one of the actors held a knife close to the camera while their face (and dreads?) were covered in blood. It was another beautiful shot! It was dark and disturbing, but it lacked true focus. In the future, I hope they come back with another feature film, after honing their skills and putting more effort into taking their work more seriously. But, Hell, maybe Halloween Mind Massacre was never meant to be taken seriously. Maybe it was meant to be taken as a silly, rowdy, bloody, nostalgic, 0-budget experimental horror flick. If that’s the case, they certainly succeeded there. But for now… Final Score: 5 out of 10.
