Artie Saves the Hood is a video game-esque sci-fi indie film in which a “just your average guy”-type finds a glowing piece of magic soap in his drywall and, with the help of his friend, shoots aliens in gas masks while a girl from another dimension mumbles and talks like she’s been flogged in the head with a golf club.
Yeah, I don’t really get it, either. I mean, I can comprehend the whole premise of the film—an average Joe must save the world in a bizarre series of events that are so out there that they’re comedic, and I’ll even admit to having said “ha” about twice during the viewing of this movie, but this twice-pronounced “ha” was more of a question than a proclamation, as throughout the film I was interrogating what exactly the filmmakers were attempting to achieve with the creation of the film.
Artie Saves the Hood contains pretty much every clichéd indie film component: pretty poor acting (the main actor, Ed Radmanich III, who also just happened to serve as director of the film, was alright, but I can’t say the same about any of the other actors’ performances), a lot of failed humor (most of this is the result of the aforementioned bad acting), a boring plot (if you could even consider it a “plot”…it’s more along the lines of a 33-minute cut scene from a video game), and bad CGI effects. Normally, I can buy into these aspects and just dig the movie for what it is, but really and truly, on all levels, this type of film is just not my thing.
I suppose there’s an audience for Artie Saves the Hood out there somewhere. The closest hypothesis I have as far as what the filmmakers were trying to achieve is that it’s the type of movie one would watch when wanting something extremely stupid to laugh at. I love me some stupid humor, but the type that I crave is more of the Troma-flavored variety, and not of this depleted caliber. The difference is that Troma has been creating the best in stupidity for years and have become experts at what they do, while the crew behind Artie are novices in the art of cinematic folly and it shows. Sure, the film elicits the potential of the crew to work their way up to Troma-tinged status, but these guys clearly haven’t reached that spot yet. Overall, Artie Saves the Hood is a film that is kind of funny in a guilty pleasure way…but only kind of.
-Spooky Steve
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
