Jesse Bagot’s film is effectively an extension of Lions Gate’s SEE NO EVIL, which realized that a hulking pro-wrestler would make an intimidating old-school slasher. It goes one step further by making its psycho (Rey Misterio) a wrestler playing a wrestler, thus allowing for the punning title.
Misterio’s character, “El Mascarado” brings some fresh quirks to the sub-genre : playing / killing by the rules of Mexican wrestling, he can seemingly only be killed if his mask is torn off – just as Mexican wrestlers have to retire from the ring if unmasked. Misterio cuts an imposing figure in a fat-free movie that has fun with amusing characters but executes its slasher scenarios straight, achieving suspense and decent gore as a result. Writer/director/editor Bagot shows some flair with fluid camerawork, bone-cracking violence and slick visuals.
A small low budget film crew consisting of a sleazy director, a stoner, an obese cameraman and three up-for-it hotties willing to do girl-on-girl wind up in an infamous Mexican ghost town and set about making a cheap porn flick. They are stalked and offed by a mad, renowned 60’s wrestler who has apparently survived dozens of lobotomies and takes the phrase “face off” all too literally.
An above average cast brings some verve to this flick : as the obligatory creepy Prophet Of Doom gas station guy, genre veteran Irwin Keyes is suitably boss-eyed. Adam Huss steals it as a coke-snorting would-be filmmaker who believes that DEEP THROAT endures better than TAXI DRIVER in the pantheon of 70’s cinematic milestones.
It’s a pacey and confident movie with lively bouts of face-ripping/head bashing brutality and a particularly good extended mano a mano climax featuring the indestructible killer and final girl Leyla Milani. Milani is skimpily dressed throughout, in a low-cut, tight vest top and short shorts : note the ingenious ways devised during the finale to a) get the vest soaking wet and b) tear those shorts off! She is a spunky enough heroine though the sour twist on expectations, echoing the recent TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE THE BEGINNING makes her whole role a cynical set up for a shock ending and, consequently, a final drive into the sunset that suggests a potential DVD franchise.
-Steven West
- 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
