Every now and then Fortuna smiles gently at me and grants me a bit of luck. The last time this happened was about three weeks ago, when I took part in a giveaway contest hosted by my fave horror website Fearzone.com and ended up winning a brandnew Shock-O-Rama DVD of Brett Piper's horrorflick "Drainiac".
And even though Brett's filmmaking career dates back to the year 1982, when he debuted with the lowbudget SciFi film "Mysterious Planet", "Drainiac" has been my first encounter with the unflagging filmmaker from New Jersey's cinematic work... but it surely won't be my last.
Brett shot "Drainiac" for round about 10,000$ and created a movie that should be totally up the alley of every b-movie freak and trash film fan.
The first thing that really struck me about "Drainiac" is how well Mr. Piper utilized his limited budget. While most lowbudget flicks of the new millenium are shot on video, "Drainiac" had been shot on 16mm film, which of course gives it a very cool oldschool look and feel that fits perfect to the story about a bunch of cursing teenagers who have to face hordes of oldschool latex monsters and supernatural turbulences in an abandoned house that's haunted by demons. Honestly, at times you almost forget that you're watching a movie made in 2000 cause everything reminds you so much of a glorious age long gone, when cult flicks like "Evil Dead", "Mother's Day" and "Phantasm" flickered on the silver screens.
If you wanna fully appreciate this wonderful little flick, you should of course not make the mistake and compare it directly to timeless classics of the horror genre like "Evil Dead" (which had been shot with a budget more than 30 times as big as that of "Drainiac"), but rather should you look at Brett Piper's film from the perspective that the director and his crew did really create something astonishing and amazing with the little money and resources they had.
Sure, the actors who've almost all been highschool kids with no prior acting experience don't deliver Oscar-worthy performances, the oldschool latex and stop motion effects don't exactly remind you of "Jurassic Park" and the story about a vengeful waterdemon that haunts a run-down mansion isn't exactly profound and sophisticated, but who cares, this is a B-movie and it gives all the B-move freaks out there exactly what they want and expect!!
"Drainiac" is not a perfect movie, of course, but it's got this very own charme that makes all those lowbudget indy horror flicks so lovable and sets 'em apart from Hollywood's polished and colorful multimilliondollar productions.
As a devoted horror fan with a special love for "haunted house" flicks, you can definitely not go wrong with "Drainiac". So better get this DVD soon and prepare yourself not only for a nice little tongue-in-the-cheek horror shocker, but also for some cool specials like a booklet with extensive linernotes and an interesting audio commentary.
And if you're one of the few people who already own an original VHS copy of "Drainiac", you might still wanna buy this version anyway, cause Brett Piper, being a true devotee to the horror genre, did even enter the cutting room again for several weeks in order to re-cut the old material and enhance the visual effects especially for this DVD release. And also the distributor, Shock-O-Rama, did their best to remaster the original negatives and present "Drainiac" to you with the best possible sound and audio quality. There's no denying: This has to be the ultimate version of "Drainiac" ever... so you'd better order the DVD right now, put it into your player and dive into the grotesque 'n eerie horror maelstrom called Brett Piper's "Drainiac"!!

80% by Tobi (02.08.2008)