Reviews From the Horror Chamber -- Paper Dolls, Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence

Welcome to Reviews from the Horror Chamber. I am your chamber keeper, Anthony Thurber. Here’s a couple of quick news (N) and thoughts (T)

(N) According to bloody-disgusting.com, Gutterballs will be released by TLA releasing via its Danger After Dark label.

(T) This is definitely great news, as this film was a fun throw back to the 80’s

(N) Reunion of Terror is set to have its world premiere June 8th at the Milwaukee County Massacre Film Festival.

(T) Again, I’ll tell you that you have to see this movie and don’t worry this film will find distribution but for now, check this film out when it hits your local film festival.

That’s it for news and thoughts. Before I get to this weeks reviews I’m letting you choose which film, I should review in the June 1st edition of Reviews From the Horror Chamber. All the titles here are titles that I haven’t seen or haven’t had time to review. The choices are:

April Fool’s Day (2008)
Botched
One Missed Call (2008)
Teeth
Zombie Strippers (yes that’s the title of the movie)

Well at 9:15 PM Eastern time, I have a three way with Botched, One Missed Call and Zombie Strippers with two votes a piece and Teeth with one vote. If it’s still tied after this Wednesday at 5pm, well then I will break the tiebreak and I really don’t want to do that so please vote.

You can vote at the official page of Reviews From the Horror Chamber at http://www.myspace.com/reviewsfromthehorchamber, the official Myspace home of Film Arcade at http://www.myspace.com/filmarcade and my personal Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/anthonythurber

Paper Dolls
Year: 2008
Director: David Blair, Adam Pitman
Stars: Adam Pitman, Gill Gayle, Kent Harper
Studio: Badfritter Films
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Review Rating: 5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/paperdolls06

Paper Dolls has been on the festival for a while. The film has played in a couple of festivals already. The list includes, Nevermore Film Festival, Fright Night Film Festival and the Eerie Horror Film Festival where it won Best feature, Best Director, and Best Actor.

Paper Dolls is about two friends who embark on a road trip to Canada. They recently graduated from high school where they plan to have fun. Their trip is going is to plan until they take a detour to the wilderness. They are then attacked by a group of unknown group of creatures that lurk in the wilderness that take one of them. Soon the survivor of the attack begins an all out war with these creatures in order find his friend.

Paper Dolls is a thinking man’s horror film. It has the feel of such great psychological horror films like The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast. Directors, David Blair and Adam Pitman does a good job focusing on the characters and supernatural occurrences during the film. This could have easily been boring for the first half of the film but the directors go a great job directing their actors and making the story interesting. The performances in the film were very good. The film has a very solid lead performance by Pitman. He really played his character very well, as this was a complex role to play. The film also has a couple of very good supporting performances from both Gill Gayle and Kent Harper, as they both brought something to their characters that made their characters interesting. Even though this film had a couple of action scenes, they were directed very well, as it helped bring in the suspense for those scenes

The screenplay, which was written by Blair, Pitman and Adam Stillwell was excellent. They did a great job building and developing the characters in the film. It really helped this become very good, as this was more of thinking horror film than a blood and guts film. The story, they conceived was great, as it was suspenseful in the way that you wouldn’t think. It’s that way because there is a point in the film, which I won’t describe here, since not most people haven’t seen it yet. But it makes you wonder about a certain character in the film and his state of mind. To me that was very good, as it’s one of those things makes a twist in the story very mind-blowing and entertaining at the same time. Another thing that was good about the screenplay was the investigation part of the film. That part really felt like something you see on one those cop procedural shows which made it interesting.

Paper Dolls is a very chilling psychological horror film that will keep you guessing after you’ve seen the film.

Upcoming Screenings:

June 10th: Seattle True Independent Film Festival 8PM at the Jewel Box Theater

Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence
Year: 2008
Director: Matt Yeager
Stars: Shey Bland, John Patrick Mccauley, Eric Halsel
Studio: Dissolve Pictures
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Review Rating: 3 Stars
Official Website: Http://www.myspace.com/johnnysunshinemovie

Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence takes place in amidst of a zombie apocalypse where there is no law and order and the wealthy surrounded themselves with wall around them. The films a porn star who enjoys killing anything in her path and filming it on videotape for her producer, who in turns sells the tape and makes millions on it. Soon her producer starts to hatch a secret plan when sales of he films start going down. He then, hatches a plan with a police officer who wants out of the city and be in with the wealthy. Soon, the two plan to create the greatest snuff film ever made and this time, Johnny Sunshine is the victim.

Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence is one of those films that was good to watch but at the same I thought it could have been better. Director Matt Yeager does a good job, as the direction was not bad for that type of budget or script that he had for his disposal. The direction of the actors was surprising good, as the performances kept my interest with this film. One of the main reasons this film was enjoyable was the performance of Shey Bland. She really makes this Johnny Sunshine character come to light, by making the tone of her voice dark, especially in the narration. It really reminded me of those dark characters that you see in comic books.

The screenplay written by Sean Michel Argo was average at best. The main problem I had with it was it really didn’t have much story to it. It felt like a film that focus on how violence that it can cram in. Also I thought the inserts featuring one of the character talking like it was a confessional tape, which kind of disrupted the flow of the film, but still it least it had a purpose for the film. There are also a couple of positives with this film. I liked how the film takes shots at how society neglected these people who didn’t have any money or and how people are just so arrogant with it’s citizenship subplot. Also, I liked how the main character was nothing but a badass chick, as that right there will keep your attention.

Johnny Sunshine Maximum Violence is a guilty pleasure flick that filled with hot babes and a badass heroine that will kick your ass all over the place.

Johnny Sunshine Maximum Violence will be released on DVD on August 5th from Brain Damage Pictures.

Also, you can check out my review for Frontier(s) here on the site at

If you’re a filmmaker and interested in having your horror film reviewed in the horror chamber, you can reach the Chamber Keeper himself at horrorchamber@filmarcade.net or if you have any film in any genres that you want Film Arcade to review, send us an email at screeners@filmarcade.net.

Also, don’t forget to add the official myspace home of Reviews From the Horror Chamber at http://www.myspace.com/reviewsfromthehorchamber.

I’ll be back this Sunday with a new edition, which will include my review of George Romero’s Diary of the Dead and the movie that you’ve chosen for me to review. Until then, have a frightening day