Reviews From the Horror Chamber: "Ticked Off Trannies with Knives", "Bikini Bloodbath Christmas", "Attack at Zombie High"

Ticked Off Trannies with Knives
Year: 2010
Director: Israel Luna
Stars: Krystal Summers, Kelexis Davenport, William Belli
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Vicious Circle Films
Running Time: 90 Mins





“Ticked Off Trannies with Knives” is homage to the exploitation films of the seventies. The film is about a group of trainnes, who get attacks by a group of men and left for dead. They soon regain consciousness from the vicious attack and seeing revenge. Now with their new confidence, these divas turn deadly to slice their way to vengeance.

“Ticked Off Trannies with Knives” is a very deranged and entertaining grindhouse film. Writer/Director Israel Luna does a very good job making this film feel like a grindhouse film. I liked, how he makes the picture so grainy and adding missing reel and title card effects. It makes the film stand out, from other revenge films. Oneof the reason that I enjoyed this film, everything was handled well. Luna keeps the action moving without getting too over the top with the action and the performances. It really help the flow of film, as it didn’t chaotic to the point where you lose track of everything. This could’ve easily happen considering that there is missing reel and the fact that there were a couple of characters that looked dead in one scene and very much alive in the next scene. Thankfully, the confusion is only temporary. There’s also enough blood and gore to keep fans of the genre interested.

Luna’s screenplay also provides the shock value that’s needed for an exploitation film. He does a very good job creating a story that’s so weird that it feels original and edgy. If the story includedregular men or women, then maybe it wouldn’t work as well as this surprising did . The other thing that I liked about the film, the way that Luna wrote the dialogue. One minute, the dialogue is dark and sinister and the next minute it’s very humorous. He does a good job balancing those elements very well, as that what makes the film entertaining. If the tone of the dialogue wasn’t balanced like it is here, then this film wouldn’t have been entertaining.

Forget the subject matter, “Ticked Off Trannies with Knives” is very twisted and entertaining film that pays homage to the exploitation films of the grindhouse era.

Review Rating: Four Stars

Bikini Bloodbath Christmas
Year: 2010
Directors: Jon Gorman, Thomas Edward Seymour
Stars: Rachael Robbins, Niki Notatile, Debbie Rochon
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: BloodBath Pictures
Running Time: 71 Mins




“Bikini Bloodbath Christmas” is the third film in the “Bikini Bloodbath” series. Jenny and Sharon are back, as this time they working at a bong shop that’s in a very competitive battle with a Christian deli for holiday business. The girls put there competitiveness aside, when everyone is invited to a big holiday bash at Mrs. Johnson’s house. But Jenny accidentally resurrects the killer chef again and this things start to get crazy. Soon people start disappearing from the party, as no ones knows who causing all of this. Can Jenny and Sharon have a happy Christmas or is it their last.

This film is not your typical Christmas film. Jon Gorman and Thomas Edward Seymour continue to go all out with the way that they proceed with each film, as the direction was solid. The gags are more gross out than the previous two films. Most of the stuff works with the exception for a few bathroom gags that felt repetitive to me. I also liked, how the directors handled the acting aspects. I know, they felt cheesy, but it’s the cheesiness in the acting helped provided for some funny moments.

If there was one complaint with Gorman and Seymour’s direction, it would have to be with some of the death scenes felt rushed. The bathroom death scenes were creative and shot very well, but most of the character deaths felt rushed and so fast that you don’t get the full effect of the scene. This will leave some of the gorehounds disappointed.

Gorman and Seymour’s screenplay was good. This felt like the same film that I’ve seen three times, but it the way that they write the humor that makes these bad movies good to watch. It’s easily accessible for those who haven’t watched the first two films of the series, as there are flashback sequences that ties this film to the first two,. I also liked the way, they created new characters for this one. The character traits of some of the characters were enough to generate laughs. Gorman and Seymour also do a good job with having the film end with a twist ending. I know that Chef Death is a staple of the series, but after a while he just becomes boring to watch. Hopefully, the next film will continue on the twist ending.

If your looking for a campy Christmas horror film to pop up your DVD player this season, then “Bikini Bloodbath Christmas” is for you.

Review Rating: Three Stars

Attack at Zombie High!
Year: 2009
Director: Jennifer Sanett
Stars: Rachele Smith, Carly Lang, Emily Del Giudice
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Insanetty Production
Running Time: 12 Mins




“Attack at Zombie High” is about a high school student, who has a vendetta against Amber, the most popular girl in the school. The student turns to witchcraft, in order to summon several bloodlusting zombies. Now she has unleash them to kill Amber friends, so that her high school sweetheart can’t ask her to the prom. It’s up to Amber to stop her, before the whole high school is overrun by zombies.

“Attack at Zombie High” is “High School Musical meets “Night of the Living Dead”. Writer/Director Jennifer Sanett makes this film a nice “High School Musical” parody. Her direction was good, because this was a fun film to watch. One of the reason that this was fun from on directing perspective, it doesn’t take it’s self too seriously. I liked, how she makes the action entertaining with the dance sequences, which doesn’t turn this into your typical zombie movie. It makes the film fun, and that’s what I’m looking for this type of movie. Sanett also does a good job with the performances, as she really made sure that the characters were annoying. It made some of the film’s funny parts work.

Sannett’s screenplay was very different from what I’m use to seeing from this type of horror genre. I liked, how she has a different take on the zombie genre. What hurts the screenplay was the character and action development. There was none there, as some of the scenes felt like they were just put together and there‘s your movie. In order to make a fun movie, you need to see where that characters are going. Also, I felt there was hardly any back-story to the main characters. It would have been nice to see an extra ten minutes or so going into the backstory. It would have fleshed out some the main characters. But there is a positive. I liked, how she’s able to give her characters good personality traits to help makes this film watchable in a b-movie way and its enough to give this a slightly positive rating.

“Attack at Zombie High” has a good concept and solid directing, but it’s the screenplay that hurts this film from being very good.

Review Rating: Three Stars