BACK FROM HELL – Gnarly post-Evil Dead flick from director Matt Jaissle. 'Back From Hell' is the tale of a priest and his old friend, an actor who made it big in Hollywood before becoming a prolific serial killer after a satanic ceremony went wrong. You know the way it goes. I'm not sure about the 'big in Hollywood' thing, though – he looks like he'd be more at home delivering pizza in 1985 or something. But he does seem to have an enormous cellar full of cadavers. 'Back From Hell' is not a shot-on-video flick, but it does have a very similar aesthetic. That is, it's an obvious labour of love made in a backyard by someone who had yet to fully develop a grasp of cinematic basics. So it's disjointed and all over the place, and doesn't make a lick of sense. On one level. But in another way, and unlike a lot of similar ultra lo fi productions, 'Back From Hell' conjures up a very definite and consistent atmosphere, a world unto itself if you like. Murky 16mm phtography takes us into a realm of grungy interiors and dilapidated exteriors. Bleak looking houses in desolate countryside locations loom up. People sit and read the bible accompanied by over-loud clock ticking sounds and the meaow of a cat on a tape loop. It's these incidentals that give 'Back From Hell' real flavour, somehow. Of course there's the gore and the horror stuff, strung together by a plot line that gradually pales and fades like seaweed in the depths and doesn't really open up too much meaning to the viewer. It's something to do with occult stuff, things happen, a hand reaches out of said bible and grabs priest's face, someone goes in a house. On a slightly different note, Hollywood guy slashes a bum's throat, then rips out his larynx and throws it in the face of another bum who has the audacity to raise concern over his pal's demise. Contemptuous or what? Sometimes that's all you need when you're giving it to The Man. Matt Jaissle went on to do bad taste anti-classic 'The Necro Files' and a couple of others. This is good stuff for lovers of yesteryear's bargain basement fan cinema slime. Currently out on Massacre Video.
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