It was obvious when watching this flick that there was a Troma connection somewhere. From its cartoonish gore to a Tromatic nudity quotient to an appearance from Lloyd Kaufman, you knew that this was at least inspired by movies like Troma's War and Class Of Nuke 'Em High. It turns out that a number of the crew members (including director Caleb Emerson) appeared in Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger 4.

After a bizarre introduction from cult rockabilly musician Hasil Adkins, we meet our main characters Red (Tim Gerstmar) and Violet (Pippi Zornoza), a couple of serial killers/cannibals who are madly in love. In another part of the world, the evil Nefarious (Geoff Mosher) has developed a machine that has the ability to turn the world's population into zombie slaves. Nefarious begins his plan for global domination with a lovely trio of brave, young paleoarchaologists named the Maldonato triplets whom he promptly zombifies (after they have gone skinny dipping of course). For some reason, Nefarious then proceeds to kidnap Violet, which sets Red off on a quest around the world for his captive love. Along the way he meets a number of wacky characters including a Rastafarian in a bathtub, a Swedish bar owner named Super Inga, some topless Swedish girls, Hasil Adkins, and more. He is guided by porn legend Jamie Gillis who uses a number of disguises. The film culminates in a battle between Red, the zombies, robots, ninjas, angry dog-men, and Vlad The Impaler.

Obviously this isn't for everyone but if the above description appeals to you, it is likely that you will enjoy this flick. If you think that the described shenanigans sound ridiculous or immature, you should avoid this one like the girls who steered clear of me at high school dances. With all the sex jokes and penises flapping around, this movie reminded me more of Flesh Gordon than The Toxic Avenger but that's not necessarily a good thing. It is one thing to have the occasional dick joke but Emerson seems borderline obsessed as there was a penis reference in more than a comfortable number of scenes. There were penises opening doors, penises attached to all the costumes, a penis being covered with mustard and ketchup, a penis being pounded with hammers, and more. I am not sure what the deal was but I have not seen so much dick since I saw the John Holmes documentary Exhausted.

Lead actor Tim Gerstmar was a little overbearing as Red as he overacted his way through the story. I did find that he began to grow on me as the film continued especially when he donned his costume that consisted of gumboots, a red jumpsuit, a cape made of human flesh, and, of course, a big penis. Villain Nefarious was also pretty obnoxious and was what you'd expect from a movie like this. I think along with the sex jokes, he is what reminded me the most of Flesh Gordon and he was just as diabolical as Emperor Wang. Overall, however, I though Jamie Gillis was the best surprise as he appeared throughout Red's quest in a variety of costumes to point our hero in the right direction. Gillis clearly had fun with his role and actually played a nice guy in this flick as opposed to the sleazeballs his you usually portrays in many of his adult titles.

Overall, Caleb Emerson has delivered a fun throwback to the days of when Troma was ridiculous and fun and when b-movies threw everything into the mix. This may not be the most well-shot, well-acted, or well-written story but it was most certainly entertaining and should be recognized for its sheer craziness. Where else are you going to get all of the weirdness I have mentioned as well as a Mexican sequence shot in sepia, hippie decapitations, a cannibalistic picnic, a cheese demon named Olaf, and a line that refers to sex as "making the beast with two backs"? The only drawback was that I wished that Red was a little more appealing as he was trying to balance between charming and annoying but spent a little too much time being the latter.

The music was by a number of rock and roll and psychobilly bands as well as Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers and of course one-man rockabilly show Hasil Adkins. Emerson did a couple of other short films with Gerstmar and Zornoza called Red's Breakfast featuring the same characters.

Visit the Official Website to order and for more info. (Josh Pasnak, 10/11/06)

Directed By: Caleb Emerson.
Written By: Caleb Emerson, Haig Demarjian.

Starring: Tim Gerstmar, Geoff Mosher, Pippi Zornoza, Jamie Gillis.