BITE MARKS

BITE MARKS

Walsh (Stephen Geoffreys) drives a truck for a delivery firm. One morning he loads his truck with the latest consignment – five coffins – and prepares for the long journey ahead. But something lurking in the back of the truck has other plans for the driver...

His brother Brewster (Benjamin Lutz) meanwhile is busy fucking Walsh’s sister in a sleazy motel. His fun is curtailed when he receives a call from their irate boss trying to locate Walsh. With his brother missing, Brewster reluctantly agrees to take over delivery of the coffins.

En route, he stops to pick up back-packers Vogel (David Alanson) and Cary (Windham Beacham). Unbeknownst to macho Brewster, they’re a gay couple who are on a rambling holiday in an attempt to reignite the flame in their tepid relationship.

Brewster becomes aware of his passengers’ sexuality when he spies on them bumming in a rest stop toilet. More disconcertingly for him, the sight provokes a kick in his nether regions.

Their road trip continues until finally Brewster’s SatNav informs him he has reached his destination. He’s confused: instead of a funeral home, all he sees is a scrap yard and small house. What’s worse is that the axel on Walsh’s truck has broken in the meantime, and the only Hillbilly local in sight, McDougall (Phillip Henry Christopher), informs them that the nearest mechanic will take at least two hours to get there.

As Brewster stretches his legs and takes a look around (asking his guests not to "jizz on anything" in his absence), Cary and Vogel are suddenly disturbed by knocking coming from the back of the truck.

Upon inspection they find only one coffin in the truck’s trailer. Their confusion turns to outright panic when the sun quickly falls and they stumble upon five topless men devouring McDougall. Racing back to the truck, they share their fear with Brewster and the three of them lock themselves in, eventually plastering the windscreen in pages from the Bible when they realise they are up against vampires.

"This is wrong on so many levels" wails Vogel as Brewster suggests the three of them remain in the truck, now surrounded by the quintet of bloodsuckers, until morning.

But ... can even daylight save this trio? After all, they swiftly learn that real vampires don’t necessarily play by the rules afforded them in the movies.

BITE MARKS reveals its tone in Jovani Olivares’ animated opening titles sequence, which recalls those from THE PINK PANTHER film series and makes it clear that we are to expect a lot of crude gags in the main feature.

In this respect the film doesn’t disappoint. Director Mark Bessenger’s script is filled with one-liners, most of which are successfully amusing. It helps that the three protagonists are skilled actors, with likeable onscreen personas and good comic timing.

The humour isn’t forced for the most part, although things do get a little too daft in the final act (a man-versus-vampire boxing bout, for example). What’s satisfying is that Bessenger’s film remembers to be atmospheric and creepy at frequent intervals, as well as providing an agreeable amount of old school gore.

The screenplay is odd. On the one hand it seems to make up its own rules as it goes along: vampires can be seen in mirrors, we learn. Then we’re later told they only let you see what they want you to see. Are there five vampires – or only one? And so on. On the other hand, a more considered approach is evident: scenarios are set-up (Brewster’s epilepsy; Vogel’s inability to reciprocate Cary’s declaration of love) in order to provide workable punch lines later in to the action.

An affinity with the horror genre is also evident in Bessenger’s script. While avoiding the smugness of the SCREAM franchise, he manages to slip in references to both DAWN OF THE DEADs (cannily observing that only the first ten minutes of the remake were any good), THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA, SCARS OF DRACULA and more. Thankfully, and thanks to Brewster’s insistence, any references to TWILIGHT are cut shot.

It’s good to see Geoffreys in a cameo role. He basically reprises his Evil Ed performance from the original FRIGHT NIGHT, even getting to repeat his most famous line "You’re so cool, Brewster" during the film’s most enjoyably naff gore scene. It’s heartening to know he still exists outside of his gay porn alter-ego Sam Ritter.

Fast-moving, very well shot and consistently entertaining, BITE MARKS strikes a fair balance between its humour and horror for the main. I imagine it would play extremely well to a festival audience. And, despite the gay references, homophobes can rest assured that Bessenger never labours on content likely to frazzle their simple brains. There are plenty of boobies on offer too, take note.

The preview disc provided by Breaking Glass Pictures was a very basic DVD-R affair, containing the film and nothing else. Even so, the film looked great in this 16x9 presentation, boasting strong blacks and accurate colour schemes. I’m not sure what format the film was shot on but the presentation has a very filmic quality: it helps lend the movie a look of the 80s.

English audio was provided in 2.0 and was a very solid proposition throughout.

I understand the retail disc is also set to include a 5.1 mix, two audio commentaries, interviews with Beacham and Lutz, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a gag reel and a production photo gallery.

BITE MARKS is a fun, good-looking and sincere throwback to the low budget tongue-in-cheek horrors of the 1980s. The press release claims that it "pushes sexual boundaries" but that just means the lead couple are gay.

Well worth a look.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Breaking Glass Pictures
Region 1 - NTSC
Not Rated
Extras :
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