Father's Day

Father's Day (2011)

Dir: Astron-6 (Adam Brooks/Jeremy Gillespie/Matt Kenedy/Conor Sweeney/Steven Kostanski)

Produced By Troma 

IMDB: 4.2 out of 10

Now this is what I like to see, When I think about what Troma should be in 2012 this is exactly what I hope for and they deliver perfectly. Father's Day is the first film from film team Astron-6 and if this is any sign of things too come from them , I look forward to what they have to bring to the troma team in the future. Father's Day is a loud film and a exploitation and gore fans dream. It is what you would get if you threw Hobo with a Shotgun, Dead Alive , Evil Dead and Class of Nuke Em' High with a small dash of A Serbian Film into a blender. That is really the easiest and most accurate description I can come up with after viewing this flick.I had seen the trailers and artwork for this film about two years ago and ever since I had been waiting anxiously to get my hands on a copy and now I finally found an advance copy and I must say it was worth the wait for a trash fiend like myself, That is exactly what this film is....Trash , But I mean that in the best way possible.

The film pulls no punches getting straight to the grim as we see a mans freshly killed corpse being mutilated and sexually violated by a heavy set man with a taste for human flesh. As the creep continues to go to town on his fresh kill a trench coat dawning ,shotgun wielding man comes to the save a few moments too late and he gives chase. Catching the killer in an alley way and running him down with his car before blowing the mans head off with his pump.We then see a troubled youth being questioned for the murder of his own father since he continues to keep popping up in the same places as mutilated older men. The young man who goes by Twink declares it was Bill Cummings a man who once went by the father's Day killer and has apparently been dead and gone for several years. After not getting any believable answers the detective releases the young man due to lack of evidence and he returns to the street where he gets by turning tricks to older gentlemen and rolling them with his pal Walnut for their cash. A young priest Father John Sullivan attempts to take the young man in but is denied and when the priest returns to the head of the church describing what had happened to the young man's father , Sullivan is sent to find Ahab in order to track the father's day killer whom the head priest refers to as Fuchman. As they believe he has indeed returned to take more lives.

John Sullivan travels to a secluded area in a Forrest to find Ahab, Who apparently had witnessed his father killed years ago by Fuchman and went into seclusion after being in prison for 10 years for killing the wrong man while hunting down the madman. After some convincing and mentions of his long lost sister , Ahab decides to join the hunt for the Father's Day Killer. Quickly upon returning to the city Det.Stegal warns Ahab to stay out of the case and to warn his sister Chelsea to do the same. Ahab reconnects with his sister after finding her working at a shady strip club. She refuses to give up her chase as she has been studying the killer for years. One night after her shift she runs into Twink and Walnut who is not dealing well with the rape and murder of his father and she decides to take him home with her to comfort him. While at her place the lights go out and Fuchman shows up and brutally murders Walnut and goes right for Twink and Chelsea before Ahab arrives and scares the killer off. Detective Stegal comes to the door and Chelsea thinks on her feet and manages to keep the fuzz off long enough for Twink and Ahab to escape. Chelsea plans to meet up with Twink and Ahab later that night after they load up on weapons for their cause.

Back at the church Father John finds his mentors head in a box left there by the Fuchman and now he swears vengeance and decides to join forces with the rest of the gang. As they all practice using their firearms, Fuchman makes his way to Chelsea's club and slaughters all inside before kidnapping Chelsea. By the time Ahab and crew  make it to her place it is too late but they find his potential whereabouts in the notes Chelsea keeps on Fuchman and this leads the gang to a abandoned Water park.After a brief car chase that eventually leads the gang stranded and on foot.At the hidden lair we see that Fuchman has a group of followers as they watch him go to town on yet another male victim and displays some cringe worthy self mutilation before he sets in to torture Ahab's sister.Meanwhile The gang is forced to take a break as Ahab is seriously injured. While setting up camp , Twink and Father John have a bad trip as they accidentally eat some poison berries.Also at this point we get some back story for Ahab, Revealing that he witnessed his father killed and raped by Fuchman and also had his eye cut out by the psycho. Ahab as a young man went to live with a martial arts master who trained  and raised him before he went to live with Father John's mentor.  In the morning they awake and refocus heading further to the Waterpark.At this point the film breaks into a pretty funny intermission played as a commercial break advertising a cheap sci-fi flick called "Star Raiders " .

When the film returns from the break, The gang arrives at Fuchman's water park lair. After wandering the hollowed halls of the park they find Chelsea badly hurt and upon removing her from the premises , Ahab spots Fuchman trying to flee the scene. Ahab rushes to catch up with him and disposes of the killer in brutal fashion by shooting him through the ass blowing his guts out before smashing his skull and throwing him from a bridge.Believing all is over they stay with Chelsea in the hospital for awhile who is now in a coma before attempting to go about  their lives. Twink tries to convince himself he is straight while John struggles with his religion and even briefly experiments his sexuality with twink , And Ahab attempts to adjust to normal life.Upon returning to his church John finds a book on demon's which describes in detail the Fuchmanicus, which apparently chooses a host and with each possession gets stronger. This worries John and he gathers Twink to go and alert Ahab. It is too late though as the demon takes the appearance of Chelsea and she seduces her brother Ahab who actually gives in and has sex with her. This gets her pregnant which allows the Fuchman curse to continue on. When Twink and John do show up they find Ahab surrounded by Fuchman's followers , one of which is the Detective on the case. After laying the druids to waste the gang thinks of how they can get to the demon's source and the only way if to fight the demon in it's natural form which is located in hell. The gang agree upon a suicide pact and blow each others brains out. Ahab and twink make it to hell where they are put through several trials and tests of will , while John makes it into Heaven where he finds there is no escape. John decides to threaten God (Played by Lloyd Kaufman) and kills an angel which does get him sent to Hell eventually. Twink is quickly killed while in Hell and Ahab makes it to the lair of the demon where Chelsea is being held hostage. John tries to offer help but is taken out by the giant demon quickly . Ahab's ex girlfriend and Chelsea's boss Sleazy Mary weakens the demon by throwing some of Ahab's home made syrup which had been blessed by John on the demon. When the Demon is back down to normal size Chelsea stabs a spickett into the demon , draining the life out of it. Ahab lies helpless on the floor after puking up his insides and all the guys are completely useless. Chelsea notices that the demon had been reduced to a infant and she stomps it to death before her soul is returned to earth. The three guys trapped in hell try to figure out how to get back to the real world and even attempt shooting themselves again which does not work. Then the film ends with a pan out of the gang lying dead at the table where they shot themselves.

Father's Day is certainly a must see for fans of Troma as well as fans of the new age "Grindhouse" style movies like "Hobo with a Shotgun" "Planet Terror" "Run Bitch, Run" and "Nude Nuns with Big Guns". As I stated in the open of this review if this is where the future of Troma is heading, then I can see the company providing another 40 years of off beat and cult cinema.I will say that some of the scenes and shots in this flick are a bit over the top and obviously just there to push the shock boundaries but the film is so absurd and obviously does not take itself seriously it doesn't come off as bad as it easily could, especially some of the rape scenes. The Hell set pieces used some old school stop motion practical effects that were very reminiscent of the Evil Dead Franchise and some of the gore especially in the Hell scenes were very similar to the early works of Peter Jackson. The film makers at Astron-6 knew exactly what audience they were going for with this film and it shows and they did an awesome job putting this together. This one is strictly for fans of gore and exploitation and certainly not for the faint of heart. In standard Troma fashion this film is filled with boob's ,blood and beast's and they certainly delivered all the goods with their first venture into full length film. I look forward to seeing what else these guys can do and I cannot recommend this one high enough. Now with that said , keep in mind this is a Troma film and it serves the same purpose as all other Troma flicks, It is not gonna win any awards . It is simply made for it's niche audience and it is solely to entertain, Not to make the viewer think. So check your brain and taste at the door and check this one out if you can find it because it is truly worth it.

Gore:9

Nudity:7

Story:6

Characters:6

Fun Factor:8

Overall: 7.5 out of 10