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A low-budget double header with something to offend everyone!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this double feature set of films written and directed by Chris Seaver. But I must admit that the constant bizarre behavior and vulgarity began to grow on me after I got into the tone of the films.

First up is The Film Crew, which details the exploits of a group of theater employees as they prepare for a midnight screening of a Troma film and break in a new hire, a strange little fellow called Caspian (Josh Suire).  The employees all have their own issues to deal with, cliques they fit into and who they’re trying to sleep with. It’s pretty standard for working in a movie theater as I recall from my youth.  These characters are all vulgar and oversexed, all of which is played for comedy.  The setting is a theater that was in use when the film was made, evidenced by all the then current film advertising in the background.  Everyone begins to die in typical low budget gore fashion: death by ice cream scoop, anyone?  The characters are all kinda shrill and affect strange accents for no apparent reason other than that it presumably adds to the surreal nature of the film, which is campy and frequently dumb.

Wet Heat is (according to the research I had to do online to figure out what I’d gotten myself into) more in line with Seaver’s normal output. It features a character called Teen Ape (Casey Bowker), who has been in something like 9 other small film projects produced by Seaver’s Low Budget Pictures label.  Teen Ape, a slender white dude in an ape mask and wig, is just an odd guy.  He sounds like Bill Mosely (ChopTop of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 fame) doing an impersonation of Dave Chappelle, with this strangely nasal voice peppered with frequent profanity.  Wet Heat parodies several films, as Teen Ape is sprung from prison (where he was sent after falling victim to a To Catch A Predator type sting operation) to rescue the kidnapped President of Show Business (Chaz Voltaire).  The kidnapper is a Frankenfurter styled fellow named LaDouche (Billy Gaeberina) who chews scenery left right and center.  Add to this mix a Terminator-esque killer called Robot C-cup69 (Heather Maxon), sent back in time to destroy Teen Ape and you have to wonder just how many parodies they can work into one film.

I don’t generally dig on the Troma style, but as the films played out, I found a certain charm in them, even if their sophomoric humor made me groan more often than not.  I also have to respect Chris Seaver for his dedication to creating this little universe in which to set all of his stories, some area called Bonejack Heights that’s been the setting for most of his output.

For a low budget production there are lots of extra materials to go through, including cast and crew commentaries for both films, and in the case of The Film Crew, there’s a commentary with the actual theater employees who inspired the film itself.  Personally, if someone told me I inspired this set of shrill, annoying characters, I’d punch them in the mouth, not participate in a commentary track, but maybe I’m the sensitive type.

Other supplemental materials include a trailer for Wet Heat, a photo gallery that runs 4 minutes and a bonus short featuring Teen Ape’s Sex School, which is surprisingly the only time any nudity happens in what is a fairly offensive and vulgar production.  There is also a blooper reel for The Film Crew that rounds out the bonus content.

The Film Crew/Wet Heat Double Feature is worth a look for fans of b-movies. I’m not much of a fan of this type of filmmaking, so don’t let my lower score dissuade you from checking this out if you’re a fan,  I just know for a fact that this isn’t anything I’d revisit myself, because even though both films have a few moments here and there, for every one line that made me smile there were a dozen that felt silly and obvious, or just outright juvenile.

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