Maskhead (2009)

Syl and Maddie are a lesbian couple who enjoy shooting fetish films in their spare time. Luckily for them there are a lot of people who want to star in their movies so they never have to worry about a lack of potential actors. Unfortunately for the people in the films Syl and Maddie always use a certain person in each of their movies, a huge hulking deformed man known only as Maskhead. Maskhead takes joy in cruelly (and painfully) slaughtering anyone unlucky enough to appear in one of Syl and Maddie’s films. Will Syl and Maddie run out of victims…uh…actors soon or will someone be able to stop Maskhead before he kills again?

IMDB

What intrigued me most about this film is that it’s the first time Toe Tag Pictures has worked with an outside party. So who’s the guest of horror doomed to play in Vogel’s demented playground? Scott Swan, co-writer of Masters of Horror episode “Cigarette Burns”, the best episode from the whole series in my opinion. Scott is credited as the sole writer for “Maskhead” and as co-director. Way to go Scott! Now eat your own feces like a good little boy.

What surprised me most about “Maskhead” is that it doesn’t really fit in any pre-defined horror sub-genre. It’s certainly not a slasher, it’s not just torture porn and its not pure exploitation. So what is it? That’s one of the hardest questions I faced while writing this review. How the fuck, do I describe this movie? The only word that comes to mind is “Circus Freakshow.” It was watching a bunch of really twisted people playing around for ninety-minutes without a really progressive plot. The main characters find people, play with them and then kill them.

Where I think “Maskhead” shines is in its originality. I really can’t say that I’ve seen any other film like it. One scene has you watching a sexy girl dance in a room full of balloons, while the next has you watching an arm being sawed off. The best part is that you never know what these characters are going to do next. Overall I think the film is pretty tame when it comes to gore and violence, but there is one very, very gory scene at the end that left me with a smile from one ear to the next. It’s so over the top it’s great.

I also enjoyed the characters. Yep, they’re about as likeable as a clogged toilet, but man are they entertaining. First up is The Cowboy (Daniel V. Klein). Besides being a professional whistler, The Cowboy enjoys raping chicks, pissing on chicks, snorting coke and fist fucking men. Yep, he’s a keeper. Then there’s Maskhead (Michael Witherel), our leading man, or beast if you will. This dude only has one purpose and that’s to inflict as much pain as possible. I really enjoyed this character and hope he’s brought back for a sequel. His mask is very, very creepy.

I did have a few problems with this film, one of those being the fetish sequences. Because Syl and Maddie are shooting footage for their show we see a lot of what they see. So we’ll spend five solid minutes watching scantly clad females do various things like dance in a room full of balloons, make out with various desserts/fruit or prove dominance by walking their male companion like a dog. I do feel that these sequences were necessary to have in the movie, but they were just too long for me. I mean, do I really need to see a chick suck face with every member of the food group? The girls never got naked. This honestly surprised me. I’m guessing fetish videos are not about nudity.

The only other complaint I had about “Maskhead” is the video quality. The entire film bounces back and fourth between a film look and a watered down video look. The video look represents what Syl and Maddie are seeing. The film look represents what we the audience sees. This approach works fine for me until the special affects kick in. Because the video quality is so shitty, the blood at times looks like watered down food coloring and takes me right out of the picture. It’s a shame too because I think Toe Tag is amazing with their effects. I want to see them look as good as they can.

Overall, I had a really good time with “Maskhead”. With that being said, this film is certainly not for everyone. I’m guessing if you’re reading this then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Also, if you do watch this movie, I recommended that you don’t go into expecting your TV to bleed. It’s violent, but nothing compared to “August Underground's Mordum”. Happy viewing and long live Toe Tag Pictures.

The Butcher, Killer Reviews

Download:

http://www.filesonic.com/file/485802821/Mashea.2009.AH.part1.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/485811551/Mashea.2009.AH.part2.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/485802651/Mashea.2009.AH.part3.rar

http://ul.to/eyulo8a3/Mashea.2009.AH.part1.rar
http://ul.to/557pr4nu/Mashea.2009.AH.part2.rar
http://ul.to/5l74i6dn/Mashea.2009.AH.part3.rar

http://www.fileserve.com/file/m9k4eFr/Mashea.2009.AH.part1.rar
http://www.fileserve.com/file/vGwwKAp/Mashea.2009.AH.part2.rar
http://www.fileserve.com/file/yAYnDWx/Mashea.2009.AH.part3.rar

Interchangable links.