Reap of Evil (1994) is the feature length debut of the current undisputed splatter-master, Brian Paulin. It starts out with what will be the first of many dream sequences in the film with the character waking up terrified, there's a bit of gore here, which looks cool though it's hard to determine what's going on exactly. This is SOV and the low quality continually hampers the generous creature and gore effects here. The credits role with some generic but decent "horror" music. The soundtrack throughout is solid, about what you expect in a low budget horror and there's a few killer extreme metal tunes. The film proper starts with a group of friends playing poker, this includes Brian Paulin and his frequent collaborator, Rich George. Eventually they start talking about their horrible dreams, an omen of horrors to come.
For the next 20 minutes or so we get to see the main characters daily lives while the crescendo of creepiness builds up. A group of priests discuss the horrible dreams both they and the main characters are having and how it's a harbinger of something very, very bad on the horizon but they want to cover it up. The main priest has some pretty cool make up that either makes him look old or horribly scarred, once again the unfortunate low quality makes it hard to tell. There's some sparse but solid gore in this first part including a head torn straight off and the flesh of a breast being cut off and then a character molesting and cutting the heart, this is only a dream though. Brian gets covered in a flood of blood and then is drowning in it which is filmed effectively in slow motion.
At this point we are treated to what I thought was real disaster footage but it's actually footage from a disaster drill in the area Brian was privy to film. There's some injury gore that you won't be able to tell is only effects work. This is a good inclusion and is a way to show that not only are the main characters experiencing something terrible but it's spreading, possibly worldwide. Things break down for the characters further as a woman in her kitchen is attacked by a pretty cool looking demon. I'll probably mention this again but the low quality here makes it hard to tell just how awesome this full body make up job is but I definitely appreciate the hard work Brian surely put it. Another character is attacked by a creature briefly rendered with stop motion. I don't remember Brian using any in his other films but it's cool to see here. It sprays him in the face with an acidic liquid. His face proceeds to melt in a grotesque and profuse way, a splatter sequence that puts most gore scenes in 99% of low budget horror to shame.
Brian isn't just a gore guy as there's quite a few explosions here of miniatures, the low picture quality and darkness making it not so obvious. The remaining characters either opt out or try to make a run for it. There's a very quick face removal that is pretty nifty. We get some brief stop motion footage of what I think was a creature that rose above the tree tops but it was too dark to tell for certain. Next there's a nasty arm-ripping with some sinews still attached to make the pain more palatable.
Around the 55 minute mark one of the characters appears in a Hellish realm. I think it's Rich George but it's pretty dark so I can't be 100% sure. He can't speak because a narrator demon has taken out his vocal chords. He also eats them. You'll be able to tell almost immediately that the demon is Brain Paulin in make up. Most of the small cast here plays multiple characters/demons. As he's escorted through this nightmarish place he encounters many strange/gory scenes and a variety of demonic entities. There's even one that looks like a Grey alien which is shown way too briefly. At one point he's fed demon turds which I have to imagine is much, much worse than Human feces. A pedophile rapist that looks like Jesus has his penis bitten off. Brian's not a big fan of religion. One demon has a needle like protrusion that is inserted into the man's eye. This actually looks pretty realistic and the low quality may actually help here. Explosions go off including amongst large model skyscrapers with a giant stop motion demon. It appears that they have been freed from their purgatory and are ready to conquer the Earth for themselves. The guy makes it out of Hell but has he escaped to someplace even worse?
Reap of Evil has a couple of major drawbacks- the low picture quality and it's way too dark at times to see what's going on. This is especially annoying considering how much hard work went into the gore and demon effects here. There had to be at least a dozen different creatures/demons in the movie. This film was not lacking in ambition and is worth seeing for the effects work alone. I bet more effort was put into this than most horror films even ones with a reasonable budget. Brian of course handled much of the work himself with the assist of a small crew. His devotion to gore, monsters and horror is astonishing. Acting here is about what you expect, not really worth slandering though there's some thick New England accents. Had I known about this in my tape trading days back in the 90s it would have been a longtime favorite along with the German splatter classics. I'm pretty sure this was influenced by Ittenbach as it reminds of both The Burning Moon and Black Past (hell sequence/gory dream sequences) without feeling redundant of either one. Also, it made me think of Stanze's Savage Harvest but that came out the same year. Not sure what else I think could have influenced it as it feels pretty unique. I don't want to overhype this but for a first major work by a filmmaker probably working with the money you'd get for recycling a bunch of soda cans in Michigan it's pretty remarkable and the ambition and hard work put forth here should be appreciated by any and all low budget horror fans/filmmakers.
For the next 20 minutes or so we get to see the main characters daily lives while the crescendo of creepiness builds up. A group of priests discuss the horrible dreams both they and the main characters are having and how it's a harbinger of something very, very bad on the horizon but they want to cover it up. The main priest has some pretty cool make up that either makes him look old or horribly scarred, once again the unfortunate low quality makes it hard to tell. There's some sparse but solid gore in this first part including a head torn straight off and the flesh of a breast being cut off and then a character molesting and cutting the heart, this is only a dream though. Brian gets covered in a flood of blood and then is drowning in it which is filmed effectively in slow motion.
At this point we are treated to what I thought was real disaster footage but it's actually footage from a disaster drill in the area Brian was privy to film. There's some injury gore that you won't be able to tell is only effects work. This is a good inclusion and is a way to show that not only are the main characters experiencing something terrible but it's spreading, possibly worldwide. Things break down for the characters further as a woman in her kitchen is attacked by a pretty cool looking demon. I'll probably mention this again but the low quality here makes it hard to tell just how awesome this full body make up job is but I definitely appreciate the hard work Brian surely put it. Another character is attacked by a creature briefly rendered with stop motion. I don't remember Brian using any in his other films but it's cool to see here. It sprays him in the face with an acidic liquid. His face proceeds to melt in a grotesque and profuse way, a splatter sequence that puts most gore scenes in 99% of low budget horror to shame.
Brian isn't just a gore guy as there's quite a few explosions here of miniatures, the low picture quality and darkness making it not so obvious. The remaining characters either opt out or try to make a run for it. There's a very quick face removal that is pretty nifty. We get some brief stop motion footage of what I think was a creature that rose above the tree tops but it was too dark to tell for certain. Next there's a nasty arm-ripping with some sinews still attached to make the pain more palatable.
Around the 55 minute mark one of the characters appears in a Hellish realm. I think it's Rich George but it's pretty dark so I can't be 100% sure. He can't speak because a narrator demon has taken out his vocal chords. He also eats them. You'll be able to tell almost immediately that the demon is Brain Paulin in make up. Most of the small cast here plays multiple characters/demons. As he's escorted through this nightmarish place he encounters many strange/gory scenes and a variety of demonic entities. There's even one that looks like a Grey alien which is shown way too briefly. At one point he's fed demon turds which I have to imagine is much, much worse than Human feces. A pedophile rapist that looks like Jesus has his penis bitten off. Brian's not a big fan of religion. One demon has a needle like protrusion that is inserted into the man's eye. This actually looks pretty realistic and the low quality may actually help here. Explosions go off including amongst large model skyscrapers with a giant stop motion demon. It appears that they have been freed from their purgatory and are ready to conquer the Earth for themselves. The guy makes it out of Hell but has he escaped to someplace even worse?
Reap of Evil has a couple of major drawbacks- the low picture quality and it's way too dark at times to see what's going on. This is especially annoying considering how much hard work went into the gore and demon effects here. There had to be at least a dozen different creatures/demons in the movie. This film was not lacking in ambition and is worth seeing for the effects work alone. I bet more effort was put into this than most horror films even ones with a reasonable budget. Brian of course handled much of the work himself with the assist of a small crew. His devotion to gore, monsters and horror is astonishing. Acting here is about what you expect, not really worth slandering though there's some thick New England accents. Had I known about this in my tape trading days back in the 90s it would have been a longtime favorite along with the German splatter classics. I'm pretty sure this was influenced by Ittenbach as it reminds of both The Burning Moon and Black Past (hell sequence/gory dream sequences) without feeling redundant of either one. Also, it made me think of Stanze's Savage Harvest but that came out the same year. Not sure what else I think could have influenced it as it feels pretty unique. I don't want to overhype this but for a first major work by a filmmaker probably working with the money you'd get for recycling a bunch of soda cans in Michigan it's pretty remarkable and the ambition and hard work put forth here should be appreciated by any and all low budget horror fans/filmmakers.
