Video Violence

Title: Video Violence
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Horror
Starring: Kevin Haver, Jackie Neill, Uke
Director: Gary Cohen
Duration: 90 mins

The 1980's were a big decade for the horror genre. Slasher films were saturating popular culture, special make-up effects were getting better thanks to the likes of Tom Savini and KNB EFX, and VHS and Betamax were growing ever popular. The latter would become a new frontier for horror filmmakers to explore. Video could offer national distribution of the smallest movies. This and the handy invention of the camcorder were heavily taken advantage of by genre enthusiasts. Blood Cult became one of the first. Redneck Zombies became the most famous. But the ultimate shot-on-video horror film to exploit this medium was Video Violence... When Renting Is Not Enough.

The story follows video store owner Steve and his wife Rachel who just moved into town after running a movie theatre in New York City. Steve notices that there's something off about this new town. Every resident has a VCR, every resident is a video store club member, and every resident only rents gory horror flicks or porn. Steve just shrugs this off until he finds a tape someone has left behind. Upon viewing, he realizes this tape contains an actual murder perpetuated by two of the townsfolk. More tapes are being made and left at his store, and he begins to wonder if the whole population are making their own snuff videos to stock the shelves.

Video Violence is surprisingly innovative to say the least. It features an original story inspired by the myth of snuff films while simultaneously updating it by integrating the groundbreaking video phenomenon of the time. The violence in question is quite an oxymoron, cartoonishly sadistic. The murders are all of a brutal and sinister sort, but the main murderer, Eli, acts as a sort of variety show host during the crimes (a theme that will be explored further in the sequel). This movie is further complimented by Cohen's keen sense of direction on a shoestring budget.

However, low-budget horror films are often plagued by shortcomings. The acting is rather bland and the dialogue is rather boring. The splatter effects are hokey and the fashion doesn't hold up in any decade but the 80's. Even at the standard duration of 90 minutes, it feels too long. While the aforementioned qualities in the previous paragraph do compensate these shortcomings, they don't eliminate them from notice.

A predecessor to the modern "torture porn" trend, Video Violence is worth a watch for fans of the genre or those interested in the evolution of filmmaking technology.

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