By Geno McGahee
I have to admit that I wasn’t familiar with the filmmaker, Sean Donohue, but after watching his film DEATH-SCORT SERVICE, I can’t forget him. In the 1970’s the sleazy grindhouse movies were being produced with regularity. In the last ten years they have had a resurgence. They have obviously had an impact on the filmmaking of Donohue, who presents shock value, mostly, wrapped in a slasher film that had me cringing at times.
We have a masked killer going around killing prostitutes in the most aggressive and vicious ways, including a barbwire bat through the vagina. That was one of the cringe moments. This film had so many memorable and graphic deaths and that seemed to be the focus. This is total grindhouse. Lots of gore, lots of nudity and an unapologetic approach.
The girls are panicking and aren’t happy in their profession, but they have to make ends meet. A creepy caller wants to meet and they all begin to meet their doom and the mystery begins to unfold. What is the motive of this crazed killer and where do they get their wonderful toys?
The reveal is a throwback to some classic horror and the movie begins to really capture some magic at the end. The motive of the killer is rather good. I enjoyed the dialogue between the killer and one of the girls as they played the blame game. The killer has a good point, but they have bloody hands as well.
DEATH-SCORT SERVICE delivers on the shock value. It is packed with nudity, sex, and gore, but it can be a little much. I found the story of the killer far more interesting than the continuous sexual situations in this film and it could have been a much more effective film had we got more killer and less killing…if that makes sense.
I have mixed emotions about this film, but I’m not the biggest fan of the excessive gore, excessive nudity in a horror film, but I am a huge slasher fan and it meets the mark quite a few times here. The killer was interesting and the ending, as noted, was quite good. I think that Sean Donohue got exactly what he wanted out of this film, but I think it could make more of an impact on a larger base of horror fans with a more traditional approach.
I recommend DEATH-SCORT SERVICE, but beware. This is not the kind of film you take grandma to.
Rating: 5/10
