Every now and then you come across a movie (sometimes more often than you'd like in this business) that has all of the tell tale signs, including schlock proudly displayed right on the cover. It has quotes promising originality, hilarious content, and a twisted nature. Some of the boxes boast chills, thrills and gore beyond your wildest imaginings. All things that make our sick little hearts go pitter-patter. The title in question today? Jerkbeast from our friends at Film Threat Video, which promises sex, rabbits, necrophilia, and rock n' roll. Ahhhh, I know what you're thinking… tell tale schlock! The truth is, a lot of people love these types of independent films and I am certainly no exception. There's a huge difference between the type of independent movie you wouldn't show your worst enemy because it would just be too cruel and an independent movie that shows the talent of it's creators no matter what the content or the budget may have been. These are rare jewels and today is my lucky day because as it turns out, Jerkbeast is a bit of a diamond in the rough itself.

Benny, Marty, and Jerkbeast are on a quest to conquer the world! Their first attempt at reaching out to others lands them as the stars of their own cable access show. Sandwiched neatly between Gordy's (Brady Hall) Train Show and the Schizophrenic Prenatal Exercise Show. Yikes! It's not long before our boys and the beast start wanting a little more attention than the show alone provides. Marty (Brian Wendorf) thinks that he may need a paying job to keep up with his rabbit smashing. So they decide to start a band and hope that Sweet Benny's (Calvin Reeder) horrible deformities won't stand in their way. I don't think they have to worry about Benny though. Their style of music and lyrics are sure to be distraction enough. Then they're whisked off on tour and an adventure full of cheating agents, love, hit men, necrophilia, violence, violence and more violence!

It's hard to know where to start here. The sheer variety of strange and unusual little tidbits contained in this 83-minute journey into fame and debauchery is truly astounding! I can't remember the last movie I've seen that was so full of things I'd never seen before and some that I hope to never see again. Jerkbeast is definitely one of a kind. Not only in theme but in the amazing amount of work that Brady Hall, Calvin Reeder, Brian Wendorf and their seemingly dedicated crew. The hard work shows because while this movie was not really my cup of tea personally, I think it shows style and heart. It made me laugh and it certainly looks great!

Jerkbeast was filmed on 16mm and is presented 1:33:1 (full frame) it's proper ratio. The camera work won me over immediately. Having seen a few movies that I can only compare to motion sickness, it was refreshing to see a movie that was carefully shot and edited. Audio is presented in a stereo mix and was the only real shortcoming. For the most part it's pretty clear but it's still not a bad idea to keep the remote handy. Though I only remember a spot or two where I needed to use it and adjust the volume level. Mostly I just jumped back a frame or two to see some of the more unique scenes a second time.

For the record, I never want to hear "my budget was to small to include special features" ever again! The run time on the special features is about 259 minutes and includes: Highlights from the Jerkbeast TV show, behind the scenes short, Jerkbeast cartoon, photo slideshow, directors commentary, movie trailer, and Comic Dude Roundtable Commentary. They're all definitely worth a look. As it turns out, Jerkbeast starred in his own cable access show before he played himself in the movie. He's come a long way since his humble brownie batter beginnings!

All too often I see independent and low budget films that are poorly put together and poorly filmed. Then when the film falls into criticism everyone blames the budget instead of his or her lack of effort. The cast and crew of Jerkbeast don't have to make excuses. They made a movie that was a whole lot of fun and that will stick in my memory for quite some time.