Created by a group of friends attending Kent State University, Midnight Skater is a gloriously over the top, zero budget, piece of cinematic trash. The blood flows deep, the humor hits below the belt, and excessive is the word of the day.

There’s really two intertwining storylines at play. First we have the local drug dealers (Stacy Silvers, Ed Bishop), who are responsible for the campus-wide distribution of a highly addictive illicit substance. The drug, named Z, is actually the signature creation of Tim (Tom Cosma); a University chemistry major. Then there’s the small problem caused by Richard Norton (Cory Maidens), a maniac whose favorite pastime is to slay the women living around the school.

No one on campus knows who the killer is. The only obvious clue is the presence of a mysterious hooded skateboarder (Mike Neeson) at many of the crime scenes. Determined to clean up the campus, and convinced that the killer is one of the Z addicts; a group of friends unite in a quest to catch the skater and force the dealers off their campus. Unfortunately, none of them are very bright and the killing continues right under their noses. To make a bad situation worse, it seems that prolonged Z abuse has the unexpected side effect of turning users into zombies. That’s when all hell breaks loose.

Most of the Skater cast simply can’t act; a fact that’s openly admitted during the DVD commentary. That limitation is used to its full advantage, as performances are encouraged to go way beyond cheesy. The result is a completely goofy movie that seems to cherish its incompetence. The killer is noticeably drunk in most of his scenes, and his awkward delivery and glaring look are highly entertaining. The “star” of the show is definitely Alvin (Ezra Haidet), a sexually confused comic book nerd that delivers his absurd dialogue with an exaggerated lisp. Ironically he shares the same hobby as an old college roommate of mine, spending all of his free time methodically assembling a suit of chain mail out of scrap metal and paperclips. Yeah, it was strange then too.

Midnight Skater takes place in its own world, tossing logic out of the window for the sake of keeping the blood flowing. Killing simply has no repercussions in this film. People die and life moves on. The police are never called to investigate, and most of the time no one is very upset when their friends are chopped to pieces or eaten alive. It’s a strange approach which magnifies the film’s sheer goofiness.

And let me tell you, the action is completely tasteless. When’s the last time you witnessed someone getting their manliness chopped off, complete with resulting blood geyser? It sounds unbearably gruesome, but this movie plays it for laughs and pure camp value. After all, when you make a film with the spare change found under your couch, the effects aren’t going to look very realistic. When we see the killer having sex with a female corpse, then amputating her arm so he can use it to smack his own ass, it’s so ridiculous that you have to laugh.

The writing is a bit inconsistent, and there’s some obvious signs of Tarantino worship in certain scenes. At times, particularly near the beginning, the dialogue tries a little too hard to be clever and hip, dropping triple f-bombs in the same sentence. Fortunately most of the movie keeps it simple, assaulting you with well-timed, sharp witted humor. Some of these characters are just inherently funny, like Pete (Lucas Campbell) with his Elvis gone wrong hair-do and his tendency to concoct outrageous schemes. His airhead girlfriend Shelly (Jen Meissner) is also entertaining, as half of what she’s told flies right over her head and she can only reply with a confused “What?”

Overall, the DVD is a really nice package. We get a fun commentary featuring the director Lucas Campbell and most of the cast, 12 minutes of thankfully deleted scenes, and trailers for other Splatter Rampage presentations. Also included is a silent short, which features much of the same cast. It’s not very funny, but hey it’s extra content. The DVD does have some bad points, like the lack of a proper chapter select screen. Also, since this was shot with a cheap digital camera, the image quality isn’t very good. Many nighttime scenes are full of ugly snowy artifacts.

If you enjoy scraping the bottom of the barrel, this one’s definitely for you. Just don’t expect anything normally associated with good movie making. Midnight Skater’s an unadulterated celebration of schlock, and an overflowing load of stupid, bloody fun.