Envisioned as a fun roller coaster ride of gore and horror, the new Goregoyles series (a co-production between Helltimate Studios and Brimstone Productions) are expected to crank out a double feature gore-fest a year. This first installment is set to hit the shelves of Hollywood Video in August and Brimstone was kind enough to give The Monsters a little sneak peak at what to expect. It's not high art here folks, that's for sure, but then again, the filmmakers never intended it to be.

A scraggly looking fella named Uncle Dodo (Sebastian Croteau) who makes his appearance before and after each feature hosts the Goregoyles series. Dodo presents us with such a buildup he makes it very hard to deny his advances. He seems to REALLY believe what he's saying - so why shouldn't we? His opinions are important, and he seems to love everything. It's his enthusiasm that allows him to become an integral part of the series and while he's no Cryptkeeper, he's still added value to the presentation as a whole.

The Holy Terror - Directed by Augustine Arredondo
The first story entitled The Holy Terror which runs just under an hour, tells the tale of a man possessed by an inner demon that he seemingly has very little to no control of. Glenn is first seen sitting in the desert by his car, battered and bloodied. He's having a conflict with the voices in his head and his story is told through the magic of flashbacks. The whole thing began one day when Glenn started speaking in tongues and bleeding from his eyes. Finding the situation to be just slightly odd, Glenn's friend Charlie drives him to get some help. Help is in the form of Hector - a Satanist of sorts ready to perform an exorcism (once again, of sorts). The demon gets the best of Glenn as he tears into Hector's gothed out girlfriend literally disemboweling her before some very frightened eyes. Glenn heads to the nearest church to confide in a priest, which turns out to be his worst move to date. Glenn meets up with a guy who explains to him that the church is trying to cover up their lack of successful exorcisms by disposing of those who claim to be possessed. Before too long Glenn is being chased by knife wielding maniacs and folks in black robes with an inner lining of red. Glenn doesn't know who he can trust - not his friends, not the church, not his family and worst of all...not himself.

Berserkers - Directed by Kevin Lindenmuth
The second story entitled Berserkers runs just under 1/2 hour and was produced by Brimstone Productions. After their car breaks down, a young mother and her two kids are assaulted by a pack of zombies. The son is the only one to survive, flash forward 12 years. Zombies have overtaken and a group of rebels are camped out in the forest, including the young boy from the opening, now 12-years older (early twenties?). Legend tells us that a meteor crash caused an ancient (and very giant) Viking to rise from the dead, which in turn causes an unnatural number of the living dead to rise from the grave as well. Two young ladies are almost held hostage by this guy until the dead (or the Viking) have had their ways with them.

One thing that I really appreciated about Goregoyles is that it delivers on its promises and the fact is that the filmmakers obviously just wanted to have some fun with their subject matter. Both films had ample amounts of stabbings, disembowelments and head bashings - particularly with The Holy Terror, which I found to be well written and gory as hell. For a quickie indie flick, it was quite stylish and boasted some impressive performances along with an effective sound mix. Berserkers is a little short, so it's tougher to grasp onto, especially considering how quickly these characters just fly by, but as an homage to the cheesy zombie flicks of the 80's it succeeds. Performances aren't as great in Berserkers (they're a bit too over the top) but it's still entertaining enough nonetheless.

Both stories (as well as the intros) put out a really fun vibe - the whole thing has a clever and most wicked sense of humor. Despite the fact that the filmmakers are constantly winking at the audience, it's never annoying or pretentious. Each filmmaker has set out to make a fun, gory little flick and to this end, they have succeeded.

One can only do so much analysis on films that were made simply for fun. These flicks were designed for late night rentals and in this regard Goregoyles is definitely worth a once over. The screener also featured a brief interview with executive producer Alexandre Michaud which is slated to be an extra on the DVD release. Don't forget to check out your local Hollywood Video for a copy of Goregoyles in August 2003.

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