Deathgasm

Horror

Available on VOD: 6 januari 2016

Director: Jason Lei Howden

Cast: Milo Cawthorne (When We Go to War, Power Rangers R.P.M.), James Blake, Kimberley Crossman (#TheAssignment, Shortland Street)

High School is Hell! Metal-thrashing Brodie is an outcast in a sea of jocks and cheerleaders until he meets a kindred spirit in fellow metalhead Zakk. After starting their own band, Brodie and Zakk's resentment of the suburban wasteland leads them to a mysterious piece of sheet music said to grant Ultimate Power to whoever plays it. But the music also summons an ancient evil entity known as Aeloth The Blind One, who threatens to tear apart existence itself. Their classmates and family become inhabited by demonic forces, tearing out their own eyes and turning into psychotic murderers... and this is only the beginning! It's up to Brodie, Zakk and their group of friends to stop a force of pure evil from devouring all of mankind.

• Cinemagazine.nl: 'Deathgasm' is een frisse, goed uitgevoerde genrefilm die heel goed weet wat hij wil: prima laagdrempelig vermaak bieden voor de liefhebbers van bloederige en met een humoristisch sausje overgoten horrorfilms. Lees de hele review hier.
• Imaginefilmfestival.nl: Evil Dead met metalheads, zo laat Deathgasm zich het kortst omschrijven. Maar dat doet geen recht aan de typisch Nieuw-Zeelandse humor en de uitbundige manier waarop de regisseur zijn verhaal uit de hand laat lopen, met elkaar opetende dorpsbewoners, bloedfonteinen en dildo's als slagwapens. Een uitzinnige zombieslasher, die al een reeks festivals op z'n kop zette.
• Sound On Sight names Deathgasm one of the 15 best films at Fantasia! Read the full article here.
  Their review: Witty, energetic and appropriately self-mocking, Deathgasm keeps us interested because the writer/director and actors make us care about Brodie and his friends. Yes, the movie is filled with extreme gore, violence, action, nudity, sexual content and so on, but it's biggest asset is Milo Cawthorne, who imbues the slightly naive Brodie with a good nature and bigger heart, providing the film with a central figure you want to see overcome every harsh obstacle.
• Variety.com: The consistent if undiscriminating high energy engenders a certain persuasive goodwill. Performances are game.
• ScreemHorrorMagazine.com: Deathgasm is a brutal, side-splitting slice of midnight movie mayhem that even manages to cram in a bit of an allegory to boot. Metal is definitely the way. 4.5 out of 5 stars!
• Examiner: The party movie of the year.
• Icons of Fright: A heavy metal splatterfest guaranteed to please the most diehard horror fan.
• Austin Chronicle: A very metal tribute to the grand tradition of Kiwi splatter comedy.
  Harry Knowles, Ain't It Cool News: The film gorehounds have been tearing their hair out waiting for.
• Empire Magazine on the Sidney Film Festival: In the tradition of Peter Jackson's early schlock-horror comedies this New Zealand flick is easily the greatest title of the festival.
• Bloody-disgusting.com: Buckle up, readers. The party movie of 2015 is here. This is the movie the SXSW Midnighters category was created for. I could go on about how awesome the cast is and how wicked the photography looks, but it would be pointless in hindsight of Zakk hurricane chainsawing the hell out of demons. Just get ready to party.
• Bleedingcool.com: Deathgasm Is A (Outrageously) Bloody, Good Time. Ridiculously fun, but also not for the faint of heart, and not the sort of movie you take your mother to, unless your mother has an amazing sense of humor and capacity to sit through an hour and a half bloodbath, you cannot prepare yourself for Deathgasm. No matter what you read here, words simply don't do the movie justice. I'd go so far as to say Howden offers an experience unlike anything you've seen before.
• CinematicEssentials.com: If you simply base your expectations on its name alone, Deathgasm would appear to be a film that promises to deliver something outrageous. Once the movie kicks off, you'll notice that your expectations are about to be met. That's because what you witness here is indeed insane in essentially every way imaginable. Look no further than this spectacle out of New Zealand.
• Hellhorror.com: I will watch this movie again with guests and loved ones. A phenomenal job.
• Dailydead.com: Lately, the horror genre (in the US at least) seems to be taking things kind of seriously these days, which makes a movie like Deathgasm feel like a much-needed breath of fresh air. If there's one film out of SXSW that I'd recommend seeing on a big screen once it gets released, it would be Deathgasm. It's probably the most fun I've had watching a horror movie in some time. A ridiculously fun and bombastic celebration of horror and heavy metal.
• Iconsoffright.com: Coming out of SXSW like a freight train of bloody, metal as fuck entertainment, Jason Lei Howden gory extravaganza that is Deathgasm is a heavy metal splatterfest, guaranteed to please the most diehard horror fan. Led by memorable performances, out of this world effects and a soundtrack that refuses to Not let you bang your head throughout the entire film, it's a standout film at this year's festival and destined to become like Shaun Of The Dead or Dead Alive, a horror/comedy cult classic, one that will instantly be a genre fan favorite. DEATHGASM doesn't have a weak moment, as it speeds through it's running time with fervor, giving horror fans a blood and guts-filled time, complete with demons spewing guts and putting the film's protagonists through absolute hell, something that helps us love each and every character in the film. It's a 200MPH frantic film, a juggernaut of gory entertainment that is never for a single second, a joke. It's a film that puts heshers against demons, and kicks some serious ass, musically, while doing so. I'd be very surprised if the film didn't instantly hit audiences like a jackhammer, making them hooked on the film's characters and story. Though SXSW is filled to the brim with great programming this year, I challenge any other film in the festival's lineup to not only resonate, but entertain and make absolute fanatics out of viewers as much as DEATHGASM does. An instant hit that hits you over the head with a blood soaked battle axe, and shreds while doing so. Metal horns up.
• Wegotthiscovered.com: Deathgasm is brutal, bloody, fanatical fun on levels that deliver exactly what's expected. Howden cranks the slasher genre to 11, and hypnotizes horror audiences through an onslaught of demonic mutilation that would have Dethklok themselves cheering with joy, hitting on notes of horror insanity that blend face-melting riffage with equally outstanding practical effects.
• Filmschoolrejects.com: If you like your gore messy, your laughter frequent and your music loud you'll want to remember the name Deathgasm. As if you could ever forget it. Fun sense of humor; gloriously bloody practical effects; surprising heart at its center; knows its audience and gives no shits about the rest of you.
• Nerdist.com: One of the best measures of a comedic horror movie is how well the "non-horror" stuff works, and thanks to a very strong cast, Deathgasm actually makes for a pretty decent comedy before it turns into a wildly over-the-top gore geyser. Cawthorne and Blake strike an amiable chemistry, the supporting cast is consistently entertaining, and despite the virtually non-stop barrage of raunchy language, unapologetic potty humor, and cartoonishly violent carnage, Deathgasm also displays several moments of legitimate cleverness and (believe it or not) even a little bro-centric sweetness. 4/5.
• Twitchfilm.com: DEATHGASM Rocks! Not since the days of video store browsing has there been a horror movie quite as demonically satisfying as Deathgasm. It is a movie that adores 80s horror, without relying too heavily on pastiche. Yes, it takes a major page from that Tom Savini book of practical effects, and in the best possible way, but the voice that shines through the hysterical dialogue and playfully comic editing, is so teenage, so punk, it makes a beat-to-death genre feel refreshing.
• IFF Boston: DEATHGASM is ridiculous, hilarious, extremely gory, and downright awesome. It's a horror movie and splatter comedy based entirely around Heavy Metal music which does not take itself seriously in the slightest and runs entirely on sheer mayhem and absurd comedy". GRADE A+
• Austinchronicle.com: Director Jason Lei Howden drenches it in enough spraying plasma to drown a demon and raise hysterical belly laughs. A WETA CGI effects guy by training, Howden goes practical-heavy for gory, glorious, ridiculous, and comedic effect. It also doesn't hurt that he clearly knows his metal, mocking only what he loves. Shamelessly low-brow, reaching a beer-fueled gleeful high with a zombie-vs.-sex toys battle, it's a very metal tribute to the grand tradition of Kiwi splatter comedies.
• TheHorrorHoneys.com: Packed to the gills with hilarious moments, fountains of blood, weird makeup fx (those demon teeth, yo), and the kind of endearingly witty and understatedly hilarious dialogue I've come to expect from Kiwi films, Deathgasm is definitely going to be on my list of MUST HAVE releases for 2015. Deathgasm is on the fast track to being a cult favorite, and if they don't release a soundtrack (on vinyl too, please) I might have a demonic tantrum.
• Cinefilescomic.com: Why should you see this film? So. MUCH. METAL. ALL THE METAL. METAL. METAL. METAL. Buckets of bloody gore and lots of practical effects harkening back to the best B-pictures of the past. Spines will be ripped from bodies. Gouts of blood will be vomited. Heads will be split in two like so much kindling. Half the budget for the film went to laundry detergent. Oddly sweet interpersonal relationships between the main characters and a strong female lead who kicks plenty of undead demon butt.
• Frontrowreviews.co.uk: DEATHGASM is a lot of things; funny, creepy, rocking and totally fucking awesome. Carrying on the trend of high quality horror comedy coming from New Zealand (What We Do In The Shadows, Housebound), Jason Lei Howden's DEATHGASM is the best heavy metal film ever and completely enthralling from the very opening scenes.
• DestroyTheBrain.com: DEATHGASM is an obvious labor of love and an homage to an era where dice had twenty faces, records were played backwards, Lemmy wore short-shorts and Ouija was not a cute name for vagina. Loud and proud, Deathgasm is the last supper for all you metal movie maniacs out there. Come hither and rejoice: the prophecy came true and he has returned.
• NewYorkTimes.com: It's easy to empathize with the handsome young protagonist, Brodie (Milo Cawthorne), the new metalhead in town, who is beaten up by bullies, yearns for the prettiest girl in school (Kimberley Crossman) and explains his taste in music with, “Life is better because somebody else knows the pain and the rage that you're going through.”
  Ms. Crossman is appealing, too, as Medina, who shows up with a big ax at the appropriate times and inexplicably knows how to use it. In between the rampant four-letter words and the occasional partial nudity are likable attempts at humor — some sweet, some saucy.
• Best-horror-movies.com: Deathgasm has a respectable dose of everything a true horror fan craves. It' s a gross picture, at times quite creepy and the special effects are awesome and practical-heavy. The performances are impressive, the chemistry between the cast is top notch and the proper honoring of the Evil Dead films feel as though they couldn't possibly have been executed in superior fashion. Deathgasm starts big and it ends big, and unlike the bulk of films we see land in our laps these days, this one thoroughly thrills for an hour and a half. There's no down time to be found in Deathgasm and underwhelming is a word no one in this crew ever contemplated. This is an amazing production that instantly catapults itself into “Best of the Year” (it may have actually taken an immediate lead) contention.
• HorrorSociety.com: This is an amazing production that instantly catapults itself into "Best of the Year" (it may have actually taken an immediate lead) contention.
• Theslaughteredbird.com: DEATHGASM (all upper case because lower case is for pussies) is one of those near-perfect horror comedies that comes along roughly once a decade - if we're lucky. I'm talking Shaun of the Dead caliber—believe it! Not since Return of the Living Dead (1985) have I experienced such an effective mix of music and mayhem, rolled into an irreverent and vastly entertaining splatter-fest. CinemaSlasher.com: Not only is Deathgasm one of the most entertaining movies of the year, it's also one of the most unexpectedly cute movies to come along in quite some time. Brodie's interactions with Medina are nothing short of adorable, and it's truly impressive how well Howden, Cawthorne, and Crossman make such a romance work in an inherently goofy film. This may very well be the sweetest movie to ever feature an animated disembowelment in the opening credits, and I mean that as the highest compliment.
• Bleedingcool.com: Thankfully, director/screenwriter Jason Lei Howden's Deathgasm included all the blood and guts people expected to see, but also balanced out the gore with much-needed, and perfectly executed, hilarity. Thankfully, director/screenwriter Jason Lei Howden's Deathgasm included all the blood and guts people expected to see, but also balanced out the gore with much-needed, and perfectly executed, hilarity.
• TheGuardian.com: Creative gross-outs and absurd violence are the salvation of a horror flick in which a speed-metal band's dark chords turn the townsfolk into demonic ghouls.

• DEATHGASM has won the top award at this year's Knoxville Horror Film Fest - the Palm d'Gore - and the prize for Best Director to Jason Lei Howden!
• Publieksprijs Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival 2015

Guns Akimbo

Action

Available on VOD: 3 september 2020

Director: Jason Lei Howden

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, Now You See Me 2), Samara Weaving (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri , Home and Away, Bad Girl), Rhys Darby (Yes Man, Jumanji I and II), Ned Dennehy (Peaky Blinders)

Videogame developer Miles (Daniel Radcliffe) is a little too fond of stirring things up on the internet with his caustic, prodding, and antagonistic comments. One night, he makes the mistake of drunkenly dropping an inflammatory barb on a broadcast of Skizm, an illegal death-match fight club streamed live to the public. In response, Riktor (Ned Dennehy), the maniacal mastermind behind the channel, decides to force Miles' hand (or hands, as it were) and have him join the "fun." Miles wakes to find heavy pistols bolted into his bones, and learns Nix (Samara Weaving), the trigger-happy star of Skizm, is his first opponent. She's at his front door.Gleefully echoing elements of Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the Purge franchise, and videogames like Smash TV and Mortal Kombat, Guns Akimbo is hilariously dark, viciously violent, and chillingly prescient. Howden foretells of a future that may soon await us: drone-captured live feeds, UFC-like competitions pushed to an extreme and online streaming platforms used for gladiatorial entertainment all around the world. As Miles navigates the underworld of Skizm, the stakes — and the ratings — have never been higher.

• NWTV.nl: Guns Akimbo is gewoon bizar en dat is oké.
• Defilmrecensent.nl: Fout en over-the-top op alle beste manieren!
• Mannen Magazine: Wat. Een. Film.
• Srsck.com: Guns Akimbo IS wild!
• Veronica Magazine: Het moge duidelijk zijn dat dit een knettergestoorde film is, die genoeg maffe lol en in-your-face-actie te bieden heeft om anderhalf uur amusant te blijven.
• Cinemagazine.nl: voor je wekelijkse portie opgewekt lomp vermaak kun je prima terecht bij Guns Akimbo.
• Volkskrant: De actie wordt spectaculair en dynamisch in beeld gebracht.
• Pim-is-watching.com: What the actual fuck... Wat een briljante film!! Ik voorspel een cultstatus. Kaliber Boondock saints. Bril-jant!! Ik ben een fan. De art, de bullshit, de actie. Waanzinnig. Hier heb je een absolute topper mee gekocht. P. de Waard.
• RogerEbert.com: Guns Akimbo for all its outlandishness, is a spectacularly fun and exciting time whenever the needle drops and Weaving owns her badass, gun-wielding image. 
• Butwhythopodcast.com: Overall, Guns Akimbo is a world of fun mayhem without too much substance but near-perfect character performances and so much stylistic violence. The film also continues to solidify Weaving’s status as a genre queen, which is not to be understated.
• ign.com: This is balls-to-the-wall action, with Guns Akimbo delivering thrills, spills and genuinely spectacular kills.
• Gmbacklot.com: Guns Akimbo is a wild ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat enjoying the carnage in a way few films have yet to manage.
• Crookedmarquee.com: Guns Akimbo is evidence of filmmakers who not only know how to make good movies; they also wear all of their insane, colorful, and playfully nasty influences right on their sleeves — and in this case that’s just a whole lot of fun to watch.
• Dailygrindhouse.com: This film is a monster. There’s a feral punk energy to it, and Howden directs the hell out of his action scenes. Everything is lit up in blue and red giallo-police-light colors, and the camera loops and swirls around bodies being rent through with bullets, all as a series of 1980s pop covers underline everything. It all threatens to become a little too fatiguing. But Howden knows how to keep a steady hand on everything. GUNS AKIMBO is discordant, cranked-up nuttiness, but it’s never less anything but fun.
• Joblo.com: a funny little genre mashup, and has enough gore and shoot-em-ups to please genre fans.
• ModernHorrors.com: Guns Akimbo is an adrenaline-drenched ballet of bullets, bathed in colors that would make Dario Argento proud. It may not land with everyone, but the right audience will go wild for its caffeinated cartoon-colored John Woo stylings.