(2005/USA)
REVIEWED BY-STEVE GENIER DIRECTED BY-JAMES TUCKER CAST-JOSHUA NELSON, ELIZABETH COOKE, VELOCITY CHYALDD, KEVIN T. COLLINS, FRANK FRANCONERI, CHRISTINE D’AMATO and MARTY GARGLE. SOURCE-SAVAGE ROSES PRODUCTIONS DVDR SCREENER (2005)
Johnny, his girlfriend Robin and Stewie are on a collision course with another type of evil, one that will have them payback for the wraith of evil they have unleashed themselves. Their rampage begins with the slaughter of a rock band member who walks into a set-up and ends up with his eyes being pierced and bludgeoned. In reward for their actions, Johnny treats them to a night at the strip joint, where Stewie picks up a stripper. While in the hotel room, upon waking up from a short slumber, the stripper becomes a bit of a motor mouth waking up Johnny who is quite pissed. The ultimatum is that Stewie shout her up or he’ll do it for him. Of course that is short lived as Johnny’s short and quite unpredictable temper forces him to beat the stripper’s head in while covering it with a pillow. That certainly isn’t the end of that show as Robin who craves for destruction coax Johnny into giving the dead stripper a reverse boob-job in order to see who the winner of their "fake tits" contest.
While the band of bad doers are fulfilling their bloody quest, another story is being set up. One that will ultimately cross paths with that of the vagrant’s. Debbie who feels her Dad is too hard on her as their quaint little family is falling by the waste side. Her father, Peter who is seemingly quite strict on her, something that is just being a caring father in her mother Anna’s eyes. Things hit a boiling point when Debbie has invited her what was to be her boyfriend Tony to dinner. Upon showing up, her boyfriend actually turns out to be Tony her girlfriend. Of course this doesn’t sit well and as they are having dinner things totally explode. Once again, there is yet another sub-story line dealing with Peter’s sister or Debbie’s Aunt Rose who is confined to her bed sick with some mysterious illness. She holds secrets that will ultimately come into major factor.
The connection between the two paralleling story lines is that they briefly cross when Robin phones Debbie and tell her that she is going to stop by and payback a running debt in full. Then the storylines come to a complete cross when the Johnny and the gang perform a party crashing during the dinner at Debbie’s house. A house invasion goes into full swing as Johnny declares that they are going to perform a lock down, nobody gets in and nobody gets out. Only one thing they overlooked, Debbie’s Aunt Rose.
Echoing such films as Craven’s LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, Deodato’s HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE PARK and Prosperi’s THE LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH, director James Tucker force feeds us a new and updated journey into some familiar doors. Adding a slice of the occult and the supernatural into a brutal, very bloody at times storyline line. Yet, though very doom and gloom for the most part, Tucker keeps everything under an artistic wrap. Really giving the viewers a sense of true horror by creating several areas or moments with a genuine creepy atmosphere. Something I’m sure has a lot to do with actor and NO ONE GETS OUT writer Joshua Nelson’s original vision. Nothing is left unearthed, everything from blood, guts, stark terror to NO ONE GETS OUT’S highly original score performed by Beyond The Shattered Mirror. All combining aspects click and create a highly entertaining horror film.
The one thing that I tend to look for as I’m sure many others do as well, to make a great film is the acting involved. The casting of NO ONE GETS OUT is quite interesting and certainly is wide in range. Joshua Nelson who plays the lead of Johnny, a dark and highly temperamental individual who doesn’t let that get in his way of using his brains. Highly organized when it comes to getting down to get the job down. The casting of Joshua in this role couldn’t of been filled better. His presence and brutal force insures that the character of Johnny is an evil force to reckon with. Of course both his sidekicks only compliment his stature. Velocity Chyaldd is quite a unique presence as the character of Johnny’s girlfriend Robin. Her taste for not only Johnny’s brute force, but her own fetish for some bloody action gives perfect accent to Johnny.
Of course then there’s Kevin T. Collin’s who slightly resembles Steve Buscemi. His character of Stewi is two way really. He’s seemingly in for the drive, but when push comes to shove, he tends to get wet feet. Still in the end he does Johnny’s bidding. There are also highlights from the various other cast members including Marty Gargle who plays the witch Aunt Rose. Her presence though is limited to bits throughout the film are very important factors to the overall storyline. She is quite creepy as well, very surreal and unpredictable much in the vein as a perfect opposite to Johnny.
NO ONE GETS OUT displays some slick budget film making at it’s best. Sure, it’s not the ultimate example, but it surely does bring the goods. Combined with steady camera angles, though shaky almost guerilla styled in areas, smooth wide ranged transitions and coupled with a solid storyline. Many film makers would crumble with so little to work with, yet Tucker and Nelson seem to thrive and get the most of what they have. It's certainly scary to know what terrors would come out of these two when given a Hollywood budget or a larger budget at that. Though one would give this film a horror title, it in fact crosses many boundaries such as the thriller and exploitation. Spilling blood, grinding the guts and creeping out the atmosphere, NO ONE GETS OUT is the truest of statements in this case. For the seat you choose to sit in will be the last choice you make as NO ONE GETS OUT will test your ability to withstand an assault of the senses to their fullest.
3 BITCH SLAPS
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