Review – Adam Chaplin (2011)

A good friend of mine and fellow gore hound Jon came to me with a simple title, Adam Chaplin. By the name alone I could have cared less as he kept pushing the movie, touting massive amounts of gore that spill from each scene. I eventually gave in and borrowed his sacred disc. What came next was truly unexpected and absolutely welcome.

Adam Chaplin (Emanuele De Santi) is a man like most men well, besides the shoulder holster demon, ripped abs and demonic rage. Adam’s wife is burned to death by the local hideously grotesque mob boss Denny (Christian Riva) and our anti-hero swears revenge. A demon has come forth offering powers that will allow Adam revenge as long as he does as asked. Chaplin agrees and allows said demon to live in his shoulder behind a wound shaped like an upside down cross, yes that draws a pretty big WTF. So off goes our hard bodied hero to spray everything a nice hue of red.

I have to come straight out and say it, I hate bad acting and shoddy writing. If you came for either of those please close this page and punch yourself because the gore rules here. This movie is so bloody it could make a surgeon blush. Another no-brainer here is who should be watching the feature. This is not for kids or the squeamish. If your idea of horror sparkles and still attends high school please do as I told the others, close page, punch face.

The story is pretty general by the way of an angered man seeking revenge. A lot more could have been done with the writing and I was left to wonder about many things like, why the hell is this place named Heaven City? Why does our main character have the physique of a professional wrestler and lack a shirt for most of the movie? Is this a post apocalyptic future where most of the human race is gone? The few people we see are all kind of deformed or have some odd physical feature.

The acting parallels the writing as underwhelming and just plain odd sometimes. Mr. De Santi wrote, directed, produced and acted in the film. The sub titles can also be confusing and seem out of place. Safe to say someone of the English language did not write them.

The effects here are the stars and minimal use of CGI is appreciated. You will see CGI but with so much head smashing, blood spraying and general carnage, some of it will go unnoticed. If you get into Manga or even some of the hardcore Anime this film will interest you. The 300 punches to the face in a minute followed by a splattering head reminded me of some comics out there.

To further push that Anime/Manga feel was the introduction of H.A.B.S which stands for Hyperrealistic Anime Blood Simulation. The idea here is forcing large amounts of blood into a scene using high pressure. This leads to ultra excessive amounts of blood, much like a comic, without making a hazy purple cloud or causing the typical “watering can” effect. I have no idea how some of these guys, De Santi included, could withstand the awesome high pressure/ high volume blood onslaught that is in many of these scenes. If you like the red stuff look no further.

The sound effects are on par, as expected. If a head is smashed, it sounds like you want it to, kinda gross but fulfilling. Mr. De Santi also took care of the soundtrack and music. Many scenes benefit from the music throughout them.

4 bloody headshots out of 5!!!

Pros:
Ultra gore
H.A.B.S
Solid effects
Decent soundtrack

Cons:
Blah acting
Writing
Sub titles

If you want brutal, and by brutal I mean: bodies exploding, heads smashing, arms ripped off, enemies impaled, people burned and all around gore, this one is for you. Some of you gore hounds out there might even get your lady friend to watch it as De Santi himself is shirtless and sporting a serious six pack.

Adam Chaplin is out now on DVD through Necrostorm.