Gore filled horror movies can be a tough sell and rarely see a wide release. This leads to many great movies being brushed aside so the all too common paranormal fodder can dominate the box office. So when a movie promising loads of blood hits my radar I tend to seek it out. In this case we are taking a look at Necrostorm’s Taeter City.
This splatter flick opens up in the future with a world ruled by The Authority. This iron clad governmental body not only runs things but also controls a cannibalistic fast food conglomerate called Taeter Burger. If that was not enough to keep you interested how about a network of radio waves called the Zeed system.
The Zeed system allows for a society almost completely free of crime and violence. These radio waves respond to a criminal who might be thinking of causing murder or committing crime. When this happens the signal forces said recipient to unleash on themselves eventually leading to suicide. Luckily we have a pack of Biker Officers to deal with the mess.
Razor (Monica Munoz), Wank and Shock are Biker Officers employed by the authority to deal with criminals and supply Taeter Burger with it’s tasty morsels, dead criminals. In the future eating animals is illegal and cannibalism is the only real nourishment allowed. Our bike gang is summoned to HQ and assigned the task of taking down Trevor Covalsky (Giulio De Santi himself) who seems to have benefited from the Zeed system as it only makes him stronger.
This “gore bomb” does not let up for a single moment. The cover promises blood and man by the time you finish this 70 minute ride you will need a shower. This movie follows on the heels of Necrostorm’s last ode to gore, Adam Chaplin (review here). Both of these movies have an extreme amount of gore but the overall feel is different.
Taeter City carries a very 80’s Sci Fi vibe that fits the whole picture very well. Everywhere you look there is technology and each scene is shot to give you that vibe and then splash it in a hue of red. The transfer of this movie to DVD was done very well and it shows. I absolutely loved the dark dystopian feel of this futuristic world. Everything is so commercialized by Taeter Burger I almost wanted to enjoy a tasty Two Fingers One Eye burger!
There were also a myriad of weapons at our gang’s disposal. Common weapons were given a Sci Fi tweak like the shotgun that fired a light emitting grenade. I personally liked the laser gloves that Razor wore. These allowed her to tear into criminals with just a swipe or turn them into Swiss cheese if she chose. Most of the weapons are cool enough to keep you cheering till the next headshot
The movie progressed pretty well and only got bloodier. I was a little put off by the cut scenes with Corande. They seemed unneeded and a little forced. There was also text used as scenes opened to explain where we were. Things were pretty self explanatory and did not need titling of location. If at a shopping mall I could easily tell that from the scene.
The acting here was par for the course. After seeing Adam Chaplin I was ready for some roughly translated subtitles and so so writing. There was no Academy worthy acting or writing because that is not what I am here for. It is the blood and guts, duh. The English dub and voice work only added to the enjoyment of this title. I was pleasantly suprised how weil they worked to bring humor into such a hardcore flick.
I really enjoyed the 80’s like score. It carried an eerie feel, something almost John Carpenter like. If you dig 80’s rock this soundtrack is right up your alley. Even better there is a jukebox included with the Collector’s Edition allowing free play of all the tracks! The overall sound quality of this film and transfer are about as good as it gets for splatter flicks.
Now to the meat, or should I say guts of the subject. The effects here, much like Adam Chaplin, are the obvious stars and with due reason. CGI is used here to support practical effects. You can see the detail put into each effect. Early on when a criminal starts to cut his own fingers off you could see the blade cutting in and the fingers were reacting to the motion as blood pours. This is just a small example of what is to come in this film.
The only let down in costume, make-up or effects would have to be that dog puppet early on. If they had not told me what it was to be I would have thought something totally different. The thing looked nothing like an animal, I get it was mutated and all but still. I am thinking this was not intentionally bad but more or less a lack of budget or time.
I really liked the variety of effects in this film. We were not secluded to only smashing heads and tearing limbs. You will see things like flesh being painfully removed, acid burning victims, chains twisting humans like a vice and so much more. The body count is high and the gore had me squealing with glee.
Necrostorm was nice enough to send the Collector’s Edition copy which included a Taeter Burger hat, Biker Officer ID cards, Taeter coupon cards and a signed poster. The disc also included some extras like a making of some effects, cartoons and a jukebox for the rocking soundtrack. All of these items are of nice quality and collectors will enjoy the detail.
This should go without saying but if you come for super solid acting and Michael Bay like special effects you will be disappointed. I would also have to ask how you found this film because it’s on a totally different wave length. Fans of Adam Chaplin or gore in general will not want to miss this film. It does exactly what it says and you may need to see a priest or lawyer following your initial viewing.
Pros
Ultra gore
Did I mention blood and guts?
Cool dark Sci Fi feel
Killer soundtrack/score
Humorous voice work
Cons
Corande’s interludes
Titling scene changes
Weird dog puppet
Taeter City is currently available in standard and collector’s editions through Necrostorm. For ordering or more info click here.
