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Gimme Skelter (V)

“If the leaps and bounds that Scott Phillips has managed to take behind the camera from STINK OF FLESH to GIMME SKELTER are any indication of what we might expect from him in the future—assuming he stays away from scripting any further films like WEDDING SLASHERS—then the future looks bright indeed for this filmmaker as well as for genre fans.”

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What if Charlie Manson had a bastard son? And, what if one day junior decided to follow in Daddy’s footsteps? An interesting idea or simply a wild story made up by a psycho in order to get others to carry out his dirty work? In GIMME SKELTER—the second feature from STINK OF FLESH director Scott Phillips, no one ever “really” finds out if the leader of this new family is Charlie’s son but that doesn’t stop his followers from reigning a night of terror on a small New Mexico town in this low-budget Grindhouse shocker.

In a town of less than a hundred it’s hard to keep things under wraps. And when doofy dude Todd (Mark Chavz) cheats on his gorgeous girlfriend Jonda (former Miss Teen USA Jillian Parry) with a strange new arrival Brass (Jaymi McNulty) he finds himself thrown out of the house and thrown into the worst night of his life—as he discovers his new lover is actually a cult follower whose gang (including Troma veteran Trent Haaga) has just arrived and is planning to kill everyone in town before the dawn.

GIMME SKELTER wittily borrows it’s title from a one-two punch of post-flower power bloodshed—The Rolling Stone’s track Gimme Shelter gave it’s name to the Maysles’ cinematic document of the tragic Altamonte concert and the Beatles classic Helter Skelter which Author/Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi famously appropriated for his book about the Tate-LaBianca murders. Those two seminal events were watershed moments in the end of American innocence. With Watergate, Vietnam, The Watts Riots and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy the landscape of the United States would be forever changed. This change was echoed in cinema as well and the rise of the Grindhouse era was in full effect delivering nihilistic classics like LAST HOUSE OF THE LEFT and their ilk. With GIMME SKELTER, its apparent that Phillips is attempting to capture a little of the grit, grime, sleaze and cheese that made the 42nd street theaters and dumpy drive-in double features so fascinating. And interminably he manages to capture the overall vibe that filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino managed to miss in their respective productions.

Since GIMME SKELTER has no major budget to speak of, and the sets and dusty desert setting are Spartan and unpopulated, the film often looks and feels like an authentic old school 70’s genre flick. The violence is appropriate, the nudity is random and unnecessary and the idea of a “Charlie’s Family” collection of cultist killers is absolutely authentic to the period (just a few years ago an even more interesting reproduction SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF THE RISING SUN arrived on DVD shelves). With those things going for it the film is a huge leap forward for Phillips—as STINK OF FLESH was a much more typical regional microbudget zombie film. GIMME SKELTER actually has a lot of heart and talent both in front of, and behind the lens, including a very naturalistic performance from Gunnar “Leatherface” Hansen as one of the local townsfolk. For a part-time actor like Hansen who is generally cast as one of the Heavies or as a caricature (as in BRUTAL MASSACRE) it is amazing to see him deliver a letter-perfect performance as an everyday average guy caught in an intense situation. Even though he might play it a little too close to the chest when the shit starts to hit the fan, the fact that the big man turns in such a nuanced and restrained performance (compared to what is typically asked of him) is nothing less than a revelation here.

If the leaps and bounds that Scott Phillips has managed to take behind the camera from STINK OF FLESH to GIMME SKELTER are any indication of what we might expect from him in the future—assuming he stays away from scripting any further films like WEDDING SLASHERS—then the future looks bright indeed for this filmmaker as well as for genre fans.

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‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Adds “Chucky” Actor Teo Briones and More to Lead Cast

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Chucky Actor Teo Briones
Pictured: Teo Briones in "Chucky" Season Two

The Final Destination franchise is returning to life with Final Destination: Bloodlines. With filming now underway, THR reports that three actors have joined the lead cast, including “Chucky” actor Teo Briones.

Brec Bassinger (“Stargirl”) and Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game) join Teo Briones, who played Junior Wheeler in season two of “Chucky,” as the leads in the sixth installment of the horror franchise.

Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks) are directing the fresh installment that also includes Richard Harmon (“The 100”, Grave Encounters 2), Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book Of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor) among the cast.

Production is now underway in Vancouver.

What can we expect from the upcoming Final Destination 6? Speaking with Collider, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick offered up an intriguing (and mysterious) tease last year.

“This film dives into the film in such a unique way that it attacks it from a different angle so you don’t feel like, ‘Oh, there’s an amazing setup and then there’s gonna be one wrinkle that can potentially save you all that you have to kind of make a moral choice about or do to solve it.’ There’s an expansion of the universe that – I’m being so careful,” Reddick teased.

Reddick continued, “It kind of unearths a whole deep layer to the story that kind of, yes, makes it really, really interesting.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is written by Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (Scream), with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) producing.

Producers on the new movie for New Line Cinema also include Dianne McGunigle (Cop Car) as well as Final Destination producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

The latest entry is expected in 2025, coinciding with the original film’s 25th anniversary.

 

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