Bloody Knuckles is exactly the type of movie you want it to be. This is a crude, sometimes juvenile, gross-out horror/comedy hybrid, reminiscent of classic Troma. And the beautiful thing of it all is that the film clearly acknowledges that fact. At no point does Bloody Kuckles pretend to be something other than what it is.
Travis (Adam Boys) is the mastermind behind “Vulgar Invasions,” an underground comic set out to shock and offend. The comic knows no boundaries, making everyone and everything fair game. In the opening of the film we see a bunch of different covers for various issues of “Vulgar Invasions” and it’s clear that the name is apt. The latest issue of “Vulgar Invasions” attacks a local “businessman” named Leonard Fong (Kasey Ryne Mazak). It’s pretty clear from the start that Fong isn’t really a businessman but a criminal using money and violence to take control of the city. As you can imagine he’s none too happy about his comic book portrayal and seeks revenge on Travis. This results in Travis losing his dominant hand.
Now with only one hand Travis struggles to get by. Without his artistc expression he has nothing and does not know what to do. This obvisouly has a great impact on the rest of his life. Basically, Travis gives up. His severed hand, however, has a different mindset. His hand will not give up and tracks him down. After a lot of convicing, including a pretty hilarious fight between Travis and hand, the severed hand finally convinces Travis to stand up and fight back against Fong!
Let’s talk about this severed hand. It looks fantastic! And I don’t mean fantastic for a low-budget, indie movie, but just fantastic in general. This hand walks around, kills people and operates just like another character in the film and it looks pretty flawless. It doesn’t look shoddy and bad, which is what I was expecting when I put the movie on. I was very impressed and this is an important factor because the hand is a key component to the film. The rest of the effects look pretty solid as well, but there was one that I had a slight issue with. When Travis gets his hand cut off there isn’t as much blood as I would have liked. This is a little issue of course, but in a movie like this that is so over the top, I would have liked to see them go all out with the blood here. A bit of a missed opportunity.
Another concern I had coming into this one was with the humor. Movies like this often times force the issue a bit too much in an attempt to shock with vulgarity. I am very happy to say that is not the case here. Sure, not all the humor works, but for the most part the jokes land and I laughed out loud multiple times. So kudos to the Matt O. and the gang for not over doing it.
I will say for a movie about a comic book artist getting his hand cut off that it did start a little slow. It’s just passsed the halfwork mark when the movie really kicks it into high gear and never looks back. It’s at this point that Travis decides to work with his hand to fight back. This is about the time we’re introduced to a character named Homo Dynamous (Dwayne Bryshun). This guy is basically a homosexual superhero and he teams up with Travis and the hand. I honestly loved every second that Homo Dynamous was on the screen. It sounds silly and it shouldn’t work, but he was very funny and killed every line.
Bloody Knuckles also attempts to tackle a few social issues. Throughout the whole movie Travis is all about attacking censorship. Tossed in are a few moments on homophobia and corrupt businessmen. There are some good ideas here but nothing that’s really enforced. For me Bloody Knuckles is a fun, bloody mess that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is best enjoyed with friends.
The film is now out on Blu-ray courtesy of Artsploitation and it fits nicely in with their current library. A handful of special features are to be found including one in which director Matt O. takes a visit to the home of Diabolik DVD. If you’re a physical media freak like me, this is something you’ll love. Diabolik DVD is one of the very best online retailers for all your cult movie needs so it’s pretty rad to see how they operate.