Chillerama (2011)

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

GENRE: ANTHOLOGY
SOURCE: BLU-RAY (OWN COLLECTION)

At long last, Chillerama has hit Blu-ray and DVD (plus VOD), well over a year after the first segment premiered at Frightfest. The anthology film features segments by Adam Green (Hatchet), Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2), Adam Rifkin (Look), and Tim Sullivan (2001 Maniacs), bookended by what people are most interested in seeing: the newest credit sequences by Brian W. Collins (Hatchet II, A Horrible Way To Die).

As always, his end titles do not disappoint. As there are four separate films plus generalized “all movie” credits, the end title sequence employs no less than five unique fonts, each carefully chosen to reflect the style of its respective film. So for Lynch’s “Zombies meets Amblin” style segment Zom-B-Movie, the credits are actually in the same font as Gremlins, and for Green’s Universal Monster inspired The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein, the font has a 40s poster feel to it. It is, undoubtedly, the greatest multi-font credits sequence of all time, even with a few typos (“A” camera operator is missing a space, and there’s a weird graphic issue around the Lit Post logo near the end of the 7-8 minute sequence).

Now, your eyes might be drawn to the clips that accompany each short’s credits sequence, which play on the opposite side of the frame as the credits scroll by (at varying speeds, depending on the length of the video I guess), but I urge you to keep a close eye on the several hundred names that race or crawl by. Lots of folks put a lot of hard work into the film, and they deserve recognition – particularly those who worked on multiple segments, such as Josh Ethier, who is credited for nearly every segment in a variety of crew roles. Ditto Robert Pendergraft/Aunt Dolly’s Garage, who contributed FX for all but one segment (Wadzilla, which has Chiodo Bros FX). It will be a real treat for fans to see their names on-screen over and over, but in different fonts every single time!

Collins fans will also be delighted to see the film’s opening animated segment, which he also did himself. While it’s too short, and the stars don’t always match up with the movement of the trees and tombstones, it really sets the tone for the movie that follows (aided considerably by Bear McCreary’s theme music). I also dig how it transitions from the Ariescope logo to the animation – very Spielbergian! Wish he had a few more tombstones in there though – you can see that they’re all recycled as the “camera” makes its way through the rows and up the hill to the final grave site, which transitions to the live-action portion of the film.

Obviously these elements look much better on Blu-ray, where you can also enjoy a full commentary by the four filmmakers, deleted scenes, some making of material, and other goodies, but the DVD looks great as well. I definitely would NOT recommend downloading the movie on the internet, however – the end credits are often clipped or missing entirely! Who the hell wants to watch something like that? Both are available tomorrow (11/29), and I highly recommend you buy one for yourself, as well as for all of the font enthusiasts in your life – don’t forget Christmas is coming!

Also, the movie itself is quite fun. I like that one zombie with the tan coat especially.

What say you?

NOTE – obviously this is a joke review. Image sent it to me to review even though I told them that I worked on it and thus would most certainly NOT be writing up a review. So I figured I’d goof off and present my standard “Hey this movie my friends made is now on DVD” post in a more fun way. Also - my contest is still running! First one to find me OUT OF MAKEUP in the film should send along a screenshot (along with proof that you're watching on a legal format)and you will win a prize! Someone has found me! Grats to Michael Gomez (and Brian Matherly) for having a damn good eye!