5) Sex Galaxy
This one was sold by the director as a ‘green film’ – that is, it’s made from entirely recycled footage dubbed over with a new soundtrack. Very environmentally friendly of him. And the end results is absolutely hilarious, with a background of campy 50s SF overlaid with a story of space explorers desperately seeking out sex after the act has been banned on Earth due to overpopulation. It actually has a surprisingly sweet finale, but other than that is just hilarious in a low-brow way. Half the lines feel improvised, which they may or may not be, but that sense only adds to the hilarity. Don’t expect your intellect to be challenged, but you might well chuckle a number of times to yourself.

4) Postal
Sometimes I feel like Uwe Boll just doesn’t get enough love – sure, he has made some less than stellar movies, but a lot of the back catalogue is average or above in my opinion. Movies like Stoic and Seed hold up well, and honestly I feel like outside of the video game movies Boll has a fair back catalogue. With all that said, Postal was (loosely) based on a controversial video game, and the movie is up there with it in terms of questionable taste. If you’re easily offended I would honestly suggest sitting this one out, but if you love humour that really pushes the boundaries I think you are bound to get something out of Postal.

3) The Human Centipede: Final Sequence
Let’s be honest, the first part of this series offered pretty much zero laughs, and the middle instalment even less than that. Can a movie offer minus laughs? Like actually take away laughs from other things? If so, the second Human Centipede movie was probably the one that did. But the third did something distinctly different again, serving up an absolutely outrageous, overblown black comedy with Dieter Laser inspired as the screaming Bill Boss. Plenty of it was gross, but it was a suitably wry and self-referential conclusion to the infamous trilogy. Lots of fun for those whose sense of humour is the darkest of the dark.

2) Marquis
This one was a revelation upon discovery, and headed up my top 5 movies of this year with its surreal mix of puppetry and ribaldry following the imprisonment of the Marquis De Sade and the cast of jailors, priests and prisoners around him. It’s a surreal experience for sure, and there are any number of laughs that come from its more obscene elements – it might just have my favourite comedy line of all time in it. You’ll probably know within ten minutes if it’s going to be your cup of tea, but this just hit the right part of the funny bone for me.

1) Pervert!
Some of the team from this also worked on Sex Galaxy, which got a very favourable mention above, and it shows in the similar sense of humour the two share. This one is an absolutely in your face, unapologetic homage of Russ Meyer’s movies, following a young man who moves into his father’s house only for his penis to go on a killing spree after a voodoo curse. It sounds bonkers, and it is bonkers, a sort of throwback to a very different time of filmmaking. It’s also an absolute stitch in its own low-brow manner, and goes on the top of the list as the movie that made me laugh the very most in the whole of the Film Gutter experience so far.

That wraps up January’s top 5 month – we’ll be back to our regular programming for February!

Top 5 worst movies… should that be bottom 5? Maybe? Anyway, I promised you a month of top 5s, so that’s what I’m going to run with for now. Honestly I’ve never been one to take much pleasure in giving out negative reviews. It takes a hell of a lot of hard work to make a movie, and it’s brave for anyone to put themselves out there and bring their vision to life. But the whole GNOH site – myself included – prides itself in being independent and being honest about what it says. And of course you may look at some of the films below and think these are actually OK, or good, or great – and that’s the very nature of reviewing, which is all a game of opinions. So in that spirit here are the five movies I’ve given the lowest rating over the 5+ years of Film Gutter…
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Any cult horror historian could probably tell you much about the works of one Nick Philips, aka Nick Millard, who produced a strong of zero budget movies in the 1980s. Prior to that he’d made plenty of sex films, and also dabbled in the action genre, but he’s best remembered for his horror – honestly I’d like to forget them, but sadly I can’t. I really can’t. Doctor Bloodbath is made cheap and looks cheap, a tawdry tale of a doctor who kills woman after they’ve had abortions with an unfortunately predictable plot. Featuring the same cast as many of Philips’ offerings, sadly the acting is awful here and doesn’t improve elsewhere in his back catalogue.
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The first movie I reviewed to achieve a zero mark, this one aims for shocking but sadly comes off more as an awful PSA. There’s nothing persuasive in any of the performances, the characters are laughably stereotypical and the whole things just misses the mark of ever feeling real – and therefore just has no impact. Megan is Missing was ultimately making the same point – teenagers, don’t trust strangers! – but that actually had a reasonable plot, some good acting, a character you could care about and an ending that leaves you feeling totally hollowed out. Remove all those things and you might have some idea of what Chaos is all about.

Next week I’ll be looking to lighten the tone with a look at the top 5 funniest Film Gutter Movies!

Two South Korean short films in a row? Well, whyever not? I’ve never been averse to a short offering, and this remains one of my favourites by any measure. It’s a startling look at fashion trends and the sense of the ‘other’, all with an absolutely gloriously creepy look and feel to it. Well worth ten minutes of anyone’s time, and you can watch it free via the Alter channel on Youtube if you fancy going and watching it for yourself.
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Probably one of the most egregious gaps in my extreme/cult horror education up until very recently, I could barely believe my eyeballs when I was watching this one. An absolute audio-visual feast, a black and white nightmare to match the likes of Eraserhead and the second Human Centipede movie but unique in its own right. The effects still look pretty remarkable now even so far on from its release, and this story of humanity and machine combining is definitely worth your time. I’ve added the sequels to the review list for some point this year too…

Next week we’re going to be dredging the bottom of the barrel for the Top 5 worst Film Gutter movies.

All through January we’re doing to be going countdown crazy here at Film Gutter, serving up a series of top 5 lists to kick off 2021! And with this being the time of year for fresh starts and exciting new endeavours, I though that this one would be a suitable place to kick off…
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SUICIDE CLUB
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Again, another film that I really liked – so given that fact you might ask why on earth I’d ever pitch for a remake? Well, to many people this film is not all that well known, and when I think back to this I always feel the one bit that was maybe a bit undercooked was the computer/internet element. Well this is 2021 baby, and half the time it feels like we’re living in a science-fiction film because we have so much incredible technology around us. You could tell a story that remained faithful to the original but incorporated the latest developments to give it a fresh feel and style. As long as you do recreate shot for shot that perfect opening sequence, of course…

We’ll be back next week with a look at the Top 5 Asian Movies we’ve reviewed at Film Gutter!