My Bloody Banjo (2015)

You won't be disappointed!

Truly Dreadful Film

The Worst Film Ever

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Picture the scene. 2015 and the very first Horror Convention in the UK, a group of people fill a room with guests to premiere their Trailer for Banjo.Loosely based on real life events; I shall let you think about that, Liam Regan talked us through his ideas that came to be one of the most original nods to the Troma Universe mixed with pure British Grit that makes our movies so fantastic.The best way to explain this film?It's Drop Dead Fred on Acid.Enjoy

Banjo's cool poster strongly got my attention when I had read someone's review from freightfest UK last year. I had learned Laurence R. Harvey and Vito Trigo are casted in it back then. Both are my favorite actors. I thought I should check it once released.My biggest question was.. what's Banjo? Why is it called Banjo in the first place? I know banjo is one of the musical instruments. But what's all about this film? I've been wondering about it. I had to wait until I could see it.I admit that I couldn't get the meaning of Banjo in my first watching. I was a bit confused. I mumbled like, "Yeah, it's a fun flick but I still don't get it. Why Banjo? hmm... the director seems like a big fan of 80s. There should be the hidden meaning which should be cool. I need to find out. Okay. Let's watch it again!"I am a good English learner who always try hard! After seeing it twice and learned what "banjo string" is, OHHHH! I finally figured! Everything totally makes sense to me! Hahahahahaha! Liam is crazy! Someone once said, "Knowledge is power". It's very true. Knowledge makes your life fun.Banjo became my favorite film. It is one of the 80s homage kind of film but definitely it's not only that. In some part, it's very Tromatic. In some part, it has the comedic feeling of Dunder Mifflin. I woudn't be surprised if Dwight Schrute shows up on the screen and starts to make conversation with those fun actors.Yes, those actors did amazing job. I wish Laurence could have had more time to play. How could he act like that? I thought Kate (his lovely girl friend) can't see it without crying because the guy he's acting is so miserable. I thought she might not like it. How could she keep watching her boyfriend being bullied awfully like that? I said what I felt to my buddy Daiju just after seeing it. He hasn't seen the film but replied me like, "Here's my guess. She would laugh a lot if Laurence is chuckling next to her when they watch it together." I hope he's right.And Vito! I became a fan of him since I watched Scicene Team. His acting is always funny. Very strong and funny. All other actors are vividly playing their roles.I once heard that all crazy people are calm and peace in their mind. Peltzer Arbuckle's case seems different. He is forced to deal with tons of mess in his life - job, romance and the troublesome imaginary friend Ronnie. Things are getting complicated/upside down. His mind goes insane. Is Ronnie a savior for Peltzer? Or devil? Or just a friend? I can't tell. But anyway, on the ending, Peltzer became happy - completely calm and peace. So I'd say it's a happy ending.

Liam Regan's debut film - which screened to a highly appreciative audience at Frightfest 2015 - is a love letter to Troma and the early films of Frank Henenlotter. A low-budget exercise in adoration that often plumbs the depths of bad taste to amusing effect, it's an energetic and gleeful tale that also often reveals a surprising sense of self-discipline and maturity for a first effort. This is clearly a filmmaker whose love for the genre and his film shines through and should hopefully be the start of a promising career. Oh, and if you don't know what the title refers to - or what the film is about - I'm not going to tell you; apart from the fact that the film is about a worm that turns. And what happens to one particular 'worm' made me cross my legs - and may have the same effect on many other male viewers! British exploitation cinema is clearly alive and well and, for that, many thanks Liam Regan!

Banjo is a tale of an unremarkable guy called Peltzer who is bullied by his office boss and whom with his sexy, asset-laden partner is also cheating. Following an unfortunate and rather painful incident, Peltzer's already downbeat situation takes a final plummeting nose dive, leading to an imaginary friend called Ronnie to appear before him; who begins to take the reins, pushing Peltzer's life into vengeful bloody mayhem. Banjo reminded me a lot of the 2013 psychological horror/drama "Dementamania", although Peltzer comes across as more of a victim and loser than Ed Arkham. Quite unlike Dementamania however, Banjo has a fun feel to it, whereas the former is a fairly clinical affair. Banjo is hardly a tour-de-force of modern horror/exploitation cinema but it is a cool demonstration of what a genre-loving director can achieve. I'm a fan of the Troma-style genre of movies which has helped influence aspects of Banjo and, from the outset, does have its fair share of crazy, crude moments which put it in that league. Yet I felt too many scenes and too many moments of dialogue were, whilst all in context, unnecessarily prolonged and lacking the quick-fire MTV sensibility which I would have expected in this sub genre of movie. The other main issue with the movie is, for me, the character Ronnie. He got on my nerves after a while. Some moments, Ronnie was clown-like, then at others a devil on the shoulder or playground teaser. This might have been intentional but I struggled to securely identify with him and as a result didn't really see him as the overwhelming catalyst he should have been for the latter stages of the movie. These points aside, Banjo does have some remarkable, if eye-watering moments and a solid performance from lead actor James Hamer-Morton, who really helps tie the movie together. There is one scene in particular which is likely to get people talking and I, for one, have never winced so badly during a movie. Not ever - and that's after a lifelong diet of horror!Whilst Banjo does have its flaws, the movie is clearly made on a low budget and I applaud the director and crew for an achievement which is clearly going to be an inspiration to other future film-makers. The special effects are surprisingly good and put a lot of bigger productions to shame and the acting throughout was not half as wooden or Troma-esque as I was expecting. Overall, it flows well and is a competent piece of film making. So did I like it then? Well I definitely feel like watching it again to make up my mind, because it was not the kind of watch that leaves you yearning for the finish, which I suppose means that I did. At least next time I'll know the cue for when to close my eyes and cover my ears.