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Overall Rating : 5 1/2 /10
Directed By : "Insane Mike" Saunders
Chris Simmons
Jill Emmert
Jeff Alexander
Supplied By : Prescribed Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick Blalock
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| PLOT Meet Walter, a lonely pathetic little wretch whose only two ambitions in life are to be good at something, ANYTHING, and to find the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, success can seem a distant dream when his slovenly roommate Dave (Steven "Flyboy" Tracy) walks all over him and never pays his share of his rent or when Walter's low self-esteem keeps him from seeing the love right under his nose, Ann. However, in a world where Charles Manson is running for President of the United States and the ghost of Jack the Ripper still walks the earth, anything is possible. Will simple determination and training from one of history's greatest serial killers be enough to turn this loser around? Will Walter be able to find it within himself to make all his dreams come true? Will he be able to be the man...the BAG MAN? |
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| THE REVIEW THE BAG MAN, is one fun ride! although shot on an extremely low budget, this film was very well done. The film is more of a comedy rather than a slasher but this film had me laughing almost the entire time. This film follows a nerd, geek...what have you, by the name of Walter who wants what every guy wants....he wants to be liked by everyone around him and he also wants to find the girl of his dreams. On that thought he sees Presidential Candidate Charles Manson on TV (yes Charles Manson) Walter decides the best way to gain his ever so longed for popularity is to become a serial killer. This is where all the fun begins, Walter just so happens to meet up with the ghost of Jack the Ripper who just so happens to have been all along a female, and requests that she be called "Jackie" Together he and Jackie go out and try to find the ultimate serial killer outfit numerous outfits are tried out until Jackie and Walter decide on a gas mask like mask, a black shirt tie and slack.... I will admit that his "get up" is rather lame at first but that all changes later, What I mean by later is that it doesn't take Walter long to lose his initial mask, during his first attempted kill he loses it in the bathroom....being so frightened he just forgets it. He then finds a paper bag and cuts the necessary eyeholes and thus we have our permanent killer "The Bag Man", The first victim of choice for walter is, Mr.. Cooper the boss that treats him like shit at his job at the video store in which in owned by Cooper. It just so happens that Cooper is engaging in a drug deal in the back... The Gangsters open fire on Walter and all miss shooting one another, so there you have it, the world thinks that THE BAG MAN killed everyone! That's what makes this movie so damn funny, is that when Walter kills some one he never does anything at all, it's always a freak accident! One scene in the film, Walter's next victim is approached by a group of guys who plan to rape her. well enraged that they are stepping into his plans, Walter attacks them. Ducking the guys knife, and dogging the attack Walter causes one of the men to slice his own buddy's throat, this enrages the other guys and they stab each other. This has unwillingly made BAG MAN a local hero and he must to his best to prove to everyone that he IS a serial killer and not the hero that he is made out to be. At first I was a little iffy on the direction, by Insane Mike but as it went on it got a lot better and better. Now I can say without a doubt that Prescribed Films has a quality that is not seen, often at this budget level. The Acting was great the actor that played Walter Chris Simmons, brought to life a serial killer that you wouldn't even run away from, rather just stop and laugh at and throw things at, he did a hell of a job. Next we have the below average performance of the character "Lisa", played by Veronika Luksetichm she acted like she wasn't at all into her character, supposedly Walter's "dream girl" the girl had acne on her face so i'm not sure what he saw in her. Another funny and hilarious performance is made by Steve Tracy, this guy is just funny and there's no denying that, I mean the guy wore a wig the whole film, and he was already funny that just escalates it. Also the director "Insane Mike" is also in the mix as a newscaster, let me tell you, this guy may be one of the funniest guys ever out of character, he was funny in character, but nothing compares to his real personallity....The guy looks a LOT like Jack Black too! Briefly on the Jackie character, her character was above average here, I just seem to believe that the Jackie character wasn't for Jill Emmert, i'd like to see her in a more serious role. Charles Manson played by Jeff Alexander was very hilarious as well although he didn't look identical to the real Charles M., it was close and some of his mannerisms were just too funny to keep a straight face. However my favorite character and performance was brought forth by Lindsey Husak who plays "Ann" who is Walter's co-worker and Ultimately in the end his true "dream girl". This girl is fine, she's hot.... she's like the girl next door that you'd never have a chance with...but the one that you go to bed thinking about at night. Lindsey was not the one originally cast as "Ann", oh how grateful I am that she was! This was a great film I loved it's not too serious approach, this film serves as a good piece of 90 minute entertainment! |
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| GORE
METER 2/10 Not much gore, this film's main focus was not gore obviously... which is not a bad thing really. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 I wasn't too big on the soundtrack though, some indie rock is used. |
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| SPECIAL
FEATURES RATING 5/10 The special features were very good, as you get to meat the people behind Prescribed Films, and "Insane Mike shows you just how insane and crazy he can be. Also included is an interesting casting featurette, a photo gallery, hilarious bloopers, a short film as well as a music video. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM This is my first time seeing a film by "Insane Mike Saunders, and I must say I like this guy! Soon I hope that The Hook can post up an interview with him, it's for the good of mankind! I recommend this film to fans of Horror as well as Comedy, it is sure to please both genre of fans. |
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