VFW | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joe Begos |
Written by | Max Brallier Matthew McArdle |
Produced by | Josh Ethier Amanda Presmyk Dallas Sonnier |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Mike Testin |
Edited by | Josh Ethier |
Music by | Steve Moore |
Production companies | Fangoria Channel 83 Films Media Finance Capital Good Wizard Voltage Pictures Zero Trans Fat Productions |
Distributed by | RLJE Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
VFW is a 2019 American action splatter film directed by Joe Begos and starring Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Martin Kove and Fred Williamson. [1] [2] [3] [4] The film premiered at the 2019 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, [5] and released to theaters, VOD, and Digital HD on February 14, 2020. [6]
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.(September 2021) |
Boz, the leader of a psychotic gang, deals a powerful and addictive new drug called Hype. His members, dubbed Hypers, are completely hooked on his product so much he makes one of the members, Lucy, jump off a balcony to her death when he drops a baggie of Hype off it. Lucy's younger sister Elizabeth, nicknamed Lizard, witnesses this and steals Boz's stash while fleeing from Boz when he catches her in the act.
Elsewhere Fred Parras, an Army Veteran from the Vietnam War, meets up with his friend Abe Hawkins. They go to Fred's bar, a V.F.W. (Veterans of Foreign Wars) hangout, where they meet up with their old army friends Walter Reed, Lou Clayton, Thomas "Z" Zabriski, and Doug McCarthy. The friends wish to celebrate Fred's birthday, much to his chagrin, and relive their glory days. Later, young Army Ranger Shaun Mason, who is on leave to see his wife, joins them. The night turns chaotic when Lizard enters the bar, and Boz's brother Roadie hacks off one of Doug's arms with an ax.
Fred and the Veterans fight off Roadie and his men, with Fred killing Roadie with his Sawed-off Shotgun. Wanting to get Doug medical help, Z and Fred try to flee to Z's truck, only for Boz's right-hand woman, Gutter, to slice open Z's neck with her machete. Fred and Walter attempt the truck again, but Gutter sneaks up on Fred and begins strangling him with a chain demanding him to “give it back!” Fred survives by stabbing Gutter with the truck keys and returns to his bar. He demands Lizard to tell the truth about her and the attacks, but she remains silent.
Lou later finds out why they are being attacked after finding the backpack with the stolen stash in a toilet tank and wishes to make a deal with Boz. Lizard, however, says that because they killed Roadie, Boz will never let them live, and the only option the Veterans have is to defend themselves against the Hypers. They prepare makeshift weapons from the bar’s furniture and traps reminiscent of those used in the Vietnam War. The Veterans are put through Hell when Boz's Hypers, including the hulking member Tank, break into the barricaded bar giving them a bloody battle. Having reached his breaking point, Lou decides to make a deal with Boz to save himself and his friends. Boz does not comply and decides to shoot and kill Lou, but not before Lou takes out more of Boz's men.
Fred, who chased after Lou, is shot in the leg by Boz and becomes depressed after Lou's death and Doug finally dying after the blood loss from his wounds. He starts drinking in the back room from the guilt till Lizard snaps him out of it, reminding him how his remaining friends need him, including her. Fred and the Veterans decide to make a last stand against Boz, who has had enough of the Veterans killing his men and running out of time with dawn approaching. The Hypers blow up the barricade and demand the product back, giving Fred a no way out ultimatum, but Fred refuses to give up after everything they put him and the others through and shoots one of the bricks of Hype in the air causing Boz's Hypers who inhaled the drug to go crazy and attack everyone including him and Gutter.
The Veterans begin fighting back. Abe, who has taken a hit of Hype to prepare mentally, begins slicing up the Hypers with his old service machete to allow the others to flee. Walter steals a chainsaw, and with Shaun's help, they get to the Vet's old Gun Truck to escape but are ambushed with Walter taking a mortal wound to his shoulder.
Abe battles Gutter, who gets the upper hand wounding him but dies when Fred rams a broken flag pole through her body and the other piece through her head. Lizard was caught by Boz earlier during the fight and forces her back to his car, but Fred retrieves his shotgun and remaining ammo and shoots Boz in the back as well as the backpack, which he had earlier soaked with his alcohol, catching it on fire allowing Lizard to escape. Walter, who is barely hanging on, orders Shaun to leave him so he can see his wife again, with Walter ramming the Gun Truck at Boz, causing both the Gun Truck and Boz's escape vehicle to explode, killing them both.
Fred, Shaun, and Lizard return to the bar with an exhausted Abe waiting, where they pour shots for their fallen friends, including Abe, who succumbs to his injuries after receiving his shot glass. Fred finds a block of Hype hiding behind his counter with Lizard commenting the money he will get with it will repair the bar and more realizing Lizard hid it there on purpose to thank Fred for everything he did for her. The three then consume their drinks, with Shaun telling Fred happy birthday.
Joe Begos, director of Almost Human and The Mind's Eye , was given a script written by Max Brallier and Matthew McArdle entitled VFW by Dallas Sonnier of Cinestate and Fangoria. Begos was attracted to project for it being "the type of white-knuckle stuff that I like to do". [7] In February 2019, Begos officially signed on to direct the film. [8] In March, Stephen Lang joined the cast as the lead, while Sonnier and Amanda Presmyk were set to produce along with Begos' collaborator Josh Ethier. [9] Along with acting as director, Begos also rewrote the script and served as camera operator, while Ethier performed as sound designer and editor. [10] [11]
Filming took place on location in March 2019 in Dallas, Texas at a real VFW, lasting four weeks. [12] [13] While shooting the film, Begos simultaneously did post-production work on Bliss . [14]
In June 2020, three crew members alleged to The Daily Beast that during a wardrobe fitting, actor Fred Williamson tried to grope an assistant costume designer. Williamson remained on the project. Later in production, a member of the hair and makeup department quit the film due to allegedly receiving a "barrage of sexual overtures" from the actor. Williamson denied the allegations. Sonnier denies being told that anyone saw Williamson grope the crew member, while Presmyk claims she remembered the incident as more “lighthearted in nature". [15] [16]
VFW holds an 83% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 53 reviews with an average rating of 6.9/10. The critic consensus reads "VFW's solid cast, deft direction, and surprisingly weighty subtext add extra heft to a gory horror that should hold buckets of sanguine appeal for grindhouse fans." [17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on ten critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [18] Andy Crump of Paste gave it a rating of 6.9. [19] Chuck Foster of Film Threat gave it a 10 out of 10. [20] Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting awarded the film three skulls out of five. [21] Katie Rife of The A.V. Club graded the film a B. [22]
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a 1982 American science fiction horror film and the third installment in the Halloween film series. It is the first film to be written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the creators of Halloween and Halloween II, return as producers. Halloween III is the only entry in the series that does not feature the series antagonist, Michael Myers. After the film's disappointing reception and box office performance, Michael Myers was brought back six years later in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988).
From Dusk till Dawn is a 1996 American action horror film directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino from a concept and story by Robert Kurtzman. Starring Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Tarantino, Ernest Liu, and Juliette Lewis, the plot follows a pair of American criminal brothers who take a family as hostages in order to cross into Mexico, but ultimately find themselves trapped in a saloon frequented by vampires.
Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 romantic zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden London salesman who is caught alongside his loved ones in a zombie apocalypse. It also stars Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, and Penelope Wilton. It is the first film in Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013).
Fangoria is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr.
Doug Jones is an American actor, contortionist, and mime artist. He is best known for portraying non-human creatures, usually via heavy make-up and visual effects. He has most notably collaborated with acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, appearing in the films Mimic (1997), Hellboy (2004), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Crimson Peak (2015), and The Shape of Water (2017).
The Hills Have Eyes is a 1977 American horror film written, directed, and edited by Wes Craven and starring Susan Lanier, Michael Berryman and Dee Wallace. The film follows the Carters, a suburban family targeted by a family of cannibal savages after becoming stranded in the Nevada desert.
Jack Frost is a 1997 American direct-to-video black comedy slasher film written and directed by Michael Cooney. It stars Scott MacDonald and Christopher Allport.
Humanoids from the Deep is a 1980 American science fiction horror film starring Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, and Vic Morrow. Roger Corman served as the film's uncredited executive producer, and his company, New World Pictures, distributed it. Humanoids from the Deep was directed by Barbara Peeters and an uncredited Jimmy T. Murakami.
Sin-Jin Smyth is an unreleased horror film written and directed by Ethan Dettenmaier, based on the urban legend surrounding Kansas's Stull Cemetery. The story involves the Devil simultaneously appearing in two places, the high plains of India and one cemetery in Kansas every Halloween at midnight.
A roof rack is a set of bars secured to the roof of an automobile. It is used to carry bulky items such as luggage, bicycles, canoes, kayaks, skis, or various carriers and containers.
S&Man is a 2006 American pseudo-documentary film that examines the underground subculture of horror films. It contains interviews with filmmakers and other participants in the low budget indie horror scene, as well as film professor and author Carol J. Clover. The second half of the film also features a scripted plot, which stars comedian Erik Marcisak as the fictional filmmaker Eric Rost.
Crypticon is a horror-oriented media convention held annually in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Seattle, Washington, and Kansas City, Missouri. Guests have included authors, actors, directors, producers, and writers from classic and upcoming horror titles.
The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between October 4, 2003, and May 15, 2004, the twenty-ninth season of SNL.
Sierra McCormick is an American actress. She first became known for participating in the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (2007–2008) before making her acting debut with a recurring role as Lilith on the television series Supernatural (2008). She also starred as Scout Thomas on the comedy television series Romantically Challenged (2010), played Alice in the direct-to-DVD film Spooky Buddies (2011), for which she won a Young Artist Award, and received recognition for her role as Susan Kushner in the comedy film Ramona and Beezus (2010).
WolfCop is a 2014 Canadian superhero film written and directed by Lowell Dean, and starring Jesse Moss, Amy Matysio, Jonathan Cherry, Sarah Lind, Aidan Devine, Corrine Conley and Leo Fafard. The film's plot concerns an alcoholic small town cop who transforms into a werewolf after being cursed; he still possesses his human intelligence in wolf form and continues his work as a police officer even in wolf form.
Wyrmwood is a 2014 Australian action-horror film directed by Kiah Roache-Turner and starring Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill, Keith Agius, Berynn Schwerdt and Luke McKenzie. The screenplay concerns a mechanic who finds himself faced with zombie hordes. Roache-Turner's directorial debut, it had its world premiere on 19 September 2014 at Fantastic Fest.
B Bar H Ranch, California is an unincorporated area with cultural and historical features and is a residential community in Riverside County, California. B Bar H Ranch is located between Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs in the Seven Palms Valley. California Home Town Locator states the B Bar H Ranch Latitude is 33.9102927 and Longitude is -116.4819566. The GNIS entry date is January 19, 1981. B Bar H Ranch sits at an elevation of 784 feet (239 m). B Bar H Ranch is approximately eight miles north of Palm Springs, California and approximately six miles south of Desert Hot Springs, California. B Bar H Ranch's approximate 240 acres are bordered by 18th Avenue to the north, Mountain View Road to the east, 20th Avenue to the south, and Bubbling Wells Road to the west. B Bar H Ranch consisted of approximately 899 residents as of the 2010 US Census.
Bliss is a 2019 horror film written and directed by Joe Begos. Described as a vampire film, it concerns an artist named Dezzy who descends into madness after taking a hallucinogenic drug to overcome a creative block.
The Jeepers Creepers film series consists of four American horror movies. The first three movies were written and directed by Victor Salva, and the fourth was directed by Timo Vuorensola. The antagonist in each of the films is the Creeper, a demonic serial killer played by Jonathan Breck in the first three entries and Jarreau Benjamin in the fourth. The first film, starring Gina Philips and Justin Long, was a commercial success at the box office in 2001 and received somewhat positive reviews from critics and a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. Subsequent entries in the series were not well received.
Mr. Mean is a 1977 action crime film written and directed by Fred Williamson.