Vendetta(2015)

The Twisted Twins once again teams up with WWE Studios and Lionsgate for their newest film which is a little bit of a change a pace for The Soska Sisters instead of horror what they are best known for they decide to take on a hard boiled action revenge tale here.

Vendetta stars Dean Cain(yes that Dean Cain) as Det. Mason Danvers who after bringing down two vicious criminals Victor(Paul “Big Show” Wight) and Griffin(Aleks Paunovic) the Abbott brothers.

Three months pass when Danvers is told that The Abbotts have been released, Danvers gives his wife Jocelyn(Kyra Zagorsky) a call but is shocked to hear Victor answer, as Danvers races home, he calls his partner Gainer(Ben Hollingsworth) both men, get to Danvers home but are too late as Victor has viciously beaten Jocelyn to death.

After sometime has gone by Danvers isn’t the man he once was, he decides to track down Griffin Abbott and kills him so that he can be arrested and sent to the same prison as Victor, who has basically been running things in the prison since he’s arrived.

Vendetta is somewhat of a throwback to the old 80s style revenge flicks where they get straight to the point of what’s going on.

Dean Cain gives one of his best performances here as shows that he can really go to some dark places that fans of him especially recently with the many Hallmark films he’s done aren’t expecting him to go, It would be nice to see him do more of these kind of films going forward.

WWE Star Paul “Big Show” Wight is really good as the bad guy, something that he’s a natural at doing with his 20 years in wrestling, just like another WWE Star Kane who the Soska’s worked with on See No Evil 2 even though both men in recent years aren’t as menacing as they once were in the WWE but with the Soskas they are allowed to be those monster heels that fans love to hate.

Maybe If there is a See No Evil 3 we could get a Big Show vs Jacob Goodnight show down, that would be a interesting thing. That’s just a wishful thought of mine though…

Michael Eklund steals the film as Warden Snyder the way he plays the role reminds me somewhat of Alan Rickman in Die Hard where he’s always cool and calm but there is more going on behind the nice suit.

It was nice seeing The Soska Sisters expand their talents beyond the realm of horror here with this hardnose, straight forward action flick, even though there isn’t alot with the story, their directing is rare and in you’re face when it comes to a few of the action scenes, my only complained would have to be that when Danvers wife is killed It would have been a little bit more impactful if more of it was shown, but it’s still effective enough.

 Also there is no Soska's Cameo here which is a bit of a disappointment but then again there was nowhere really for them to show up since majority of the film takes place in prison.

There seemed to be a few homages to earlier flicks that are similar in tone here I’m not sure if this was on purpose or just happy accidents, but there seemed to be a bit of The Punisher, Death Warrant, Locked Up and the big prison riot reminded me of the prison riot from Natural Born Killers

All in All if you like action, a badass Dean Cain, Big Show doing what he does best, and are a fan of The Soskas I recommend checking out Vendetta since it is out now in Select Theaters and on VOD.

MY RATING 

7/10

CAST

Dean Cain-Mason Danvers

Paul "Big Show" Wight-Victor Abbott

Michael Eklund-Warden Snyder

Ben Hollingsworth-Joel Gainer

Adrian Holmes-Drexel

Matthew MacCaull-Ben

Kyra Zagorsky-Jocelyn

Aleks Paunovic-Griffin Abbott

American Mary (2012)

"She's an artist"



PLOT

The allure of easy money sends Mary Mason, a medical student , into the world of underground surgeries which ends up leaving more marks on her then her so called "freakish" clients



REVIEW

American Mary are a breath of fresh air into the horror genre, the 2nd feature film release by Jen/Sylvia Soska aka The Twisted Twins.

American Mary is a dark, intense film about a Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) who is down on her luck while she's going to medical school, finds herself applying for a job at a strip club owned by a man name Billy Barker (Antonio Cupa) who finds Mary interesting because he actually reads over her resume and knows that she really shouldn't be there because of all of her schooling.

Mary is thrust into the underworld of extreme surgery thanks in large to one of the club dancers Beatrice(Tristan Risk), she has had a lot of surgeries that have transformed her into a real life version of Betty Boop, after witnessing some of  Mary's work that she performed on a guy at the club during her "Interview".

Beatrice brings more work to Mary thanks to a friend of hers Ruby RealGirl (Paula Lindberg) who wants to be transformed into a human doll by having her nipples and labia removed, which at first Mary isn't to comfortable with doing but after being offered a lot of money, she goes ahead with doing the surgery.

Things really take a turn when Mary who now is doing better with her life and has been doing her Residency at an local hospital is invited by Dr.Walsh( Clay St. Thomas) to a party where she runs into her med school professor Dr. Grant (David Lovgren) who drugged and rapes her, Mary herself transforms on the inside.

I really enjoyed this movie, its very well written and acted by the cast who outside of Katharine Isabelle were unknowns to me, standout performance for me goes to Tristan Risk who plays Beatrice, where all of the other characters seem very dark for varies reason, Beatrice is the one light character who even though she might look the oddest, might just be the most normal of the bunch.

Katharine Isabelle does a great job as Mary who transforms a few times threw out the movie not physically but mentality, she's like a sexy angel of torture if there is such a thing. the relationship she has with Beatrice is good and even though at first Mary seems bothered by her finds her to be her friend by the end, which is very well played out.

Antonio Cupa as Billy is a complex character who when first introduced in the film seems like the type of character that has been seen in other films  before but where he differs is that he has feelings for Mary but he never really is able to express himself towards her except for maybe one scene.

Directors Jen and Sylvia Soska make a nice cameo appearance in the film as two very twisted twins who call upon Mary to do some unique surgery on the pair, those two character should have a movie of their own that follows their travels around the world post surgery.

The special effect here are really done well, as a fan of practical makeup effects in films, in a era now where CGI has basically taken over its always good to see real effects on real people, not only are the gore effects done will but the ones done during the surgery scenes are top notch as well, also the makeup work done on Tristan Risk and Paula Lindberg are very realistic.

My only problem or complaint with the film is the ending, I get why it ended the way it did, but It seemed to come to quickly and felt like there were a few loose ends left but it doesn't take away from an otherwise very well made movie.

I must admit this is my first Twisted Twins film but it surely will not be my last and now I'll be going back to watch their first feature film Dead Hooker In A Trunk and also their newest film See No Evil 2 and anything that they make in the future, they have a new fan following their work now.


MY RATING

8/10

CAST
Katharine Isabelle- Mary Mason
Antonio Cupa- Billy Barker
Tristan Risk- Beatrice Johnson
David Lovgren- Dr. Grant
Paula Lindberg- Ruby RealGirl
Clay St. Thomas-Dr. Walsh
John Emmet Tracy- Detective Dolor
Twan Holliday- Lance
Sylvia Soska- Twin # 1
Jen Soska- Twin # 2