Nightmare Alley 2010 Horror Movie Review

First there was HORROR-RAMA, then there was JUNKFOOD HORROR FEST, now comes director Walter Ruethers most accomplished film, Scarlet Fry’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY. This low budget indie horror anthology is the latest (and I hope not last) film from Arizona based Pretorius Productions. The stories range from the humourous, to the bloody, to the entirely innapropriate. This is a movie for the whole family…that is if you’re refering to The Manson Family. Shot on a low budget and on video, the film manages to maintain a higher degree of professionalism and quality than most shot on video crap out there. The film is well paced, entertaining and displays a large dose of Ruethers unique brand of black humor. The whole film also stands as an affectionate tribute to the bygone, and some fans will say far superior, era of the grindhouse horror film.  An era that produced many of Hollywoods biggest contempory directors, whoose first films were low budget horror gems (Wes Craven, George Romero Ect.), and influenced a score of other current Hollywood names. (Tarantino, Rob Zombie Ect.)


The stand out segment, amongst 7 tasty tidbit of terror, is called “Rebellion” in which and evil toy rat posses a man and makes him kill so that the rat may feed on souls untill he gets big enough to take over the world. Notable also is the segment entitled “Meat” which is a great blend of canibalisim, murder and innapropriate baby oil rubdowns. A personal favorite however was “Death Chat” which was a blackly comedic argument against on-line hook ups. It’s obvious to me that Ruether and his Pretorius Productions have as much talent if not more, that alot of who is running modern Hollywood. They also have a genuine love for horror films (Which is evidanced in the name of the company, Pretorious, a character referance to the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein.) and film-making in general. In this digitally soul-less time of big budget 3D garbage like the films of James Cameron and George Lucas, it’s refreshing to see an indie film with such promise produced by people with soul. I for one would love to see what Reuther and Pretorius could do with 1/8th of Avatar’s budget.