Chillerama Blu-ray review

            Chillerama ends with a shot of The New Beverly Theater in Hollywood, where the marquee displays it as the film showing. This is fitting, as this particular theater is known for its B-film revivals. There have been Grindhouse film festivals and Dolf Lundgren marathons at this theater, and it has become a place where bad films are appreciated in a whole new way. These films were once just bad, but now they have unintentional entertainment qualities to them. Chillerama attempts to imitate these films, but it does so without much humor. The films from the past were funny without trying. Chillerama tries too hard and isn’t a fraction of the enjoyment, but the intention is admirable in the least.

Part of the problem I had with Chillerama was the forced vulgar nature of most humor in the film. With an anthology of smaller spoof films set within a zombie story at a local drive-in theater, there are a variety of different attempts. It just gets worse as the film progresses, until it is finally just images of feces in Deathication. Everything is over-sexualized or purposefully offensive, from a merging of The Diary of Anne Frank with Frankenstein to zombies who transmit the infection through sex rather than eating flesh.

The first film within the film is a perfect example. It is called Wadzilla, a play on Godzilla with a giant man-eating sperm. There is also I Was a Teenage Werebear, which is about a gay werewolf and his bad-boy buddies, Diary of Anne Frankenstein and Deathication. As each of these films play at the drive-in theater, the sexual zombie outbreak spreads. At two hours, Chillerama was a bit too long for me, even as an anthology film.

The special features include a directors’ video commentary as well as deleted scenes and trailers for each of the films within the film. There is also a behind-the-scenes featurette for the film, as well as one of the films within the film. Directors interviews are also included.