Marty's Gonna Get Ya! (Sickle (DVD))

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	Sickle (DVD)
Date:	03/07/08 (286 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Suspense is built fairly well at times, the film is strangely quite appealing and fun.

Disadvantages: The acting is atrocious, the script is dreadful, and the camerawork also is extremely poor.

'Sickle' is a horror film written, directed, and produced by Paul Gagné. The man actually appears in the film also as an actor under the name of Paul Cagney. This was Paul Gagné's directorial debut and he's basically here taken charge of as many different sectors of the film as he possibly could. Paul Gagné is also credited as the films supervising editor, he's made this very much his own project and given that before this film he only had experience (albeit limited) as an actor; I don't think he's done too bad a job at all here. The film is slow to build, the acting is pretty dreadful, and the cinematography is not great; the use of location is pretty good though and at times this film actually provides for quite an enjoyable viewing experience.

There's a local legend in the area which revolves around a man named Marty Sickle who once raped and murdered a young woman at the slaughterhouse he worked in. The girl's boyfriend and a few of his friends later came and murdered Marty Sickle, they hung him at the slaughterhouse and made sure he'd never be able to murder anyone ever again (or so they thought). Legend now has it however that if you break into the slaughterhouse late at night then Marty Sickle will come and get you. There's also a rumour which floats around the local college that if you say a certain rhyme three times in the place where he died then Marty Sickle will come out on a murderous rampage; it's said that the only way to stop him then is to chop his head off. Four teenage students here set out to put the legend to its test, they're off to the slaughterhouse with a video camera to investigate further the legend of Marty Sickle. Two couples undertake this journey to the slaughterhouse; two academically failing football talents and their partners, the two generic jocks are out to scare their partners and catch on film their fright at the slaughterhouse. The film unfolds with inevitable predictability; scene for scene you can almost predict entirely accurately what shall happen to these four hapless teens.

Although extremely predictable there were actually times when I really quite enjoyed this generic slasher film that is 'Sickle'. Suspense is built well at times and there are a good few occasions when the musical score accompanies the on-screen action incredibly well. When talking the actors are not at all believable; when the music is left to do the main bulk of the work however then this film actually gets quite interesting. The film takes far too long to get going, it takes a good 30 minutes for the main bulk of the action to begin and by this time you're already entirely sick of the Marty Sickle story. Slowly more and more is revealed about the legend, and with every 'revelation' you're left feeling entirely unimpressed. The suspense is great when it's there, generally it does not last too long however as speaking parts spoil the action and interrupt what can at times be really quite compelling viewing.

For the first 30 minutes of the film there's a lot of naked bodies, lesbian scenes, and other such scenes of sex. The backing music here does in fact sound as though it has been stolen from a porn film, it's like you're watching a softcore porn movie and not a single horror convention comes into play here. It's like watching a raunchier version of 'American Pie', but with any acting quality completely removed and the main focus purely being on sex. The film tries to appeal to the teen market by showing the naked female form as much as possible, I think Paul Gagné here failed to recognise that people want a bit more than this when they watch a horror film; slasher films of this sort often show sexual scenes, the balance is completely wrong here however and for a whole third of the film nothing but sex is shown. I didn't quite know what to make of it all to be honest, although it was quite entertaining to watch scenes of this sort I had actually been expecting a horror film and the cinematography therefore came as quite a shock to me here. There's making a film sexy, and then there's just making it a sofcore porn feature; I think Paul Gagné crossed the line a little here and implemented a few too many scenes of sex rather than concentrating on creating an entertaining horror film.

In terms of character types you've got all your stereotypical slasher movie figures present here; there's a generic stoner teen aptly nicknamed 'Stoner', there are a couple of jocks that don't have a brain cell between them, and then there are also of course the jocks girlfriends (one blonde and flirty, the other brunette and far more reserved and introverted). Oh, and finally of course you've got the predictable slasher killer that plays like Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Kreuger stuck in Texas Chainsaw Massacre's slaughterhouse. The slaughterhouse does actually look like a mix between Nightmare on Elm Street's boiler room and Texas Chainsaw Massacre's slaughterhouse; it's quite amusing really and actually works rather well. Marty Sickle is given a couple of lines to speak here that are just awful, he looks like a slightly undead Quasimodo and everything about the killer is just a bit of a joke really. The character I despised least here would have to be Stoner; the character doesn't exactly bring anything new to the genre, he's a bit of fun however and reminds me a lot of Jason Mewes character Jay from the Jay and Silent Bob series of films. The performances are not great, the script is really quite poor, there's something really rather watchable about 'Sickle' however and even though a lot of the films features make me shake my head in disbelief; there's just something about the amateurish nature of this film that really makes me smile.

Although known as 'Sickle' in the UK and Australia; the original title of this film is actually 'The Slaughterhouse Massacre', a film title that actually makes a lot more sense and is far more striking than 'Sickle'. 'The Slaughterhouse Massacre' is a title that gives the film an authentic low-budget slasher appeal, with a name like that the film sounds as though it's going to be fairly poor quality and in that respect it gives off entirely the right impression. This is an extremely low budget film, everything about 'Sickle' is incredibly poor quality but this I feel is part of the films appeal. It's low budget but it doesn't attempt to be anything other than it is; it's intended as a generic slasher bit of fun and in this respect the film succeeds.

When special effects are utilised here I really wish they hadn't bothered; the effects are really cheap and tacky, quite possibly the worst I've ever seen in fact in a film of this sort. The picture quality also is extremely lacking; there are moments of great fuzziness and times when the picture momentarily disappears completely. The sound is at times completely out of sync as well, this provides for a hugely frustrating viewing experience and although you get used to it after a while it most definitely detracts away from the overall quality of the film.

In many respects 'Sickle' is dreadful, for some reason though I did still find some enjoyment in viewing the film. There are definitely some strong moments of suspense, these are few and far between but they're definitely still there. The plot line is extremely predictable, I did however still enjoy watching the events unfold and although the films introduction could be substantially cut; once the main bulk of the action begins there's plenty here to keep you reasonably entertained. The killer is dreadful, the story is weak, the performances are powerless, and the camera work is atrocious; I did still quite enjoy 'Sickle' on some strange level though. It reminded me of a number of different films; 'Nightmare on Elm Street' most heavily, but also such other films as 'Wolf Creek' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. 'Sickle' is nowhere near as good as any of these films, it's still quite interesting to watch though and if you can see past the films many failings then there are a good few positives to be taken here from Paul Gagné's directorial debut.

If you're looking for a film to provide a genuine scare then 'Sickle' just wont deliver; the killer isn't at all scary and although the suspense does build well at times it never actually leads to anything. Actually, that's a lie; the suspense leads to dreadful acting performances and poorly spoken lines from the wooden cast of 'Sickle'. It's not a horror classic, it is however a fun low budget horror film which provides for a reasonably entertaining 91 minutes of movie. I've seen better, then again I've also seen a lot worse and 'Sickle' certainly fairs far better than some of the low budget bilge I've viewed over the years.

One extra is provided with this DVD release and the extra received here is that of a trailer for the film 'Skinned Deep'; another in this particular range of Boulevard Entertainment cheap option horror films. The trailer doesn't exactly leave you wanting to watch 'Skinned Deep' and to be honest I was expecting the trailer to be one for 'Sickle'; it's not though and the one extra we do receive here is merely used to market another low budget horror movie in this series. I guess they think that if you like one low budget horror film then you're bound to want to watch others; I very much doubt that this trailer will lead to many people going out there and purchasing 'Skinned Deep' however as the film just doesn't look very good.


Director: Paul Gagné
Genre: Horror
Language: English
Runtime: 97 mins
BBFC Rating: 18

Current Price: £3 (Play.com) - Purchase price was actually £1 from WH Smiths, this was over a year ago however and I've not seen the film on sale there at this price since.

Summary: If you like low budget horror films then 'Sickle' may well be of great appeal.