2/5 All art house, trippy, visionary, inspired, and 'AHEAD OF ITS TIME'
  by M. Blevins (Here, VA)
Too bad it's from 3 years ago.

I'm giving it two stars only because it was one star better than the one stars I've watched recently. Don't bother with this one. When I thought it was from the seventies, I stopped asking questions. When I found out it's actually from 2005, I laughed. Watch the special features, and see how ridiculous they actually get with the side-story...

*Hands up in the air* DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2/5 Whaaaaaaaat???????
  by ZombieLuv (NY)
A woman named Jennifer tries to escape her past. She is released from a mental hospital and instead of heading home she hooks up with some hippies in the desert. This film was made to look like a 70's film, it does a poor job though. The entire movie was confusing and foolish. The clothing was not correct, the slang was incorrect, there was very little gore, and lots of talk. It's one of those films that makes you think you're on something crazy while watching it. I didn't like it much at all. I kept hoping it would get over with, and fast. 1.5 stars out of 5.

4/5 Before Grindhouse, there was this little gem...
  by Mr. Hands (Enumclaw, Washington)
5 years before Tarantino came up with the "Grindhouse" concept, a small low budget film called, "Slaughterhouse of the Rising Sun" was shot in early 2002. In 2005, it was picked up by the prestigious art house distributor Think Films (Academy award winner "Born into Brothels", the always funny Amy Sederis in "Strangers with Candy" and Terry Gilliam's "Tideland") to little/no fanfare. Tarantino is notoriously known for liberally borrowing ideas for "Resevoir Dogs" ("City on Fire") and referenced Sonny Chiba/Spaghetti Westerns (and "Once Upon a Time in the West") for "Kill Bill 1&2", Having the same problems that the marketing people at The Weinstein Co. did for "Grindhouse", "Slaughterhouse of the Rising Sun" was victim to the marketing folks at Think not wanting to market it 70's-style like the way "Grindhouse" and "Black Snake Moan" did a few years later -- as neo-retro-exploitation films. Instead, they marketed "Slaughterhouse..." like a slasher/"Saw" type film which it is far from being. This mislead many people who were expecting super-gore and were either disappointed, upset or felt cheated when they saw the film which is a funky, stylized film that most people actually thought was shot in the early 70's and ThinkFilms slapped on some modern gory cover art which gave people different expectations. This film is far from a gore/fright fest. The filmmakers set out to emulate exactly all those creepy late 60's pre-disco/post-Vietnam psychedelic horror films (that are now pretty disturbing in their "laugh-ability factor" such as; "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" (an obscure classic that Paramount just released after being out-of-print for 20 years), "Last House on the Left", Russ Meyer films and countless stoner horror exploitation films.

The thing about "Slaughterhouse..." is that it fully commits to being a film from that time. However, the problem with "Grindhouse" (while a lot of fun) didn't fully commit....the budget and effects were too over the top/expensive looking for "Planet Terror". No film from that time could afford such constant over-the-top explosions and effects (including makeup effects). Even in "Death Proof" the characters are using cell-phones and self-consciously referring to the film "Vanishing Point" multiple times that influenced them. Clearly Tarantino wanted to make sure the audience either went out and rented those films, or for us movie buffs, jogged our memories of watching these on a Sat afternoon on cable.

So give "Slaughterhouse of the Rising Sun" a chance. Don't take it seriously and don't expect to be scared. It's a film that is a stoner art house film that is tries to be unintentionally funny (such as those films it pays homage to) with the actors at times taking themselves too seriously (on purpose) such as the Manson-esque villain Damon Grey. The tough chicks (Violence Onelove and Guilty Karma) are right out of an number of Russ Meyer flicks (and the Bambi/Thumper sequence in "Diamonds are Forever), a great synth score (similar music cues show up in "Planet Terror") and the cheesy America/Bread-esque title song, Illuminated .






4/5 A REAL FUN TREAT FOR HORROR FANS !
  by creatureart (Massachusetts)
As a horror film junkie i can't help but have a sweet-tooth for this goofy hoax/homage to great low-budget horror films of the 70's such as'THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT(1972)''SLAUGHTER HOTEL(1973)''DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT(1973)''TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE(1974)''PIGS(1973)''I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE(1977)' & 'THE HILLS HAVE EYES(1977)'. I truly enjoyed this little gem & in my opinion if this film was really made back n tha day it would not only had fit in perfectly it would've stood out as one of the better cult classics of that era with out a doubt! So it seems that Vin Crease n tha gang acomplished exactly what they set out to acomplish & i for one appreciate & applaud them for horror fans makeing a horror movie for horror fans. Excellent film!

1/5 oh if i could only give it zero
  by Grant Allen (IL)
do you remember all those terrible 70s horror movies that made no sense and didn't even attempt coherent plot lines? well the directer of this movie got the bright idea to emulate this long dead(and rightfully so) style. he pawned it off as being a "long lost classic" and concocted some story about vehicular hommicide to explain its lostness. it was really just made last year. this is a terrible rehash of ideas that were terrible to bigin with. its not even humerously bad. its just intentionaly bad. sickenngly boring and the acting is beyond medeocre, and its all done on purpose. its movies like these that make people dislike indipendant film.