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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Brett Piper
Georgia Hatzis
Alexandra Boylan (The Hitchhiker)
Ethan Krasnoo
Samara Doucette
Date Reviewed : April. 29, 2008
Supplied By : Shock-O-Rama Cinema
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
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| PLOT By all appearances, it’s just another deserted old house moldering away in the New England countryside – rundown, lonely, forgotten. The rural landscape is littered with hundreds of them. But this house is different, horribly different, because below the crumbling foundation and within rusting pipes dwells some thing that is about to be unleashed. Julie Ashbrook and a group of friends have taken up residence in the house while they clean it up for a planned restoration. Strange and inexplicable occurrences involving water is just the beginning as gruesome death-by-plumbing takes its toll on the terrified inhabitants. Drip by steady drip the fleshless entity begins to take shape, and Julie and her friends soon come face to face with the bloodthirsty monster in all its aqueous evil - an ancient water demon that wants to tear them apart and flush them down the toilet. |
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| THE REVIEW In Director Brett Piper's DRAINIAC, we meet a recently widowed family, teenage Julie and her seemingly self-centered father, both of whom have distanced themselves from one another since the death of the wife/mother. Well Dad has a habit of buying run down, unwanted things and fixing them up for a profit of his own - it is such the case when he purchases an old dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere. Julie arrive at the old house to clean it, despite the fact that Julie would rather be spending time with her friends. To make matters worse, her irresponsible dad tells Julie that he has to go into town to take care of some business (but what he really means is that he's going out drinking), thus leaving Julie to do all of the clean up. Luckily for her, her friends Lisa, Tanya, Jake....and an uninvited guy named Wade whom is annoying as ever. But Wade wouldn't be the teens' only pest, as some sort of ghostly being lives and breathes within the drain pipes of dear ole Daddy's latest investment, and it just can't wait to get out! Shot in 2000 with a budget of only $10,000, Director Brett Piper completed post production on it with the help of fellow indie filmmaking pioneer Mark Polonia in just one weekend. Without additional funds available to further tweak it, Piper sold off his film as is to a short-lived distributor. Having regained the rights to the film, Piper spent months doing what he had always intended as far as effects work, and here in this DVD is presented a newly revised version of DRAINIAC. This was actually my first time seeing DRAINIAC, so I can't really compare this one to the "unrevised" cut. But in this film we have all of the things that Brett Piper is known for his - practical effects, via the use of miniatures and stop-motion animation, and it's always good to one of his films, because these effects methods are rarely used anymore as they have been replaced by CGI. The story here is certainly not an award winner, but when watching a B-Movie you just can't expect that, because honestly, the filmmakers that make them, aren't setting out to win awards, i'm almost sure of it. But most of the time, what B-Movies like DRAINIAC are just made to entertain you by presenting a fun, and sometimes, silly story. Sure there are some bad B-Movies out there, but amongst the crowd, you'd be surprised to find that some of these filmmakers are quite talented - like Piper(and two of my favorites, Roger Corman and Jim Wynorski) A ghost living in the drainpipes of an old house.....doesn't that sound fun? It does....that's because it is. We have ghost like creatures attacking people with water and though the drainpipes as witnessed when Wade decides to make a pit stop at the toilet. The film virtually turns into THE AMITYVILLE HORROR meets POLTERGEIST and THE EXORCIST, with the arrival of a quirky character by the name of Leon Plummer, who insists that he's not a plumber but just merely there to perform an exorcism(although we never learn just how this plummer knows of the haunting.. The film has it's faults, as it's bound to, there are a few slow moments, and at some points the acting is mixed. I did enjoy the performance of Alexandra Boylan, who portrayed Lisa, who believe it or not still participated in the film with tore ligaments in her ankle due to a Soccer injury - not only did Boylan have to act out her line....but she also had to act as if she was pain free as well - wish I know she much have been in. In the end, DRAINIAC is not Brett Piper's best work in my opinion, but as with all of his films it does have a certain level of fun. While watching DRAINIAC, I couldn't help but to be reminded of Director Rolfe Kanefsky's film THERE'S NOTHING OUT THERE, a film that is also enjoyable, and basically in the same vein. But I have to say that the last scene in which the trees swallow the house is amazing! |
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| GORE
METER 3.5/10 Melted skeletons, blood sucking creatures, a bloody bathtub, and an exploding body. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 2/10 The score is mostly really soft, and other times rather atmospheric. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Overall, DRAINIAC is a semi-enjoyable B-Movie with an old feel and if you are into these types of films and know what to expect beforehand, chances are that you might enjoy it. This DVD will be released on June 24, 2008 |
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