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People love to describe some movies as "so bad they are good." This is usually not the case. What they are talking about are horrible movies that are fun to riff on at that moment. These are not the types of things you would ever watch again, though.
Worse are the movies that are purposely made to be bad. Are they funny? Sometimes, but they lack any charm. Trying to do something bad on purpose never works. There is a reason the people who fondly remember 'Samurai Cop' do not even know there is a sequel.
'WrestleMassacre' is a throwback. A true "so bad it's good" movie that would be legendary if it came out in a different time. Blake and Nathaniel talk about what makes it so great, what it should have done differently, and whether the awfulness ever took them out of the film.
Adventures in Movies! is hosted by Nathaniel Muir, Blake, and Danny. You can find Nathaniel on Instagram at nathaninpoortaste. Danny can be found on Twitter @default_player and on Instagram at default_player. Blake can be found on Twitter @foureyedhorror and on Instagram at foureyedhorror. You can reach us personally or on Twitter @AiPTMovies.
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0:00
Hello and welcome to another episode of Adventures and Movies looks at dot, dot, dot
0:08
This week I'm joined by one of the hosts of Adventures and Movies
0:13
Hello, my name is Blake. Hey, by the way, how was your birthday
0:19
Oh, well, it's tomorrow. But I guess speaking in podcast terms or YouTube terms, it's been great
0:27
It's been awesome. I'm sure I ate something delicious. Thank you. Thank you for bringing it up
0:36
Not a problem. So this week we're going to look at Russell Massacre
0:43
Russell Massacre is a horror movie about a gardener named Randy. Randy seems to have the entire world against him
0:53
One day he gets embarrassed at wrestling school and he decides he's going to
0:58
write some wrongs. That's one way to put it. So when's the last time you saw a movie like Russell Massacre
1:08
Oh man. Honestly, it's been a good long time. And I guess watching it made me realize that
1:15
I used to watch this kind of stuff all the time. All the time growing up
1:21
This was like what I actually even not growing up. Like, you know, nowadays I kind of seek out this stuff periodically
1:26
But yeah, it's a very certain particular type of low rent that I have missed, that I have missed, actually
1:36
It's a good palate cleanser. Yes, I would say so. A few weeks ago, you and I were talking about Rikio, the story of Ricky, and I told you how I saw it with Danny
1:48
And after it was over, Danny told me, wow, you really like bad movies, don't you
1:54
something I've been accused of in the past myself. So I get it
1:59
I get it. This is true. This is a B movie. This is B movie through and through. This was supposed to be a B movie
2:06
Absolutely. It was kind of leads to a question I had for later in the show
2:10
But I'll throw it out there now. Do you think this movie came out at the wrong time
2:15
Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess unabashed violence, unabated violence, is not a great thing to be it's not palatable right now right but that that said it like you kind of
2:35
said this was kind of this was kind of fresh in an old school way and uh this is a very this is for
2:42
a very particular audience i would say it absolutely is and you know after watching it and as we were
2:49
watching it i couldn't help but think of um up all night and
2:54
all those beat like sorority babes at the slam bowlorama and things like chopping wall came down
3:00
yeah sure like i really thought stuff like all that stuff yeah like right now with all the
3:06
streaming opportunities there's people that try to make those kinds of movies now and it doesn't
3:12
ever really work and i think if this came out in the late 80s early 90s i honestly think it would be a
3:20
classic. Oh yeah. I would have, I would have definitely eaten Flicks pizza and watched this with
3:26
my brother at age like 14. Like this was definitely something I would have found at the video
3:30
store and watched over and over and over. I was going to say this is one of those things where
3:35
someone rents as a joke and you're like, I don't know about that. And then you just watch it
3:40
week after week after week. Well, with a movie that kicks off the way it does
3:45
How could you not be engrossed right away? Which leads into my next question
3:53
When's the last time you saw so much superfluous nudity into movie
4:00
I mean, not in a while. Not a while. It has to be since those 80 sex comedies, right
4:07
It seems like... Absolutely. Oh, this is Frankenhooker levels of nudity. and full frontal
4:17
And it is not the first shot, full frontal nudity of a woman who..
4:21
Very first shot. The very first shot. Next to a fully closed man
4:29
And I know that's a particular kink for some people. No kink shame
4:33
But it was, it took me off guard. And I think I text you, I was like
4:37
off to great stars. So, yeah. It jumps in with both feet
4:44
It all, also, though, that first opening scene, it's almost, well, I say that, but it's exactly what the rest of the movie is going to be
4:54
I mean the climax is they kind of give you a taste of it right there But I sure you going to talk about how the movie kind of takes a different turn right at the beginning It does And you know what I liked about this movie or at the beginning it does set you up because a name like Russell Massacre a cover like Russell Massacre you know it going to be a particular type of movie
5:16
But it can easily be the wrong kind of bad. But when you, the second it starts, you're like, okay, I know where this is ended
5:24
I think I might like this. You know, it's the exact same opening to the first thing's killing, actually
5:30
Is it really? Yeah, yeah. Because the turkey's chasing the pilgrim, the female pilgrim, and then her top falls off
5:40
And then he makes the crude comment about her boobs and proceeds to the killer
5:47
So, okay, so plot-wise. So this movie sets you up to be, it's going to be sheer brutality
5:53
Yeah. It doesn't quite work out like that. actually. What did you think of the pacing of this movie? Weird, weird pacing, much slower
6:04
than it sets up to be. It's actually, it actually kind of tries to give you this sympathetic story
6:12
of this, of Randy. Ritchie Acevedo. Randy is a gardener on hire with a like a gardening group
6:21
I guess or whatever. And you kind of get this, he's kind of in love with one of his clients, I guess
6:28
I'm sure. I sure. He actually is. He is, he is. Because he's constantly talk
6:34
You're right. He is in love with her. Yeah, I forget her name. She's weird. He's not
6:39
Becky. In one moment, she's like trying to be nice to him. And the next moment she's talking mad shit about him
6:43
It's weird. I get why he goes on a killing spree. And one moment, she's saying, yeah, you have permission to kick my boyfriend in the balls
6:50
the next moment she's complaining about what a creepy is. Yeah, and they do try to give you a moment of like
6:56
yeah, Randy maybe isn't like the best guy. He is kind of a creep. But, yeah, I did not expect it to be like this character building first
7:05
Well, it's like a while, half hour, 40 minutes. It's a good three quarters of the movie is
7:11
So the opening, he's full, born crazy. And now that I'm thinking about it
7:16
I'm not sure where that quite happens in the timeline of the movie. I was hoping you would bring that up
7:21
I have no idea in which because there's, I don't even understand I guess there is a moment where he would have had
7:27
to travel to that one house and maybe that was through the woods. Yeah, I guess
7:31
Okay, it doesn't matter. I guess it does. Like, I'm actually, it was so irrelevant
7:37
that I'm just realizing right now that it makes no sense. I did. So it starts off with this, you know
7:44
face ripping full frontal nudity scene. and then throat rip and then
7:51
legs are torn off limbs are torn off because I think I told you
7:55
it's the second time in three days I saw on some the other time
8:01
being scare package check it out that's out today something maybe it is
8:06
it's a yeah it's here tomorrow and it's good but but this movie
8:11
this movie this movie is actually better but this one it starts off with
8:17
this, you know, crazy scene. And then it tells you four days later. So you know that you're getting some character building
8:23
But you're right. It's kind of methodical. And it's patient. It is
8:28
And then the other thing that it does is a bizarre choice in writing and directing
8:35
It's to introduce a quasi-hero about halfway, two-thirds. It's not later, but earliest halfway in
8:47
Yes. Yeah. And so all of the character, you're given, okay, his heart's desire. You're given her boyfriend who's a Fabio joke
8:59
A complete Fabio joke. Yeah, he's multiple Fabio jokes. Multiple Fabio jokes
9:04
And then we get, I guess we get the construction crew and the other people he's working with
9:11
But predominantly we're worried about the douchebag boyfriend and the girl and the quasi-hero
9:17
I guess. Yeah, I guess the main characters are obviously Randy. It's mostly Randi
9:23
It's Randy. It's his story. Yes. He wants to be a wrestler
9:28
He ends up wanting to be a wrestler. Yeah, he wants to be a wrestler
9:32
Because his dad was a wrestler. His dad was a wrestler. Who is one of the many people who taunt him and learn their lesson
9:39
Right. In an amazing scene in which he, no spoilers, but he leaves his dad looking very
9:47
comfortable to me. Is that just lounging in a chair? It's one of the most peaceful scenes I've ever seen
9:55
Oh I like I want to sleep like that If that how I go out that how I look at it It looks really good Played by the great Nikolai Volkov
10:06
Yeah, absolutely. Lots of, thanks to you, I got to notice of these guys
10:10
Lots of old-time Russell cameos in this. Yeah, old time we have for you wrestling fans out
10:15
Nikolize in there. The Boogie Wogie Man, Jimmy Valiant, Raging Bull, Manny Friend, Aziz
10:20
Tony Atlas, one of only three men to cleanly pin Hulk Hogan in the 80s
10:24
Who are the other two? Andre the Giant in 81 and Ultimate Warrior in 91
10:35
So it's only too many in the 80s. He gave Ultimate Warrior one, did they
10:40
Ultimate Warrior gave one, yeah. Ultimate Warrior got the clean win. Much like Randy
10:47
Yeah, much like. Well, he was a little dirty. He was. He was not good
10:52
He was not good. No, not at all. Not at all. So this movie, it's kind of a character study
11:01
There's really only a few main characters. There's Randy. There's Becky. There's kind of Owen
11:07
There's the hero who now that I'm thinking about and we're talking, I'm thinking maybe has 10, 15 minutes tops of screen time in this
11:14
Yeah. And everyone else is just fodder. Yeah. And that's it. It's set up to be assholes that he destroys
11:22
That you destroy. So how would you rate this? We talked about B movies
11:28
How would you say this rates with other B movies? It's like the bottom of the barrel
11:35
But in a way that is so fun. Like this movie, I like when people make movies that they know
11:43
are going to be a certain way. And they just kind of lean into it
11:47
Like there's lots of moments in this movie where you can tell
11:52
Randy forgot his lines or great or maybe they don't have lighting
11:59
you know or stuff like that and what you're saying is not that the lighting
12:05
is poor that there's literally no lights there's actually no lights as in the audience
12:11
has no idea what's going on correct there's just scenes that make no sense but
12:19
And the whole time, it's just like you're sitting there, you're laughing, you're never taking it seriously
12:27
And so it's, it's just super fun the whole time, you know
12:31
So as I say bottom of the barrel, I mean that in the best way possible
12:35
Just like the movie, Killing Spree is a perfect example of a movie like this
12:40
Or like I said, like redneck zombies or anything. It's almost like they shot it on one camera or they had a couple cameras
12:47
You know, like they only had a couple cameras. Three crew, you know, the dude's mom did all the food for everybody
12:53
Like that kind of thing. Exactly, she made the bologna sandwiches for the castor. This movie is probably better than any B movie of recent times
13:02
I think it's better than that bird demic movie. I've seen a lot of like four movies that have come out
13:07
A loss of pastor. Yeah, it's better than any Shark Nato movie
13:11
I can tell you that right now. The first one's okay, but from there they draw it
13:15
It's way better than the best Shark Nato. I mentioned just all the nudity
13:21
So much. It's surprising because nowadays you get nudity and it's kind of tasteful
13:27
Either that or it does make sense in the, in like a Red Sparrow, which I recently saw when it came out
13:33
Lots of nudity, but it made sense because she used sex as a weapon. In this, it's just out there
13:39
There's no reason for it. This is absolute. Absolutely whatever you were going to say is
13:48
Correct. I was going to say, this absolutely could have been on any cable television network, but they decided to add off. For no reason, they just threw these scenes in
13:57
Absolutely. There's literally a scene where he's watching a woman in the shower for an extended period of time. There's a female nipple rip scene
14:07
Straight out of the 80s, by the straight out of the 80s. Oh, I mean, the Italian, old Italian horror guys would have loved that
14:15
Yeah. And let's talk about the gore, actually. So the gore, while it's inconsistent, is pretty good for the most part
14:26
It's good. So a lot of times you watch older movies and you're like, okay, I got to look at it through like the modern lens
14:33
You cut it some breaks. In this, you know, low budget, so you want to cut it some breaks
14:39
Even with whatever minuscule budget they were working, there's some pretty good effects in this
14:44
Like they absolutely loved whoever they had to do, the face peel
14:48
stuff. They really like that because they have multiple scenes of that
14:52
Multiple and head smashes, like a cranial crush. There a really good cranial crush later in the movie where they show like the bottom half of the jaw You can see a tongue sticking out Yeah that was a good one Yeah It leads me to believe that it like have you ever seen that movie with the chrome skull
15:10
I forget that it's like called Death of Wades or so. I forget the name of the movie. But the director is a special effects guy
15:17
And kind of a, you know, kind of a B movie like this. Better production for sure
15:22
But I kind of get that same vibe. I kind of get like the maybe the director, everybody involved
15:26
is maybe that's kind of what they do professionally. Maybe not making movies
15:31
Well, they're definitely into horror because the director's previous work is Mills versus Zombies
15:37
On the list. He has a particular genre and theme that he likes to stick with
15:43
So, you know, we're kind of joking around about the effects and the lighting and the sound
15:48
and the poor acting. I think I know the answer to this, but I'll throw it out there
15:53
Did any of that at any point ever take you? out of what did it ruin the enjoyment
15:58
for you? Oh no, it added 100% added to it. Randy missing lines. I mean just the
16:04
whole like it felt like they were just like, all right, next scene
16:08
All right, film it, cut it, cut it and print it. Like Ed Wood, like I just, no
16:12
it added to it. It was like I said, this is for a very specific audience. I think me and you
16:18
Pat. But it's, it's, no, I loved it. I loved it. If it were
16:24
any better, If it were 1% better, it would suck. Like, it needed
16:31
So good to say, yeah. It needed to have that level. Like, people throw around a lot now, like, oh, it's so bad, it's good
16:39
And the movie we saw a few weeks back that with the musicians in California
16:44
tell me I love you. That was bad, not this kind of bad
16:49
It's to be so bad that you go full circle to be not just watchable, must see
16:55
that's a special kind of that. It really is. It's like Chico's tacos, man
17:01
It's the Chico's tacos. No one's going to get that. No one's going to understand that
17:07
So where would you rank? Although we've seen the Wolfhouse and we've seen
17:12
I will make you mine. We've seen comedies, dramas, documentaries, a little bit of everything
17:17
Where would you rate this amongst everything? Because it's near the top of my list
17:20
if not at the top. Yeah. So I guess something that I've just been
17:24
I've just been realizing about this whole project is I really just want to be entertained
17:30
I really just want to sit there and laugh or just I want to have feelings whether there be like gaffa or I want to be entertained
17:40
And this was one of the most entertaining things I've seen not only this year in quite a while
17:46
It was highly entertaining. This is right up at the top of the list with driveways
17:54
That's total opposite of this and then total opposite of what we're planning on seeing for the next time
18:04
So final thoughts you have on Russell Massacre and is it opening day
18:11
Do you rent it? Do you wait to stream? Completely ignore. Oh, opening day
18:17
Opening day. Drop money on it. Give these people money. I want more movies like this from people making movies
18:24
like this. So opening day, final thoughts. Expect trash. Expect low quality
18:32
Expect to be highly entertained. This is an absolute must-see opening day movie
18:41
Give them money, but put a little bit, put a note on there. Here's money. Do not spend it on making movies. Please don't put any money into your
18:49
put it in your pocket and do whatever you want with it. Pay rent. Pay that rent
18:52
Pay your rent. Don't buy new equipment. Don't get better. Don't get better actors. Don't do any of that
18:59
Bring everybody back, actually. Yeah, exactly. Don't hire editors. Don't do anything differently
19:05
Whatever ideas you have going on in your head, that's what you need to do
19:10
If you guys don't believe myself or Blake, if you think we're a little biased about it
19:15
maybe we're not the most subjective people. It's on video on demand right now. Check it out
19:20
Every week you could hear us here on YouTube. You can see us here on YouTube also
19:26
We cover anything whether it's Russell Massacre, whether it's an animated documentary or an animated film
19:35
something like driveways, maybe something with a little bit of music. We'll do it off
19:40
You got any suggestions for us. Send them our way. Put it in the comments
19:44
We will check it out. Want anything that you can think of for us to look at
19:50
We'll do it. it. Thank you very much. Like you this, subscribe, I think is what Danny says. It is what he says
19:58
And we will talk to you next week. Adios, everybody
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