Year released: 2006
THE CHARGE: Hiding brightly colored painted eggs... of DEATH.
THE EVIDENCE: Today, Film Verdicts continues its recent foray into the world of holiday horror. There have been plenty of horror movies centered around holidays: Halloween, Black Christmas, My Bloody Valentine... heck, there have been no less than two horror films centered around Mother’s Day. But to my knowledge, no one has tackled a fright flick that takes place on Easter (unless you count Mel Gibson’s religious splatter flick The Passion of the Christ). It’s a bit surprising, considering the holiday’s major theme of resurrection of the dead. But Easter hasn’t quite turned the corner from a religious holiday to a secular one and the thought of a gorefest centered around a holy day is still considered taboo to some.
Well, Chad Ferrin is obviously not a guy who thinks something can’t be done just because it hasn’t been done before. I’ve previously witnessed his unique psycho-terror trip Someone’s Knocking at the Door and decided to check out one of his earlier offerings done on an even lower budget: Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! It was made three years before Someone's Knocking and it shows, but it also shows flashes of brilliance that would be expanded on in his later film.
Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! - easily one of the greatest titles in B-movie history - centers around Mindy, a nurse and single mom caring for her teenage special needs son, Nicholas. When Mindy is called to pull a double shift at the hospital, her new boyfriend Remington offers to watch Nicholas while she’s gone. But before the opening credits even rolled, Remington robbed a convenience store and killed the clerk while wearing an Easter bunny mask to hide his identity. And his idea of babysitting consists of bringing hookers to the house for a coke party and inviting a creepy pedophile to take care of Nicholas while it goes on. Fortunately for Nicholas, there seems to be a killer hiding in the house and using Remington’s bunny mask while dispatching anyone who so much as thinks of doing something evil.
What's up, doc?
The film’s twisted morality is actually quite refreshing, and a throwback to early slasher flicks like Friday the 13th, where it was the bad kids who were usually the killer’s targets. Nicholas is never in any danger from the killer here, who acts more like a guardian angel than a deranged psychopath. And while the movie occasionally veers toward some nasty 70s-style grindhouse moments - a scene involving the pedophile made me particularly uncomfortable - director Ferrin has the good sense to pull back before things get too nasty.
Oh, don’t worry. There’s still lots of gore to go around here. After a somewhat awkwardly paced beginning to set up all the characters, plenty of power tools and sharp instruments poke, slice and mutilate flesh every few minutes throughout the second half of the film. And while most of it happens in darkened sets - always a surefire way to hide a movie’s low budget - there’s also considerable style to the mayhem. Overlapping film exposures, intentionally sudden auditory shifts and crackerjack editing all contribute to give the latter half of Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! a truly nightmarish feel.
...and he will love him and hug him and pet him and call him George.
I’d also like to make special mention of some the acting that, while not award-winning caliber, is surprisingly effective. Timothy Muskatell as the immoral Remington looks and acts a bit like a cross between Ron Jeremy and Brian O’Halloran (Dante “I wasn’t even supposed to be here today” Hicks from Clerks). David Stamp’s portrayal of the creepy pedophile really made my skin crawl. And Ricardo Gray’s performance as Nicholas may seem over the top at first, but I watched this film with someone who has worked with developmentally disabled individuals and she wondered if the actor was actually mentally challenged! (He’s not.)
I’d be lying if I said Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! was perfect b-movie entertainment, but its blend of grindhouse exploitation with its eye for art-house detail makes it a satisfying watch. And I think I can safely say it’s the best “holiday slasher flick in which the killer dresses like a bunny” movie that I’ve ever seen.
THE VERDICT: Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! is NOT GUILTY of ham-fisted holiday hopelessness, but rather a glorious regression to gruesome days of grindhouse.
