Home Sick

Bill Moseley portrays the Suitcase Man, who crashes a party of twenty somethings and asks each of them, who is one person they hate and would like to see dead. His suitcase is full of razor blades, btw. Pretty upset that old Suitcase stopped in and a little scared, they all give him a name, but one guy makes the mistake of naming the whole bunch at the party should die (the guy is an idiot, and was just being a dick). Soooooooo, not only do the people they named start to end up in ultra gory deaths, but the whole group is now under siege from a creepy superhuman death machine. This is a film that could have been made by Herschell Gordon Lewis, and would be a gore classic. The gore effects are pretty cheap, but effective, and the story is pretty original. After several deaths have all ready occurred, the head goofball, decides the best place for the survivors to go to fight off the killer, is with Uncle Johnny (Tom Towles) who is a chili connoisseur, and also has a house full of many many weapons. This is a seventies style slasher movie, but with a real attitude, and way over the top on just about every level. All I can say, is "Home Sick" could have been a Masters of Horror 2-part episode, and might have been the best one. Very very gross, extremely and I mean extremely gory, and a good sense of humour that gives a wink and a nod to gorehounds. Take a look at the reviews at IMDb, and they all pretty much agree with me, that this is a must-have. Although Moseley's role is pretty small, he is highly effective in his usually creepy self. But most of the kudos go to Tom Towles, in one of his best and funniest roles ever. If you don't like small independent productions operating on a shoestring, but making the most out of every nickel, you should probably stay away, because this is for the fans that consider H G Lewis, the Godfather of Gore, and would love see more of his brand of gore films. "Home Sick" is his brand of gore, and mine too.

The DVD is great, and has a commentary which I expect to watch tonight. It should be a hoot.

I really enjoyed this movie. I thought the cinematography was pretty stunning as well. I didn't understand the whole movie at a few parts,so I think editing could have been a little better, but it was still a great film. I was really impressed with Mosley's performance, as always, as well as Lindley Evans who appears to be a newbie. Hope we see more of her. I'll finish in saying that I saw it at a film festival, but I haven't heard much about it since, which is somewhat of a disappointment. I'd like to know when and where it will be available. Does anyone know?

Edited for length

If it's a dose of graphic old school gore you're after then Home Sick, with its regular and excessive scenes of non-CGI carnage, definitely delivers the goods: feet are sliced, heads are crushed, fingernails are torn out, teeth are smashed in, bodies are cleaved in two.

It's the stuff between the splatter that takes the film down a notch or two.

Writer E.L. Katz and director Adam Wingard have taken an offbeat approach with their storytelling, and the cast perform accordingly, putting in some decidedly strange performances; the result is a head-scratchingly bizarre movie at times, equal parts sadistic horror, wacky splat-stick, low-brow comedy, and avant-garde art-house weirdness, an awkward mixture that is certainly memorable, but not always that easy to digest.

Bill Moseley hams it up as a creepy stranger with a suitcase full of razor blades; Tiffany Shepis rolls around manically in her dead mother's blood; Tom Towles slaps his thighs as his son and his friends play with an assortment of firearms: occasionally the silliness works, but at other times it's just too eccentric for its own good.

Home Sick is worth watching simply for all the lovely red stuff—and Shepis getting her norks out (again)—but it's certainly not for everyone.

I was extremely surprised to see how well done Home Sick was. Not only as a horror film, but in its presentation and its development as any film. Adam Wingard is a young director and you can tell a huge horror and film fan. This film will give you an idea of how great a fairly low budget film can be. I went in thinking it would be more of a thriller. I was thrilled to find out it was a true slasher gore fest. I was laughing uncontrollably. The movie was packed with great special effects and once the story develops, it is a real fun and entertaining film. The cinematography and sound effects were also really impressive. I can't wait to see what this team of filmmakers will come up with next. I really believe Home Sick is a truly entertaining and well done horror film.

An enigmatic and seemingly psychotic stranger (Bill Moseley) crashes a home-coming get together among some friends in Alabama. Brandishing a suitcase full of razorblades, he demands that everyone at the party give him the name of someone that they truly despise, which they very reluctantly do, but when they people named begin to die the friends become fearful for their own lives because one of them made a flippant comment at the party. Now they have to come up with a plan to survive, with the help of a chili-loving redneck gun enthusiast (Tom Towles).

Aside from Moseley and Towles, the acting from most of the others is pretty dire (Especially Matt Lero as Timmy, who seems content to channel Eric Freeman's 'acting chops' as Ricky from Silent Night Deadly Night 2). However this is easily overlooked as the movie is more or less just so much gory, weird fun and left me impressed.

Eye Candy: XZanthia and an extra get topless and make out; Tiffany Shepis also loses her shirt

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Commentary with Director Adam Wingard and writer/ producer E. L. Katz; deleted opening sequence; Bill Mosley interview segment; 'In a room where darkness counts' featurette; and 3 short films ("the Girlfriend", "1,000 year sleep" & "Laura Panic")