ASTRON-6

So, as the front cover asks, "What the @#+! Is ASTRON-6"?

After a little digging, I discovered that it was originally the brainchild of budding filmmakers Adam Brooks and Jeremy Gillespie. Their Canada-based film production company was founded in 2007 and quickly grew to also include fellow short film directors Matt Kennedy, Conor Sweeney and Steven Kotanski. The quintet have since made it their purpose to make short comedy horror movies under this obscure banner, in the style of – for the most part - the 1980s at their campest.

It makes perfect sense, then, that this compilation of some of their choicest offerings should come to region-free DVD courtesy of Troma. The guys are, after all, also responsible for the soon to be released Troma-distributed feature film FATHER’S DAY.

Disc one of this formidable set presents no less than nine films.

The first of these is "Cool Guys". This 28-minute effort opens with geeks Alex and Rick sunbathing on the roof of their apartment, bemoaning the fact that there are no chicks there. Suddenly they hit upon the idea of going to the beach and ring their mate Murphy for a lift.

Cue lots of bronzed babes and close-ups of ample cleavages on the beach. Yep, these boys have a fun time there – for a while. Just when you think this isn’t going to amount to more than an amiable but daft throwback to early John Cusack flicks, the ante is upped after a drink and drugs party results in the trio of fuck-ups finding a dead woman, caked in blood, in their apartment.

Silly but well-intended and benefitting from performances as bright as the sun-kissed photography, "Cool Guys" is absurdly entertaining.

"H.I.Z." is 26 minutes long and carries the subtitle ‘Erection Der Zombie’. Based on a summer camp on Ena Lake, it tells the tale of horny teenagers who attend the camp to get closer to nature – and one another.

Fucking and partying are the order of the day until a military-made virus spreads to the camp and our wise-cracking jock teens turn into flesh-eating zombies with deformed genitalia. Despite the Italian titles and grindhouse-style grain, this plays like a raucous mix of SLITHER, THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and CABIN FEVER. Some PORKYS-style humour and affably cruddy gore FX will keep you smiling throughout.

"Punch Out" bills itself as a coming of age drama in the old John Hughes tradition. While the fashions and music do superbly evoke the early 80s era of Hughes’ most influential films, this 28-minute effort gets by on smart one-liners, heaps of cheesy style and the enjoyable gimmick of a nerd who discovers a love for taking punches to his face following an altercation with his loud-mouthed father.

Next up is another throwback to the distressed aesthetics of 1970s grindhouse films, with rape revenge drama "You’re Dead". The look is authentic and the action brisk in this 6-minute film; it’s more downbeat than the other stuff on offer, and is very well done (listen out for snippets of Riz Ortolani’s CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST score too).

"Insanophenia" further demonstrates the group’s versatility by venturing into the realm of stop-motion animation. Its 10 minutes of surreal mayhem, detailing the exploits of two exterminators and their masked, sex-crazed boss. Mixing live action with some unexpectedly effective animation, this starts off wacky and gets ... bizarre. For all its manic comedy, this is also surprisingly dark – and nasty, in its own way.

The 9-minute "Sebastian and Alan" purports to be based on true events. Again, it takes us back to the battered look of grindhouse movies as a father and son drive along a lonely highway one evening before spying a hitch-hiker and picking them up with the intention of killing them.

The dialogue seems improvised here and gives the action a rambling disposition which means this lacks the bite of the other shorts on offer. Still, it has atmosphere to spare.

A mock 4-minute commercial called "Kris Miss" follows. In it, two male hosts caked in fake tan advertise the talents of the titular character – a kindly woman who will look after single guys’ kids over the festive period. This has Troma written all over it...

"Heart of Karl" returns to the claymation as Kostanski directs with muted colours and various filming techniques making this an interesting but impenetrable 13 minutes of style over substance.

Finally, a 3-minute music video for Darkhouse’s "Haunted" closes proceedings. Astron-6 regular Meredith Sweeney gets carved up and becomes the object of a necrophiliac’s attentions in this stylish, ambient mini-film.

"Haunted", "Sebastian and Alan" and "Kris Miss" are all presented in 16x9 format. All other films on disc one come windowboxed in non-anamorphic widescreen. Picture quality is always generally good, but does differ between films in terms of sharpness, brightness etc. Most instances of softness or damage are completely intentional on an experimental/stylised bent.

English 2.0 audio is reliable throughout.

Over on disc two, the fun continues with nine more bite-sized slices of madness.

"Fireman" is a mock 2-minute grindhouse trailer about a psychotic, axe-wielding fireman. Bits of it rip off HALLOWEEN and THE BURNING shamelessly but there’s no denying that this is an extremely accurate homage to the Golden Age of slasher flicks. I enjoyed it immensely, despite the crude narration.

"Laser Ghosts 2" finds Kennedy as a jaded scientist who must wage war against Einstein’s apparition in a bid to save mankind. A lot of effort has gone into this well-edited, eerily truthful 9-minute evocation of 80s sci-fi tripe such as TRANCERS and ELIMINATORS (with a clear nod to THE TERMINATOR midway through). It didn’t really float my boat as much as the other films in this set, but at least I got what they were doing.

"Siam I Am" is a 12-minute demonstration of what would’ve happened if the Farrelly Brothers’ STUCK ON YOU had focused more on murder, and less on exposing Matt Damon as a talentless comedian.

Meanwhile, the nonsensical "Inferno of the Dead" repeats the gimmick of foreign opening titles and a score which echoes CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, before launching into a breathless 9-minute moulding of BURIAL GROUND and "South Park".

Claiming to be the first ever slasher film, "Ena Lake Blues" plays out in monochrome as a silent movie with twee music accompaniment and occasional intertitles. It’s very cleverly done, further proving the dextrous prowess of the Astron-6 collective. But watching this 10-minute curiosity once is enough for me.

"Nobodies" follows two wannabe filmmakers through the tribulations of making their latest no-budget movie. This quite engaging comedy is of a slightly more laid-back manner: it makes for a good 27-minute watch.

Next up is "Ghost Killers", a daft blend of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and TV’s ‘Most Haunted’. Again, it’s technically impressive and clearly made with a love for the craft. This one is 10 minutes in length.

"Fat Adam" is a monochrome animation of less than 2 minutes in length. It’s mildly amusing.

"Goreblade" pieces together four episodes of a fictional series, which seems to borrow from stuff like THE BEASTMASTER, HAWK THE SLAYER, TV’s ‘Monkey’ and more. It’s terrible, but in a knowing way. Bad gags, cheesy FX and laughably dumb fight scenes give this one an agreeable energy over its 9-minute running time.

Again, most of the films on disc two are windowboxed in non-anamorphic widescreen. In fact, the only short that was 16x9 enhanced was "Nobodies".

As with disc one, the video and 2.0 audio quality were sound throughout.

I went into this set with low expectations. I’d not heard of Astron-6 before and the fact that Troma were championing them didn’t really count for much: no offence to Troma, but they seem willing to endorse anything that farts and/or has tits.

As it happens, this collection boasts a welcome balance of cinematic flair, energetic performances and scripts that bounce with comic acuity.

A lot of the humour is puerile, certainly, but unless you’re immune to the type of gags made famous by the Zucker or Farrelly Brothers, then there really shouldn’t be an issue here. All references to horror movies are done with a similar sharpness, and refreshingly they have that same warm fondness that we witnessed in, say, SHAUN OF THE DEAD. These guys aren’t ripping the piss out of the genre: they’re fans themselves.

Stylistically, the collective are surprisingly fluid in their visions which allows for consistency where I’d expected none. Images are well framed and lit, editing is adroit and comedy performances – from the directors themselves, with a little help from their friends – are bright, confident and funny.

Haters of no-budget fare may balk at the digital look to some of the material, but a great deal of it looks far better than it rightfully should: these guys have talent, and I’m keen to see what they do next.

Extras on disc one begin with a confused introduction from Lloyd Kaufman, who manages to sneak in a name-check for Guy Maddin (THE BLUE HANDS) amid the tomfoolery. This runs for just under 2 minutes.

We also get a 4-minute trailer for the upcoming FATHER’S DAY, which looks like it’s going to be fun in the same manner as these shorts. I’m looking forward to it.

Over on disc two, the bonus fun begins with a 44-second promo clip for FATHER’S DAY from naked, shaven model Jasmine.

A photo gallery for FATHER’S DAY follows (Troma are really keen to plug this film, no?).

Well, the Astron-6 do actually have another feature film to their name: MANBORG. Happily, we get a 40-second trailer for this too. It looks fantastic, like a really corny mix of "Power Rangers", DEATHSTALKER and BLADE RUNNER. I need this film in my life.

"Karl" is a 7-minute stop-motion film shot in black-and-white, the finest moment of which is the HP Lovecraft quote at the start. Nice techno score though.

"Addiction is Murder" is a 21-minute film made by Brooks prior to the formation of ASTRON-6.

Next we have special messages from Uwe Boll and the aforementioned Maddin. These are both brief (little over a minute each) and tongue in cheek. The Maddin one reeks of ERASERHEAD, in a good way.

A 2-minute Easter Egg entitled "Adam’s Birthday" should perhaps remain unseen, however...

Both discs are filled out with an array of commentary tracks from the co-directors, behind-the-scenes galleries for most films, the occasional Making Of videos and even trailers for some of them. Odds and sods crop up for individual titles too, such as a ‘bonus’ Spanish track for "Fireman". Absurd, but it’s here all the same...

There is an abundance of talent on display throughout these short films. Give these guys a decent budget and an even better script – rein them in, in other words – and they could produce something quite brilliant.

For the curious and adventurous, I’d recommend this extremely generous set.

Review by Stuart Willis