BINGE AND PURGE

Yet another offering of interesting low-budget grue from those thoughtful folks at Sub Rosa …!

After a brief pre-credits montage of black-and-white war footage (and a nifty scene in which director Brian Clement cameos as a cannibalistic Spanish soldier), we are immediately placed in the back of a police car - listening in on the conversation between two jaded officers.

We learn that due to an increased number of terrorist attacks, North America has been transformed into a Police State. Consequently the cops no longer concern themselves with trivialities such as civil rights - "can you remember a time when we used to have to get a search warrant for this kind of thing?"(breaking and entering into an apartment), and so on.

It soon transpires that these cops are looking into the disappearance of an aspiring young glamour model. Guns at the ready, the lawmen come unstuck when they stumble across the young lady in her darkened apartment - snacking on the innards of a male friend!

Due to the ensuing disturbance, the police chief is alerted to the scene of the crime and is perturbed when three ex-cops now working as private investigators also answer to the call. They take control of the situation immediately and bravely enter the apartment, while their uniformed former colleagues wait on the streets. When they find the two cops chowing down on fresh intestines, it seems like quite a case for the intrepid trio to take on …

Next, we are introduced to a group of flat-sharing girls who like to drink, smoke, fuck … and occasionally venture out on a night and pick up men to slaughter for food. Hmm, these scenes are VERY reminiscent of DEAD CREATURES, albeit crueller in their execution (the bathtub castration scene is unapologetic; the cannibalism scenes are very thorough!).

Our detective heroes are assigned to the case by the corrupt police chief (Chuck Depape), and soon learn of a spate of similar cannibalistic killings having recently occurred.

Eventually, all leads point toward a group of young models working for the enigmatic fashion designer Karl Helfringer (Gareth Gaudin) - but not before a fast-paced succession of gore-laced set-pieces have accelerated the pace of this highly involving sleaze-fest!

Throats are slashed, cocks are chopped off, guts are spilled, girls giggle amongst themselves as they share a banquet of raw intestines, people are shot left right and centre … and just wait for the scene where one character (Rob Nesbitt) bites out a man's throat, then pukes on his face - the acid of his vomit dissolving the guy's visage to a bloody pulp - then feasts enthusiastically on the gory facial remains!! Yes, BINGE AND PURGE delivers in the gore stakes. In spades!

But were this an exercise in effectively conceived gore-on-a-budget, it would be a nice distraction but nothing more. Thankfully, there's more to BINGE AND PURGE than it's abundance of the red stuff.

Political debates about the validity of the beliefs of the Nazis; characters designed to exemplify fascism at it's worst; numerous script and plot references to the exploitation of young models; serious discussion centred around the media's obsession with celebrity diets and wafer-thin models … BINGE AND PURGE has it's heart in the right place and is obviously keen to make a few statements about the fashion world and a generation of hopelessly vain youths being manipulated by a cynical media in general. It works on these levels, and to acknowledge these aspects of Clement's script would be doing the film a major disservice.

Visually, the film is very well edited and Clement utilises a lot of cinematic tricks to overcome his video sources and obvious budgetary limitations. Each scene is visually interesting, whether it be due to interesting lighting, awkward angles, forays into black-and-white, speeded-up film or slow-motion sequences.

The music is provided by Justin Hagberg and ranges from bland background techno tracks, to much more satisfying eerie echoes. Overall, it's a nice ambient effort that complements the film's intriguing visual style perfectly.

Clement's direction has improved too, and is highly stylised and competent here (he previously made the MEAT MARKET films).

In fact, the worst thing about this film is it's fucking awful title.

The full-frame picture (original aspect ratio) is presented well on Sub Rosa's disc. Images are a little dark, but this a fair transfer of the original source elements.

Audio-wise, no complaints. It's English 2.0 and does it's job without faltering.

As always, Sub Rosa excel in the extras department.

The commentary track finds director Brian Clement in conversation with a few female cast members, and as such is an enjoyably light-hearted stream of information and anecdotes. Better than average.

Two deleted scenes are just as stylish and colourful as the main feature, but don't add much to be honest. An interesting addition to the disc, nonetheless. A text disclaimer explains that they were cut from the film for pacing reasons.

The outtakes segment lasts about 4 minutes and concentrates largely on the preparation for the FX work. It's mildly diverting.

Two video featurettes are included - one on the pin-up photo shoot, and the other focusing on the film's downmarket premiere.

There's a plethora of trailers here - not only for BINGE AND PURGE, but other Sub Rosa fare too: SCRAPBOOK; ICE FROM THE SUN; THE UNDERTOW; SAVAGE HARVEST; INSANIAC; MEAT MARKET; MEAT MARKET 2.

Finally, a comprehensive stills gallery rounds off the extras in the well-worn but reliable DVD manner.

The disc is Region 0 NTSC, has static menu pages (including access to 12 chapters) and comes in a keepcase packaging.

Gory, intelligent, fun. And with a helluva lot of extras. Recommended!

Review by Stuart Willis