By Geno McGahee
If you grew up and witnessed the rise and fall of the mom and pop video store, you are really going to appreciate VIDEO VIOLENCE. It has that 1980’s straight to video horror look and it really captures that special time. It had one check in its favor immediately.
Steven Emory (Art Neill) and his wife, Rachel (Jackie Neill) move into a new town, buying a video store. The town people seem strange and then something very disturbing happens. Steve and his employee, Rick (Kevin Haver), find a VHS tape without any markings on it. Out of curiosity, they watch it, and it’s a snuff film. Steven runs to the police and when he brings the Sheriff (Joseph Kordos) back to the store, Rick is missing and so is the tape. The Sheriff also seems to be impatient and unwilling to believe him.
Another tape shows up…this time, it’s the tape of Rick being murdered. Steven takes the tape down to the sheriff and he accidentally tapes over it…but Steven doesn’t consider it accidental and it wasn’t. There is a murderous conspiracy going on in town.
There is a demand for murder on tape and it’s being satisfied by some of the townspeople. Steven is trying to figure it out, but he doesn’t know who to trust. Everyone is suspect and the closer that he gets to solving the mystery, the more dangerous it gets.
VIDEO VIOLENCE has a lot of good things going for it. It’s got a great look, it’s creepy and suspenseful at times, but the torture scenes with the two killers slow down the movie dramatically. The killers are annoying and far from interesting. Neill does a great job in this film. He really tells the story and is a stand out, but once you get into it, we have the two killers and they lose it.
In the end, I recommend VIDEO VIOLENCE. It has a great look and a great story. If you can get beyond some of the bad acting and the death scenes that drag on forever, you will probably like this movie. I did.
Rating: 6/10 – I want video stores to come back!
