Homicycle

A chain-smoking William Castle-esque producer kicks off Homicycle with a funny caveat involving an insurance policy should you drop dead from watching the film (“the policy’s useless if it’s a pre-existing condition!” Ha!)

After an auspicious, cheeky start, Homicycle, a loving tribute to the likes of 1985’s Nail Gun Massacre, skids off the highway and it should be said you’re more likely to die from boredom than fright.

Now, we’re partial to the motorcycle killer genre and even ran a poll on this very site, “who’s your favorite motorcycle helmet-clad killer?” (options being: Nail Gun Massacre, R.O.T.O.R, Night School and Hide and Seek). Homicycle draws its inspiration from the Magnum Entertainment-distributed Nail Gun Massacre, an exploitation horror written and directed by Texas stuntman Terry Lofton, who began his career working on The Dukes of Hazzard. So far so good. Let’s just say that a tribute to this odd subset of the vigilante genre is something we were revved up to see.

But this is your standard shredded shoestring budget Brett Kelly production: to wit, loads of love, humor and cheek and unfortunately, not matched by funds required to truly carry out his vision (we’ve seen My Fair Zombie, Raiders of the Lost Shark and Spyfall and as we said in prior review if you’ll permit us to quote ourselves: “Gotta admire his chutzpah. Making any Canadian film is a tough go at the best of times…”)

There’s an evil villain Brock (Peter Whittaker) whose sinister henchmen shake down poor shopkeeps while uttering lines like: “You can’t get blood from a stone, but I can get blood from you!” And his men (and frequently women) are taken out by the mysterious, titular character, who in the first scene saves a hooker from a vicious beating, rather than taking revenge on construction workers after a violent assault as in Nail Gun.

It should be said that there’s a terrific office shootout, an inspired toilet plunger kill and a wonderful set piece involving a rather shitty rock band that’s era-true.

Someone get this man a bigger budget and let’s see what he can do.

**1/2 (out of 5)