With its cheesy, gravelly voice-over (provided by Jim 'Deadbeat at Dawn' Van Bebber), Alex Chandon's 32-minute short Drillbit feels much like a calling card to generate interest in (and funding for) a much longer feature length film; as such, it's pretty chaotic stuff, keen to cram in as much impressive splatter and depravity as possible before the closing credits roll—but it is also incredibly fun.
Set in a near future where AIDS is the number one killer disease, the film sees an evil pharmaceutical boss, Dr. Hex, creating a drug called Serocaine, promoted as a miracle cure, but which in reality results in hideous mutations—stage one in Dr Hex's plan for worlds domination (mwahaha!). When Hex's top scientist discovers the truth about Serocaine, he and his family are butchered by Hex's henchmen; incredibly, their son Brian somehow survives being drilled through the head, although a broken drill-bit lodged in his brain turns him into a insane, unstoppable maniac intent on revenge.
Shot for next to nothing by Chandon and his equally horror-mad mates, Drillbit suffers from terrible sound, awful image quality, horribly dated computer-generated titles, and terrible acting, yet it has a charm that is hard to resist, the sheer enthusiasm and creativity displayed by all involved more than making up for the technical limitations. There are plenty of cool, apocalyptic, urban locations that seriously add to the atmosphere, and the film's practical gore effects are very impressive (given the budget), with gallons of blood, mutating freaks, and bullet squibs galore, plus the unforgettably bizarre sight of a sphincter-faced mutant with intestines coiled around its massive schlong.
