Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Into The Black (1983)

For those familiar with Jim Van Bebber (Deadbeat At Dawn, The Manson Family), and his small but very unique filmography, it is no secret that the writer, director, producer, stuntman etc. has more short films to his name then full length features. His infamous short gore film Roadkill : The Last Days Of John Martin is a gore-hounds delight while serial killer and real crime fanatics embrace My Sweet Satan which is a retelling of real life teenage Satanist and murderer Ricky Kasso.

Into The Black is a earlier example of Jim Van Bebbers short films. Teenage Van Bebber writes, directs and stars in this ridiculous kung fu flick. If anybody else made this thing it would have been completely irrelevant and probably unwatchable but while extremely amateurish this short backyard movie holds some charm to it. Yes its cheesy. Yes its amateurish and yes its even childish but what would you expect from a teenage martial artist obsessed with film?

In this 40 minute home movie we watch Jim Van Bebber and his friend escape from jail and go to war with apocalyptic street gangs. Its basically Mad Max made by high school kids. They ride around on motorcycles, hang from moving cars and do all sorts of other dangerous stunts. It comes complete with gore and even a bit of tit from a young actress who is striped naked and tied to a tree. Into The Black is a perfect example of what would come in the future from Jim Van Bebber and crew.

Don't watch this looking for a polished movie. If you go into it expecting a movie made by kids and for kids then maybe you will even enjoy it.

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