MdS Hype-Buster Double Edition: The Rage and Botched!

The purpose of this post is twofold, dear Scarers. First, to explain my process of movie selection. Second, to introduce a new type of post on MdS: the “Hype-Buster.”

My selection of films is purposefully eclectic. I choose movies based on what I find in video stores near me, what’s online, and what other Scarers I know are talking about. Whenever I learn about a promising movie that I’ve never heard of, I add it to a well-creased list in my wallet. Sometimes I find the movie easily, either in a rental store or online, and sometimes the movies linger there for months. Eventually, they end up here.

Naturally, this method has its drawbacks: occasionally I come across duds from people or stores who possess dubious horror movie palates. Now, I can appreciate the good, the bad, and the ugly in all things horror, but sometimes I can barely finish a movie because of its je-ne-sais-crap. This is where the Hype-Buster posts come in. In them, I’ll mention briefly movies that have been tried, tested, and MdS Un-approved.

Without further ado, the first (and second) Hype-Busted movies:

The Rage 

USA. 2007.

In English.

Directed by Robert Kurtman

Busted!

Botched

USA. 2007.

In English.

Directed by Stephen Dorff

Busted!

These films come purchased from a recently-shuttered video store near me in Brookline, MA (R.I.P. Movie Works). These movies were on the shelves during clearance, and I really should’ve just let them go…

            In The Rage, which Fangoria named “[2007’s] ultimate party movie,” a group of teens collide with mutant vultures and zombies created by a mad scientist, who is also a zombie. The movie has some fun bloody scenes but the second half is tedious, filled with the tragically-animated vultures and a sexually-depraved, wig-wearing midget zombie (no, not the scientist- a different zombie). If this all sounds nonsensical, it is. Busted!

            In Botched, a professional robber agrees to steal a cross from a Moscow penthouse in order to repay a debt. He becomes trapped with an elevator full of hostages poorly affecting Russian accents in an unfinished floor of the building. They are then gradually and gleefully decapitated by the cross’s guardians, who descend from Ivan the Terrible but are actually irritating rejected extras from Braveheart. Oh, and even worse- it won two awards at the 2007 NYC Horror Film Festival. Ew. Busted!