DRAINIAC

Written and Directed by Brett Piper

Julie - Georgia Hatzis
Lisa - Alexandra Bolan
Tanya - Samara Doucette
Jake - Ethan Krasnoo
Plummer - Phip Barbour

Julie has problems. Last year her mother ate the business end of a shotgun and now her deadbeat father wants to charge her rent. There is an up side, in a few months she graduates high school and gets to look forward to Daddy throwing her out on her ass. Believe me, she's counting the days.

Ever since her mom died, Julie has been besieged with nightmares. Sometimes, hands tear threw her bed and pull at her flesh. Other times, tentacles reach up through the bathtub drain. No matter what the scenario the results are the same, a blood-soaked death. No matter how bad the scene none compare to the day she's about to have with her father, cleaning the would-be real estate mogul's rundown new house.

As Julie, Georgia Hatzis is as radiant as the morning sun and as refreshing as a mountain stream. This girl has real acting talent and does a superb job bringing Julie to life. Georgia finds the perfect balance of teen angst and inner strength. Julie isn't played as another depressed Gen-Xer, she's a young woman who has had time to come to terms with her mother's death and persevere. Life goes on and she knows it, her current problems lie with her unsympathetic father and the demon possessed house he just bought.

Yep, you read correctly, dad picked up some real estate with a few surprises hidden in the basement. It almost seems a shame to have the characters subject to any sort of plot. Even the supporting players are so well rounded and three dimensional that you can just sit and watch them interact all day. The performances are so effortless I had to wonder if the kids were acting or just being themselves.

Director Brett Piper digs into H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos to help bring his demons to life. All slime and tentacles, these flesh-eating beasties aren't for the squeamish. Picture the Blob with smarts and you have a good idea of what our heroine is up against. The creatures are all water Elementals gone bad. Piper employs a variety of techniques to breathe believability into his creations and does an outstanding job. With the exception of a few computer generated effects, the creations come off as life-like as you and me, oozing, slithering, and sliding to the next victim.

Piper covers all his bases and fills every possible plot hole, including the old "why don't the dumb white kids just get the hell out of the house" bit. I hate to use a cliché, but to paraphrase, "you can check in, but you can't out." I'll leave it at that, to say any more would ruin the fun of Piper's smart script, which plays out like a grand symphony hitting all the right notes. It's fun without being cheeky. It's the perfect b-movie.

I've heard that Piper's distributor, Rounds Entertainment, is trying to get this one into Hollywood Video. After seeing what makes it onto the Hollywood shelves, the rental chain would be doing itself a great disservice not to pick this one up. You would be doing yourself just the same if you don't check it out. DRAINIAC is a b-movie blast.

You can purchase DRAINIAC directly from Rounds Entertainment.

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