The Dustin Mills machine is at it again. His first feature, Puppet Monster Massacre, is an exercise in sock puppet hilarity. Night of the Tentacles ups the ante another notch, introducing us to real actors, on real sets, with very little green screen action. The whole show takes place in one apartment, with a few exterior shots that look like Akron, Ohio. I met Dustin and his wife at the HorrorHound weekend in Columbus, and they are great people. What goes on the screen however
Brandon Salkil delivers an outstanding performance as Dave; he alternates between a haunted James Woods and Bruce Campbell's Ash. Tentacles fly, Satan raps. Demon delivery boys ask to fart on Dave while masturbating. Mills cameos as a PBR swilling maintenance man intent on "screwing everything". Jackie McKown as Delilah delivers a 5 minute whiz only to be tentacle-impaled at the end of it. Throw in copious amounts of semen, more masturbation (the only IMDb keyword is "masturbation"), and a monster-in-a-box that sounds like Elmer from Brain Damage. There you go, an homage best categorized as Slime City meets Basket Case with a dollop of Brain Damage thrown in. By no means is this a copy of those films, but a well-constructed, well-lit, well-composed low budget film intent on entertaining.
And entertain it does!
Some nudity, and a ton of
masturbating. In retrospect, this movie had a lot of self-flagellation going on. Four gallons of blood, mostly CGI, a rapping Satan (brilliant), and a Reservior Dogs suited demon named Belial who delivers lines like "Are you sure you don't want to masturbate? I can break wind on you while you do it. It's fun." Mills, you're nuts, and I love it.
Synopsis: Night of the Tentacles is a great companion piece to Brain Damage. Roll in some Frankenhooker, a six-pack of PBR, and your favorite deranged-flick watching buddy and it'll be a great night. Enjoy.