Dear God No - Olivia LaCroix

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by James Bickert
USA 2011

After a disagreement between the local head of the "White Syndicate" and the biker group The Impalers (Jett Bryant, Shane Morton, John Collins, Nik Morgan, and writer/director James Bickert [under the alias "Rusty Stache"]) - over the unwelcome attention from law enforcement over all of their killing and raping - culminates in a bloody shootout, the bikers are on the run and looking for a place to hide out (as well as opportunities for more killing and raping). They happen upon the out-of-the-way cabin of disgraced anthropologist/cryptozoologist Dr. Marco (Paul McComiskey) and his strange daughter Edna (Madeline Brumby) who just happen to be entertaining pregnant Evelyn (Olivia LaCroix) and her husband Todd (Heath Street) as well as something locked in the basement. Before you can say LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, the bikers are brutalizing their hosts and - before you can say NIGHT OF THE DEMON - a hulking sasquatch is picking them off one-by-one...

DEAR GOD NO!, a Super 16mm hommage to the Grindhouse pics of the seventies wears its influences on its sleeve and displays a hell of a lot of enthusiasm; yet strangely there's almost something condescending about it. One gets the impression from the DVD's commentary that the actors do possess acting talent; thus, the sometimes excruciatingly bad performances seem intentional as if to suggest that all actors in grindhouse films were simply terrible rather than awkward, inexperienced, or theatrically hammy. The mashing together of disparate elements like bikers and bigfoot feels more like the GRINDHOUSE trailers of the Quentin Tarentino/Robert Rodriguez films than the relatively straightforward cash-ins, rip-offs, and retreads whose quirks were not always intentional and their attempts at innovations seldom felt like outright parody (although I suppose the perfect deadpan replication of a grindhouse pic would be pointless when one has the option of simply renting one of the real ones). The heaps of violence and gore are well-executed (with plenty of squibs and tubes rather than tiresome CGI) but its entrail-pulling setpieces just are not as transgressive as LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (or even as shocking as ANTHROPOPHAGUS - in a similar attack on a pregnant woman - or even simply as icky as NIGHT OF THE DEMON). That said, DEAR GOD NO! might actually play better in something more akin to a Grindhouse venue (more so than a film festival or midnight movie screening) than a cozy home theater. Besides the more obvious film references, viewers might also notice some more subtle ones: the van of nuns the bikers have attacked in the opening sequence is labeled "Convent Monza" (which will be familiar to nunsploitation fans) and one wonders if casting director Vincent Dawn Jr. is a pseudonymous reference to Italian exploitation filmmaker Bruno Mattei (HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD) whose films were sometimes signed with the Anglicized alias "Vincent Dawn".

Eric Cotenas

Posters

Theatrical Release: 22 September 2011 (USA)

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DVD Comparison:

Monster Pictures/Eureka Video (The Original Cut vs. The Grindhouse Cut) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the Screen Caps!

DVD Box Cover
Distribution	Monster Pictures/Eureka Video Region 2 - PAL
'Cut'	Original Cut	Grindhouse Cut
Runtime	1:17:45	1:18:51
Video	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.74 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.73:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.12 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Monster Pictures/Eureka Video (The Original Cut)
Bitrate: Monster Pictures/Eureka Video (The Grindhouse Cut)
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo	English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles	none	none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Monster Pictures/Eureka Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • DISC ONE: • Audio Commentary by writer/director James Bickert and composer Richard Davis • Audio Commentary by actors Jeff Bryant, Shane Morton, and Madaline Brumby • Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 1:48) • Easter Egg: Warning: Impalers Ahead! (16:9; 0:23) • Easter Egg: Introduction by James Bickert at Bizarre Cinema premiere (16:9; 1:16) DVD Release Date: 14 January 2013 Amaray Chapters 8	Release Information: Studio: Monster Pictures/Eureka Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.73:1 Edition Details: • DISC TWO: • Redband Trailer (16:9; 2:14) • Behind the Scenes Gag Reel (4:3; 10:34) • Poster and Still Slideshow • Zombie Parody (16:9; 1:12) • Torture Porn Parody (16:9; 0:50) • Vlog the Magnificent at the DEAR GOD NO! World Premiere (4:3; 8:22) • BLAARG animated short (4;3; 11:30) • FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS Sneak-Peek (16:9; 1:24) • Easter Egg: James Bickert on the origins of the film (16:9; 3:55)

Comments

Monster Pictures' 2-disc set includes two cuts of the film; however, both have been subjected to trims mandated by the BBFC for sexual violence (94 seconds on the original cut, and 97 seconds on the Grindhouse cut). Despite the film's budget, it was indeed shot on Super 16mm rather than high definition (although it was presumably then finished in HD). The Grindhouse Cut not only has a harsher, contrasty look along with even more scratches, fake splices, color fluctuations, and audio drop-outs, it also has some additional intentionally mismatched gore inserts. The original cut has some digitally-added vertical scratching at the "reel change" points but looks cleaner and blander, although it may be the preferable viewing option since some of the damage added to the Grindhouse version is simply distracting (the Grindhouse cut is also interlaced).

The original cut is accompanied by two commentary tracks (the US release reportedly has three tracks): the first with the director and the composer, and the second with three of the actors. Contrary to expectations, the tracks are not rowdy jokefests; in fact, all of the participants are at times too soft-spoken (fortunately, the two actors are more sensitive to their female co-star's reaction to her stripping scene than their characters are to her in the film). Actors and crew alike namecheck various filmic influences from Herschell Gordon Lewis to THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK (they do not explicitly mention that the botched shot of spilled blood filling a footprint is cribbed from the bigfoot gore film NIGHT OF THE DEMON). The director reveals that the underlying theme of the film has to do with his fears of having children, and that the scratches and other damage were digitally-added for fear of actually damaging the film since they had only single takes of most of the scenes.

A trailer for the film accompanies disc 1, but a stronger redband trailer is featured on disc 2 along with some extras that are less illuminating than the commentary tracks; however, a thirty-four page booklet with an essay by the director is also included.

Since the disc is not also coded for Region 4 - as some other Monster Pictures discs have been - one presumes that Australian will be getting the uncut versions. But for the inclusion of the alternate "Grindhouse Cut" the US release is probably definitive since it contains an extra commentary track and likely all or most of the extras here (most of which were produced by the director and company).

- Eric Cotenas

DVD Menus
(Monster Pictures/Eureka Video (The Original Cut) - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Monster Pictures/Eureka Video (The Grindhouse Cut) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Monster Pictures/Eureka Video (The Original Cut) - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Monster Pictures/Eureka Video (The Grindhouse Cut) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)