Raving Maniacs (2005)

"The biggest event in the party calendar is about to take place and Tuesday, JT, and a pair of siblings head off to Providence for the ultimate rave. The music is banging and there's an abundance of drugs and alcohol present but what these party-goers didn't count on was an alien plot to supply glow-in-the-dark pills - a narcotic that has devastating side effects."

I'm getting a bit worried now as I'm starting to actually enjoy some of these ropey B movies. "Raving Maniacs" is actually above average for a B movie though, and even if it does suffer some lag in places, was really quite well done.

Of course, we aren't talking about Hollywood budgets here or anything. This still suffers from a mixture of acting abilities and some dodgy lines. It could also have been edited a bit more tightly too but the gory effects are nicely done.

My main reason for liking this movie though was strangely not my usual one. Yes, there are quite a few pretty girls in this film and a few boobies from time to time but what I liked more was the story.

You see I detest all those glowstick waving freakshows who go to raves and seeing them all turn into flesh-eating zombies was pure joy for me.

In this film (and I'm sure it was intentional) you can still find the old "moral codes of conduct" which have been lacking since "Scream" pointed them all out and ruined the subtleties (and not such subtleties) for everyone. It used to be that kids who did drugs and had sex in horror films were so obviously going to be the next victims. Of course, in "Raving Maniacs" all these kids do the drugs and they all die. In fact, anyone who is morally deficient at all in this film dies and that pleased me no end.

The backstory of the main characters, Jessie (played exceptionally well by Patrick Cohen) and Tuesday (Emily Morettini), added a lot to keeping my attention. I absolutely loathed Tuesday's overly angry new boyfriend, JT (Andrew Vellenoweth), and it was a relief to me when he didn't turn out to be the hero. There are hints along the way that he isn't going to be (including the fact that he is all tattooed and pierced everywhere and looks ridiculous!).

Some light relief is offered by a geeky nerd who is addicted to playing some kind of Hentai game on a souped up Gameboy. I found his performance quite irritating though and was glad that he got his just desserts as well.

My favourite character was Lauren (Jennifer Zigler). I thought that her scene with the geeky guy where she feels a bit sorry for him was going to set her up as one of the heroes. I like it when things don't actually turn out as you expect. I should have realised when she kept on about sex that she wasn't going to make it to the end of the film either though.

Of course there is some erotic content too. Apart from Tuesday and JT's dancing (more like dry humping!), there is a minor lesbian zombie scene. It isn't half as much fun (or unexpected!) as the zombie incest scene later! Kudos to writer, producer and director, Richard Griffin here for adding it. It's pure exploitation but that's what these films are all about.

The downbeat ending (followed by a silly scene in the end credits) was a bit rushed but that kind of thing often happens.

"Raving Maniacs" wasn't bad at all. It took a long time (nearly an hour) to get to the good stuff but I think I'll give it 4 out of 10. It's a pity that it didn't have a bigger budget as there were some good ideas here and a genuine attempt at characterisation.