Acid Bath - 2006
Synopsis (from DVD back cover):
“KILL DISSOLVE REPEAT
The underworld explodes in this gritty and twisted action horror. A crazed maniac is on the loose and he’s got the hookers and drug dealers on the run with nightly killings. The local criminals team up with a ruthless drug syndicate and a rogue bounty hunter in hopes to stop the blood from running on the streets, with gore-soaked results. You’ve never had a bath until you’ve had an ACID BATH!”
Acid Bath, 2006, 76 minutes, USA. Written, directed, and edited by Lou Garcia and Annette Martinez. Cinematography by Bilge Rat. Special effects by Ghetto Gore SFX, with additional effects by Jason Sanchez. Cast includes: Chris Macedo (Zeke), Matt Ursin (Tommy), Santos Ivey (Santos), Sue Nami (Crazy Joe), Lauren Jenifer Gates (Delish), Ilya Vostok (Trixie), Lou Garcia (Roach), Annette Martinez (Candy). Soundtrack includes: The Accused, Flawed, Macakongs 2099, New Maximum Donkey, Slobot. From Warped Reality Pictures. Distributed by Wild Eye Releasing (2015), part of the Wild Eye Raw & Extreme line.
Acid Bath is a chaotic, bloody, somewhat confusing SOV movie written and directed by the team of Lou Garcia and Annette Martinez (who, for whatever reason, only made this and the 2003 short film Cannibal Maniac together; Martinez also went on to write and direct Rhine Maidens in 2010). It’s action-packed, gore-drenched, and a little bit crazy, a true example of modern-day exploitation cinema - just look at the poster to the right! Not really sure how the tagline “Only the insane will survive!” pertains to this movie, but technically all of the images on display do, to some extent, appear in the film. But that synopsis… much like the poster here, it’s telling a different story using all the right pieces.
Acid Bath is about a sociopathic, psychotic, maybe schizophrenic (?) killer named Zeke who is killing prostitutes, selling their organs to a crime syndicate, and then melting their bodies in the bathtub to hide the evidence. And no, that’s not a spoiler; there’s never a mystery as to who is doing the killings, it’s revealed in the first few minutes after a semi-gratuitous shower/death scene by Kelly Sheppard in her very brief role as Marlene. The working ladies of the night are scared, so they hatch a plan to pool their money and hire a bounty hunter to find and stop the killer. But things go bad when Zeke kills the girl with the money - which is in an envelope marked “To Tommy the Bounty Hunter,” of course - and turns it in to Santos, the guy he sells the organs to. Okay, I guess there’s two stories here, one about Zeke the prostitute melter going after more prostitutes to melt, and one about Tommy the bounty hunter going after the city’s criminals, and somehow they intersect.
With two separate but overlapping stories going on, there is bound to be confusion. The story jumps back and forth a bit, making things feel a bit disjointed, and we lose a bit of clarity as to what exactly is happening. Adding to that, a few of the characters primarily speak Spanish, which is not a problem on its own, but when there are no English subtitles, it gets a bit tricky. The worst part is, at times the very top of subtitles can be seen at the bottom of the screen, meaning they were there, but they were cut off? This makes it tough to figure out who is on what team and why they are doing what they are doing. None of these things ruin the movie by any means, but they might turn off the casual viewer, causing them to cut Acid Bath short and go back to watching Friends reruns.
At the same time, there’s a lot to like here. Matt Ursin is very convincing as bounty hunter Tommy, bringing just the right bravado and cockiness that the character needs. When we first meet him, he is tracking down a fugitive and gets into a gun fight. When the bad guy gives up, Tommy shoots and kills him, causing his dead body to fall many stories to the ground, where Tommy then proceeds to kick him a few times. Near-perfect portrayal of a cop. Also good is Chris Macedo as Zeke. He is clearly evil, but we can see that there is something wrong with him, something hinted at but never officially named. He has moments where he is a regular dude, and then he has other moments where he’s fantasizing about murder, and women covered in blood, and women walking the streets with a voiceover talking about pigs going to slaughter. Most of the cast of Acid Bath were one-and-done, this being their only role (at least according to IMDb), so the acting range goes from mediocre to surprisingly good, as expected, but no one seems to be mailing it in.
There is a good hardcore punk/thrash metal soundtrack, some great (especially for the budget) effects work - special mention for the final “acid bath,” which saves the best for last - and some impressive fight choreography.
Scene highlights include:
*** A severed face thrown against a wall
*** A makeshift rocket launcher brought to a gun fight
*** An excellent final death sequence
*** The best TV-rage incident I’ve seen since God Bless America, when Zeke is offended by a so-called expert’s analysis of the city’s serial killer while watching a local TV show, searches the phone book for his address, then tracks him down and brings the pain
For fans of martial arts training/workout montages; the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark; clips of fake vintage porn; faceless shower deaths; hatchet and machete-wielding maniac killers.
Overall, Acid Bath is a fun movie. It trips and stumbles at times, and the missing subtitles hurt the story a little, but there’s a lot of good times to be had here. Lots of action, lots of blood and gore, some nudity (it’s about a prostitute killer, how could there not be?), and even some humor here and there, including bloopers after the credits. The Wild Eye Raw & Extreme DVD looks good but doesn’t have any extras aside from trailers, although there are 9 of them, so that could be fun. If you see this one out in the wild, pick it up and enjoy! And as always, support physical media, support SOV horror, and support the independent filmmakers that are producing fucked up, uncomfortable, and just plain fun movies!
Buy it on DVD from MVD Entertainment Group
Many thanks to Rob from Wild Eye for the screener!!!
Have you seen Acid Bath? What did you think? Do you know where to find Cannibal Maniac, Lou Garcia & Annette Martinez’s other film? Comment below and let’s keep an open dialogue going!