Heebie Jeebies (2013)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Released to TV in 2013 and directed by Thomas L. Callaway, "Heebie Jeebies" chronicles events in a Louisiana town when an abomination is unleashed from cursed gold mine that was recently reopened by a greedy descendant (Michael Badalucco in a decidedly over-the-top performance). Carl Savering & Robert Belushi play the Sheriff and his deputy while Dave Davis & Evie Thompson appear as their teenaged kin. Cathy Shim, Lucille Soong and Olivia Ku are on hand as an Asian family with insights about the creature.This is a half-serious/half-campy Grade B horror flick with several amusing moments. It generally works for what it is and has a few highlights, like the imaginative, but cartoonish CGI monster, which looks like five corpses mashed together with a huge malevolent maw for a torso. Evie plays a winsome cutie, albeit overtly tart-y; and Belushi is likable as her cop brother, the main protagonist, not to mention Shim as his sweet girlfriend.Despite the obvious low-budget, the movie has gusto and I cared about the 2-3 main characters. Unfortunately, there are glaring flaws that force me to lower my rating. For instance, the deputy discovers video-proof of the monstrosity, but then refers to it as some type of animal to others, including his sister.The film runs 85 minutes and was shot in St. Francisville & Baton Rouge, Louisiana. WRITER: Trent Haaga. Marion Ross & Jennifer Rubin have small roles.GRADE: C+

Not only is this movie terrible in acting, CGI, and literally everything else, it also pushes hateful racist agendas against Asian men.Two of the main roles - Asian females in this movie - are both paired up with white men. Of course,that's perfectly fine by itself as it is not racist to see inter-racial boyfriend / girlfriend pairings in today's time.HOWEVER, one of the Asian female has a line in the movie that basically states "Asian men aren't cute like white men". Not only does this have absolutely nothing to do with the entire movie plot, it's basically a line straight out of the white supremacist handbook. And no, it's not a racial preference. If you're white and confused, look it up on how these type of underhanded tactics are purposely used to mentally colonize Asian women and hate on Asian men since the days of Hollywood and mass media. Absolutely disgusting that it's still being used today.These racist movies are the reason why White man - Asian women couples are so common in today's time vs Asian man- White women couples. Thanks to this type of whitewashing, most White man- Asian women couples marry based on hatred of Asian men, white worship, and a self- inferiority complex. This is why we get mass murdering psychopathic kids from WMAF like Elliot Rodger and insane rapists like Daniel Holtzclaw.

Talented director Thomas L. Callaway takes the gifted screenwriter Trent Haaga's brilliant script and runs with it and the result is one of the best horror films of the last 5 years. On location shooting in Louisiana heightens the forbidding atmosphere of tension and unease as a small town faces the consequences of its past. Michael Badalucco gives one of his most memorable performances as the crooked owner of an abandoned mine that contains much more than any suspected valuable minerals. The role of Billy Butler is one he was born to play and he makes the very most of breathing fire into it. The rest of the cast is good but there are some leads that could have been a bit stronger. The special effects are superb and some of the imagery created by Callaway is simply haunting. Sometimes so intense and horrifying that it becomes unendurable, Heebe Jeebies is a fright fest of outstanding quality. The final scene is as riveting as it is explosively spectacular.

The premise: The inhabitants of a quiet little mining town experience some major heebie-jeebies, when a murderous monstrosity is awakened and rises from its grave in an old goldmine to go on a vengeful killing spree. My opinion: To be frank, this movie was exactly what I had expected it to be: A no-frills monster flick made on the cheap, just watchable enough to keep me somewhat entertained for 80 minutes. It even exceeded my expectations in some regards, given that many other Syfy Originals have much worse acting, far more annoying dialogue and worse pacing. This one went by really fast, had predominantly decent actors (with a few glaring exceptions, mind you) and, best of all, a really inventive monster. The "Heebie Jeebie" (it's not actually called that in the movie, but I think it should) is basically just this weird mess of decomposing flesh with limbs flopping all around and a gaping, uh, let's call it a "mouth" reaching all across its body. It's quite rare for a Syfy flick to have something visually interesting in it, so this grotesque, four-armed, multi-headed freakshow was a very welcome breath of fresh air. On the annoying side of things, however, there are a few bad performances, most notably by the protagonist's younger sister and her friend. I also thought that the movie could have done with a few less attempts at comedy, but again, I've seen this handled much worse in other Syfy productions. Oh, and the CGI is complete crap too. Goes without saying, though, doesn't it?In conclusion, general audiences might shrug this one off as cheap TV trash, but if you're a fan of light monster horror and you're fully aware of the generally low standards of Syfy Originals (which my rating of this movie is based on, by the way), then I'd definitely say you should give it a chance, if only for the bizarre creature. It might pleasantly surprise you.