Night of the Tentacles (2013)

Excellent adaptation.

Don't Believe the Hype

As Good As It Gets

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Dave (Brandon Salkil) is a 24-year-old loser who scrapes a living painting digital erotica for sci-fi geeks. When he's not creating his 'art' (oh, the agony and the ecstasy of painting alien semen in zero gravity), he's busy masturbating while eavesdropping on his sexually frustrated, pregnant neighbour Esther (Nicole Gerity), who lives in the apartment below. It is while he is knocking one out to the sounds of Esther's self-gratification that he suffers an unexpected heart attack.After surgery, Dave is informed that he has poor circulation and desperately needs a replacement heart if he wants to go on living. His solution: sell his soul to the devil in exchange for a new organ, one that, if he looks after it properly, can give him eternal life. The only problem is that, according to the small print in the contract he hurriedly signs, he must now feed his new heart two humans a week in order to keep it pumping.Of the three films I have seen by low-budget horror director Dustin Mills (the others being Kill That Bitch and Bath Salt Zombies), this is easily my favourite. It offers up the same sort of lurid content to be found in the other two films—bargain basement gore and gratuitous nudity from a selection of tattooed women—but it also has a wickedly dark (and often very silly) sense of humour that makes it all the more irresistible.Taking his cues from such low-budget classics as Roger Corman's The Little Shop of Horrors and Frank Henenlotter's Basket Case, Mills has crafted a delightfully warped tale that—in addition to a chatty tentacled heart with one eye—features such demented delights as a chubby tattooed bird being pulled down the loo while taking a leak, a couple interrupted by the heart's killer tentacles while having sex, a perverted demon called Belial who offers to fart on Dave while he cranks one out, and an Evil Dead-style splat-stick finale that sees Dave attacking the monstrous heart with a carving knife.Even though this is utterly deranged, lowbrow nonsense, all shot on a micro budget, Mills' script is surprisingly well written, his cast put in reasonable performances, and the director displays a keen knowledge of his craft, employing an impressive range of film-making techniques.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for having the nerve to make the monster so laughable when we finally get to see it (a nod to the shonky nature of Henenlotter's creature in Basket Case, perhaps).

This isn't the first film I'm reviewing from Dustin Mills and I doubt it will be my last. I finally got to check this out recently and felt the need to share my thoughts.It's not as high quality as Easter Casket, being more grounded and intimate by comparison. A down on his luck loser has major heart troubles and can't afford treatment. Instead of exploring better medical options based on insurance, Medicaid, or even Canada, he instead makes a deal with the devil. He gets himself a brand new, awful, Lovecraftian, monster heart! The only downside is that the heart needs to feel on humans for him to survive.It sounds like b-schlock and it is in the best way. Performances are interesting and usually hit home runs, the effects are fine, the monster is a bit cheap but works for the film. The story seems straight forward but really does everything that it wants to, and does it well. I felt for the lead character at several points and I really felt his struggle to cope with his choice. There's some absolutely fantastic character moments that seems to be a great example of Dustin's writing. Shots were also pretty solid, especially given that almost the entire movie is in one apartment.The biggest downside in the film is a lot of low-brow humor from the devil's "assistant" or whatever he was. This sort of stuff is hit or miss and to me, it was a big miss. I was glad whenever he left the screen.I'd definitely recommend this film to fans of indie movies. Dustin is definitely one of those directors that continues to impress.

I put this on with very little expectations, the story sounded potentially entertaining but I've seen these sort of films go horribly wrong and I did almost switch it off after 5 mins. But then I was glad I left it on because I rather enjoyed it, I also recommended it to a like minded friend who also enjoyed it. Yeah it looks like it cost £50 to make and the monster a little rubbish, and yeah no Oscar winning performances (tho I felt the acting suited the film) or groundbreaking originality but I felt it worked for me and did make me laugh. The camera work wasn't the worst I've seen either for a low budget film. If you like your indie horror films like me I'd give this a go. I'd score it 6.5 but gave it a 9 to deservedly bump it up a little.

I gave this "movie" a 1 ,because there was no -0 !. I have sat thru some turds,but this cheese-ball no-pus was RANCID !. So bad in fact,that i graded papers while it ran.Now,don't get me wrong,i do like some bad films,but this one was bad on too many levels.Bad story,bad acting ,REAL bad looking people,and even worse "fx" . The "monster" looked like a toaster/breadbox thing,covered in that sand foam stuff you see on t.v. ads for kids.It looked like maybe some 2 nd graders whipped it up for a class project,while at recess ! I waited for something cool,or some action , to happen.The most horrifying thing to happen was when they showed the lead "actor"s dog taking a dump,and i would imagine it came out better than this turd.Should have been called "Night of the Testicles" ,cause it took some balls to release this fart-blower!.