Maskhead (2009)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Admirable film.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The movie centers on Syl and Maddie, a young lesbian couple and their friend (only known as the Cowboy) that own and run a porn company that caters to the weird and quirky fetishes of their customers. However, unbeknownst to their actors, the company is secretly a front for a violent snuff film ring, where the real star of the show is a horrific disfigured and sadistic man known as Maskhead who tortures the actors in ways more cruel than the last.The main characters are despicable and depraved in their own ways; from the Cowboy's crude and dirty sense of humor when seducing the victims, and Syl and Maddie gleefully discussing how they imagine the murders--clearly aroused by what they have in store for their unlucky "actors". As for their actors, they're alright even if some are a bit forgettable.The acting is alright, but as someone else said in their own reviews, some scenes (such as the interviews) are pretty slow and the actual scenes with the actors are a very slow burn building to the more entertaining sequences, which are the violence. With the SFX, they're once again done wonderfully by Jerami Cruise and fairly impressive--especially with one of the final scenes with doesn't hold back any punches and is pretty disturbing.I can see what people mean when it stays true to the mean-spirited attitude of the AU trilogy, which it definitely does if you also added a warped dark humor attitude to it, which can be a nice break from the violence if you're that kind of person who needs a cool down from more intense moments.5/10

Let me start out by saying that I am a huge fan of ToeTag's movies, especially the August Underground trilogy. Those films actually managed to disturb me a bit, which no other films really have (and trust me I've seen a lot of f'd up stuff). When I first watched Maskhead I was expecting another brutal, disturbing horror but found it terribly boring aside from a few well done torture scenes. The main problem I had with it was that there was really no plot at all; we see the characters interview "actors" then kill them, and that's really it. Even August Underground's Mordum had the whole love triangle thing that got resolved in the end. However, I did remember laughing at a few parts so I watch it again with a friend with the intention of making fun of a low budget schlock-fest.Man was that a great idea. This movie truly is hilarious, and I don't even wanna say unintentionally because I think the filmmakers purposefully included parts to be funny. I mean the whole scene with the cowboy and the gay guy in the bathroom? How can you watch that and not laugh? Speaking of the cowboy, he gets most of the funny lines in this movie like claiming how he is a "professional whistler" and his whole story about taking acid in the slaughterhouse. The whole "shot on film" look makes it even better. Bottom line if you enjoy laughing at low budgets horrors like I do, look no further.

Two young lesbians Syl and Madie produce gruesome and gory fetish videos with the help of a gay cowboy.Actors or should I say potential victims show up to audition for Syl and Maddie and some of them are tortured to death and slowly butchered by Maskhead,a disfigured sadist."Maskhead" is not as disturbing as "August Undergorund" trilogy.Admittedly the final scene is pretty sick and disturbing and the gore effects by Jerami Cruise are excellent,but the interviews are dull and annoying.Several scenes are too long and lead to nowhere.The acting is decent and the film is awashed with pain and suffering,so it's not a total waste.More graphic nudity should be also mandatory in this kind of sicko horror.A generous 6 out of 10.

My goodness, was this a mistake... buying this DVD, that is. Well, I can save the empty DVD case, for possible future use. If you thought "August Underground" was kind of a badly made movie, let me tell you, AU is a well produced and high class product. In fact AU is not a badly made movie at all, I think it hits home (and most everywhere else) plus manage to find exactly the spot it is aiming for. "Maskhead" does not. "Maskhead" is not fun, neither intentionally or non-intentionally. "Maskhead" is not disgusting, not sexy (not even if you like bondage-porn, trust me), not horroresque, it is just boring, tedious and utterly pointless and, sorry guys, just kind of void of talent. (Makeup and effects are maybe not so bad...?) But, alas, this has to rate as one of the worst movies ever made, and not worst in any kind of good, camp, so-bad-it-is-good-way. Being boring and stupid is for me the ultimate unforgivable a movie can be... to be honest I watched ten minutes, then I couldn't take it any more but switched to fast forward, stopped here and there to no avail, and finally got to the end. Thank god. So the disc goes in the dust bin, and I will try to forget this embarrassing episode... Believe me, you have a lot more fun and find it a lot more interesting looking out your window, or if you do not have a window, staring at your wall.