One thing I’ve learned in my limited experience with local feature films is that the surefire way to (minor) commercial success is to make a trashy horror movie. From B-movie legend Ted V. Mikels to the scrappy Mike Conway (whose no-budget War of the Planets was distributed on DVD by Lionsgate), local filmmakers with a penchant for gore and suspense have been able to reach wider audiences than most of their more serious counterparts.
So it’s not much of a surprise that L. Alan Brooks’ Rose of Death has been picked up for DVD sales by small niche distributor Brain Damage Films, however terrible the movie may be. Filled with faces that will be familiar to anyone who follows the local film scene, Rose is your standard revenge-from-beyond-the-grave tale, although it disappointingly skimps on the gore and has a deadening, lugubrious pace (the 18-minute prologue is excruciatingly protracted).
Too much of the violence is off-screen to be exciting, and neither the script nor the actors are up to the task of building interesting characters in the long stretches in between murders. On top of that, sound issues and mumbly performances from leads Sandra Winogrocki and Luke Jones make some of the dialogue difficult to understand—not that it’s worth much when you can hear it. Connoisseurs of bad horror movies, however, will probably find just enough here to snicker at.
Rose of Death is available on DVD from many online retailers, including Amazon.com.