Shit, guys, I’ve got one beaming ray of sunshine for us genre lovers! And if you like your horror dressed up in skimpy black leather and covered in the red stuff, you’ll want to keep on reading! It’s called JOHNNY SUNSHINE and it’s got to be one of the darkest independent shockers I’ve ever encountered. Our buds over at Fango got some info from producer/writer Sean-Michael Argo on this gruesome gash of grindhouse grub.
”It is a grindhouse feature in every sense of the word,” Argo states, “from the visual assault of sex and violence to the low-budget esprit de corps. I hate to use that word to describe the film, given the recent Tarantino/Rodriguez project, but it’s the most accurate description I can muster. It’s uniquely self-aware of both the story within and the audience it plays for. The project pulls from several film traditions, and is at once film noir, exploitation, and a zombie film homegrown in leather, flesh and steel.”
Want to take a moment to wipe off your drool? Okay, then… Well, to add wonderful insult to injury (I mean that in a very positive way), Fango also obtained a bunch of horrifyingly depraved pics from JOHNNY. You can check out one above, one below and the rest here. You can also witness the sick teaser below. Now, have a look at the flick’s plot:
The story is set in an underworld called The Sprawl, inhabited by both the living and the undead, where mayhem is the order of the day. The title character (played by Shey Bland) is a porn star and assassin working for sleazy producer Max (Halsell), who exploits the world gone to hell by videotaping her deviant exploits. Unfortunately for Johnny, sales of her movies have started to falter, and Max decides to orchestrate her demise, capturing her death on camera to create what he hopes will be a huge-selling snuff movie.
Porn star? Assassin? Undead? Oh my! This bitch can’t get to my TV screen fast enough! It’s set to be released on DVD August 5th from Brain Damage Films. It was directed by Matt Yeager (who also supervised the FX—nice!) and stars John Patrick McCauley, Casey Halsell and even Argo himself.
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