Director: Stephen Biro
Notable Cast: Jessica
Cameron, Scott Gabbey, David E. McMahon, Gene Palubicki, Mareen Pelamati, Jeff
Shedden, Josh Townsend, Jim Van Bebber, Scott Alan Warner, Andy Winton
Also known as:
American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon.
There was one key thing that I missed before sitting down to
watch The Song of Solomon the other
evening for this review. Despite the fact that the box art does not say it
anywhere on it, The Song of Solomon
is also known as American Guinea Pig: The
Song of Solomon. What does this have to do with anything, some might be
asking. Well, if you know what the Guinea Pig series of Japanese exploitation
films is, then you absolutely know what to expect from the film. You expect it
to push the limits of its exploitative nature and do its damnedest to make its
audience gag with its content and realistic special effects. However, I did not
know this until after the film ended. What I expected was another hum-drum exorcism
film. What I got was a rip-roaring gore fest, loosely tied together with a thinly
guised plot, and enough in-your-face exploitation violence to make die hard
horror fans feel light headed. To say that I was taken back might be an
understatement. This film has all of the subtlety of a of an 18-wheeler barreling
down the interstate with the gas petal stuck to the floor while the horn
remains blaring. Truthfully, that’s a compliment. The Song of Solomon, for all of its issues, accomplishes what it intends
to do with little regard on whether or not the audience has the will power (or
gag reflex) to keep up.
The core idea of The
Song of Solomon is simple. Girl gets possessed by some demon, a series of
priests try to exorcise her, and a series of horrific and violent events happen
to everyone. It’s not rocket science. Even when the film attempts to add its
own little twist to the proceedings in the third act and throws in a bit of
character development for the three priests that are summoned to help out, most
of it is pretty thinly drawn. It’s just enough to keep the audience intrigued
by the clashes of God fearing men and this poor possessed girl. There are some
fun ideas at play in these smaller tidbits, particularly in how the three
priests are hardly perfect human beings, but it is very obvious that The Song of Solomon has no intention of
making any kind of truly effective dramatic and thought-provoking classical
style cinema.
Blackened are the priests. |
What the film does well is that it delivers on its exploitative
and shocking violence and gore. Director and writer Stephen Biro has a firm grasp
on what makes things horrifying, opening the film up with an intriguing and
tense monologue from a desperate man and then taking just enough time to establish
the characters and idea before launching into a tirade of blood soaked evil and
impressive special effects. The opening death sequence, which is horrific in
its own, is only a ‘taste’ of what is to come later. Each of the horror
sequences, spurred on by a fully devoted and toe curling performance from Jessica
Cameron as the possessed young woman, continually ups the shock factor leaving
a finale that is sheer insanity fully expressed onscreen. While some of the
performances can leave a bit to be desired, visually the film is unrepentant in
delivering on its promises of hell. The effects are impressively executed and by
the time that the third priest pulls himself by his boot straps to take on this
demon, I was just waiting to see just how far this film was willing to take it –
of which it never hesitates to go the distance.
At this point, I would like to mention that whether it was
intentional or not, The Song of Solomon
has a very strange and effective knack at being very bleakly humorous. The film
is presented in a very, very serious manner. Each character is presented with a
matter of fact intensity, but there are these small moments that are blissfully
self-aware and impeccably executed dry humor. Whether its how the mother remarks
at one point ‘More priests?!’ when a new one shows up or how there is a nurse
that is briefly mentioned only to show up for approximately 15 seconds before
being horrifically dispatched, this film has a strange knack for knocking it
out of the park when it comes to the sly dark, humor.
Demons are a girl's best friend. |
The Song of Solomon
is not a film for the faint of heart nor is it a film that people who judge all
films on a more traditional critic viewpoint will find themselves enjoying, but
it’s a film that sets out to make a statement and does it with the cataclysmic
ferocity that it shows on screen. There are plenty of things that could have
made it a stronger film overall, including more defined characters or
reinforcing the message of the finale, but for what it is The Song of Solomon is true to its original title as a modern piece
of exploitation. Gore hounds, exploitation junkies, and those who enjoy the
special effects craftsmanship of horror will immediately want to pick up this film
to watch. It’s a bloodbath of thoroughly and exploitatively enjoyable
proportions.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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