Film Reviews: The Once and Future Smash and End Zone 2 (Arrow Video FrightFest)
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
Mockumentary The Once and Future Smash (U.S., 2022), from codirectors Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein, is part of a double-bill with the faux proto-slasher End Zone 2 (U.S., promoted as 1970 but actually 2022).
The premise of the mock-doc is that the two elderly actors who played the same deformed killer, Smash-Mouth, in End Zone 2 — Mikey Smash (Michael St. Michaels of The Greasy Strangler, 2016) and William Mouth (Bill Weeden of Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D, 1990) — have to put aside their longstanding feud when it is announced at the fan convention they are both attending that a new actor is being tapped for the franchise reboot.
The mockumentary and humor work best when played straighter with horror film talent from both sides of the camera — such as Friday the 13th (1980) writer Victor Miller and scream queen Laurene Landon (Maniac Cop, 1988) — discussing the influence, or lack thereof, of End Zone 2, while jokier bits with deliberately hammy acting from actors portraying characters trying to get the reboot greenlighted bring a less effective tonal switch to the comedy attempts.
End Zone 2 is credited to director August Kane with a 1970 release on IMDB, but don’t take that too seriously, as Cacciola and Epstein are behind this one, as well. The film is a loving send-up of 1970s supernatural and stalker B-movies with the advantage of 50 years of horror film history from which to riff on.
The cast members — whose actual names are unavailable at press time, most likely in an effort to give the film more of a sense of authenticity — give performances that range from very good to okay. The requisite gore is in order, and plenty of humor is on tap, though it is usually played for knowing smiles from seasoned fear-fare fans rather than belly laughs.
The Once and Future Smash and End Zone 2 screened as part of Arrow Video FrightFest, which took place in London, UK from August 11–August 22, 2022. For more information, visit https://www.frightfest.co.uk/.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/). He also writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), B&S About Movies (bandsaboutmovies.com), and Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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