One Friday night, I went to a 9:15pm screening of VFW (2019) as part of MonsterFest, but it felt more like a midnight movie. Completely in the spirit of John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13 right from the opening credits, particularly with the ominous synth of Steve Moore’s excellent score, it’s a splatter siege movie pitting a group of grizzled army vets on a late night drunk in their V.F.W. bar (I guess similar to a R.S.L. in Australia) against a punker gang outside who want in, after a young girl who’s stolen their stash of drugs and inside. It’s a collection of cult movie acting greats, given the chance to strut their stuff in style, including Stephen Lang (Don’t Breathe), William Sadler (Trespass), Fred Williamson (Black Caesar), Martin Kove (The Karate Kid), David Patrick Kelly (The Warriors), and even George Wendt (Norm from Cheers) for chrissakes! Produced by the imposing Lang who gives the mayhem some credibility and gravitas in his compelling lead performance, this is filled with bloody violence and dimly lit interiors (a few sequences are like watching a VHS dub of an old movie, which is its aesthetic when it is not reflecting neon red or blue off people’s faces). I had a blast with this B-movie, definitely for fans of siege thrillers like Green Room, From Dusk Till Dawn and Prince Of Darkness. Directed by Joe Begos (The Mind’s Eye); I’m unsure when it might go into wider, more accessible release.
VHS Tracking 