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Depraved is the brainchild of up and coming director Henry Weintraub, whose previous short film Mind Slime was a throwback to the glory days of Troma style flicks. With Depraved, Weintraub is taking his low-budget cinema in a totally different direction, but with mixed results.

The film is basically a revenge tale, centering on a girl named Edith. Through a nice mingling of flashbacks and present-tense action, the story unfolds revealing the shattered past of Edith. One night while kicking it at a party, Edith sees her boyfriend munching the carpet of another girl. Distraught because it’s not her pink canoe that’s getting dugout, with tears in her eyes, she runs from the party and down the street… not for long though, as a rockabilly dude runs her over with his car. Turns out the rockabilly dude has a soft spot for mangled bodies and he takes her home and makes her his sex pet. The rockabilly rapist is a sharing type so he invites all of his buddies over for some special bonding time. Eventually Edith escapes her captor and doles out some justifiable and squeamish revenge from the comfort of her wheelchair… all in the span of thirty minutes.

With Depraved, Director Weintraub has crafted a tightly paced flick that seems to fly by in the blink of an eye. The set ups and shot selections are done fairly well and the lighting is used to full effect in a few scenes, where the inner turmoil… or instability of the main character is shown through the use of shadow and light. There were a few scenes where patterns disrupted the look of the film, but for the most part everything looks pretty good. The story could use a little more characterization and a bit more space in between killings because it stacks corpses on top of each other like your grandma used to do when she made flapjacks. If you’re into no nonsense filmmaking that eschews things like tension in favor of fast-paced brutality, then Depraved is just what the doctor ordered… besides that rectal exam.

The acting in the film is fairly mixed, but vastly improved over Weintraub’s earlier efforts in Mind Slime. Maybe it’s due to Weintraub’s familiarity and comfort with the cast, but all the actors who appeared in Mind Slime step up their game and are actually quite enjoyable. Lorien Emmerich is pretty good as Edith, the wiener chopping femme who rolls through the film dishing out unabashed vengeance from the comfort of her wheelchair. Jason Fuller is underused as the crusty detective; the Weintraub cinema veteran proves again that he can eat up the screen. There’s even an appearance from Troma-meister Lloyd Kauffman… he’s his typical cheesy self. Not all of the acting is great. There are a few shitty performances from a couple people, most notably the girl who played Edith’s sister and the main rapist. There is some stilted dialogue that sounds unnatural and ruins the flow that the film has when the characters aren’t talking.

The best part about the film is without a doubt the gore. The film isn’t overly brutal, but the stuff that is done is fantastic and looks great. Weintraub certainly has a way with gore and the scenes of violence are done excellently and stand out from the rest of the film. The blood flows liberally throughout the movie and despite the fact that it all seems stacked on top of each other it never gets old.

Depraved is a solid effort, but it lacks something to make it great. Maybe with a little more pacing or some extra characterization the film could have been better. As it is, it’s a typical story of revenge and depravity that plays out like a gore highlight reel. Not bad, but it’s nothing that’s going to stick in your mind.

Final Synopsis: If you like solid independent cinema, that actually tries, instead of tries to rip you off, Depraved is a must see. It has its flaws and for non-genre fans, the film won’t resonate. But if you’re one of those people that just can’t get enough of some chick dishing out revenge on rapers’ nuts then you should check it out.

Points Lost: -1 for some bad acting from the supporting cast, -1 for a lack of solid characterization, -1 for a lack of impact due to the fast pace of the killings, -1 for not making the rapers bad enough

Lesson Learned: Never run anywhere in tears… it blinds you and makes you get run over by cars.

Burning Question: How many girls do you think are locked up in closets right now?

Depraved
6/10

Tags: 2008, brutality, henry weintraub, horror, latest independent film reviews, latest independent movie reviews, latest indie film reviews, latest indie movie reviews, latest indie reviews, latest movie reviews, leif fuller, lloyd kaufman, lorien emmerich, New Independent Film Reviews, new independent movie reviews, new indie film reviews, new indie movie reviews, new indie reviews, rape/revenge tragedy, recent3, severed penis, ultra-violence