Chris Seaver and his Low Budget Pictures are at it again. Making low-brow, barely any budget horror-comedies for about ten years now, Seaver and his gang of friends (who make up LBP) found a cult following a few years back when Tempe Video picked up their goofy ode to Troma and flesh eating, Mulva: Zombie Ass Kicker! Since then it's been "same old, same old" from LBP as Seaver has stuck to his formula of non-sensical banter, crude sex humour, and a love of all things John Stamos.

That's not particularly a bad thing, especially considering your tolerance for this type of thing. But for me, it got old really fast. I admit to enjoying Mulva and their follow-up Filthy McNasty had its moments, but Carnage For The Destroyer (originally titled Appollyon The Destroyer and then Carnage For Dummies - wonder why they had to change that name?) has Seaver piling on the pop culture jokes, wacky dialogue, and scattershot plot without getting any of the laughs.

The movie opens with a semi-amusing (and long ass) narrated scroll that tells us the back story of Appollyon before the generic ska LBP uses in the credits of all their movies kicks in. From there we meet Sebastian (Travis Indovina, who admittedly brings some unexplainable charm to his role), a lover of epic heavy metal such as Iron Maiden and Dio who is in charge of the yearly Bonejack Heights haunted house.

In between constant bouts of the cast members insulting each other, the Goth girl character peeing at will all over the place, and LBP mascot Teen Ape (really a guy in a ape mask talking like a thuggish African-American) trying to get laid, they somehow manage to resurrect the title Viking demon who proceeds to kill them off one-by-one.

Appollyon in his cheap chainmail and skin mask takes the hammer to a few people's heads before everyone ends-up holed-up in a nearby bowling alley. It's up to Sebastian and his knowledge of all things metal to stop the rampaging demon.

Carnage For The Destroyer is the flipside of the indie horror-comedy coin. On the one side we have successful stuff like Raising The Stakes, which works because of some witty dialogue and a general sense of fun, and on the other side we get stuff like this. Movies that, while not meant to be taken seriously, feel like they were only made to please the people involved in making them. Which makes them incredibly tiring for people not "in on the joke".

Packed with tiring off-colour talk (one girl proclaims Teen Ape's seed, "tastes like children") and not even able to supply us with any decent nudity (all we get are some really unattractive "floppies"), Carnage For The Destroyer is a waste of time. Seaver's movies are beginning to look better, mostly thanks to the use of a DV Camera I'm thinking, but they're certainly not getting any better. (Chris Hartley, 5/4/06)

Directed By: Chris Seaver.
Written By: Chris Seaver.

Starring: Travis Indovina, Meredith Host, Matt Puckerchord, A.J. Stabone.

Picture Ratio: Full Frame.

Picture Quality: Shot on, what I assume, was DV - Carnage For The Destroyer certainly looks better than prior LBP discs. The clarity is solid enough, there's no dirt or jagged edges, and it looks about as good as a movie this low-budget can.

Extras: You have to give LBP one thing, they cater well to their fans on their DVDs.

Here we get a trailer (plus trailers for 3 other Tempe releases), the none-too-serious "Epic Metal" commercial parody, a 37 minute cast rehearsal which is basically everyone having fun in Seaver's living room, a behind-the-scenes featurette (29 minutes), and two commentaries to round out the disc: one by Seaver, the other a group commentary by cast and crew. They're nothing "deep", but they make for an okay listen.

Visit Low Budget Pictures and Tempe Video for more info.