GeekTyrant October Zombie Fest: VENOM

                                

Ok peeps, my pick this week is Venom. This cool underated voodoo/zombie film was directed by Jim Gillespie and is one of my all-time favorite zombie films and definitely one I have watched many, many times over. The movie was released during the Weinstein/Dimension split which later was resolved and absorbed back into one faction.  The two studios dropped the ball on several films while all this was going on. Venom didn't get much push, hardly any promotional backing or advertising.  Ray Sawyer aka "Mr. Jangles" (Rick Cramer) was molded in the form of Jason Vorhees and was supposed to be "the next horror franchise" but shit happens.

Tagline: He Never Hurt A Soul Until The Day He Died.

Trivia:

The movie is based on a story for a video game that BFG has in development. 

Originally entitled "Backwater". 

In the video game and some versions of the script, Ray Sawyer was nicknamed Mr. Jangles because of his keys. When you hear them jangling, you know he's near. 

Fangoria Magazine did a behind-the-scenes story during the making of the film while it was shooting under the title "The Reaper". The title was changed to "Venom" shortly before it's release. 

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Sean is pulled through the window with the chain by Ray Sawyer, the whole window behind him shatters. However, a few moments later inside the house - the window has somehow repaired itself.

Continuity: When Sean is pulled through the glass window with a chain, he doesn't have any cuts on him.

Continuity: When Sean gets out of the lake, he is wet and wearing a bathing suit. When he mounts his motorcycle less than 30 seconds later, he is fully clothed and completely dry.

Miscellaneous: The town 'Backwater' that the movie is set in, seems to be deserted. No people are out and no shops or anywhere are open - and it's a pretty big town. The only place that is open is the diner.

Synopsis:

Eric and his Yankee teenage mates travel South by motorbike to a swampy backwater town in Louisiana, where Sean's father Ray lived, the local tow truck driver, who abandoned the then baby-boy and his mother. Ray recently died, while trying to rescue a voodoo witch and at her urging her trunk, which got opened and released the poisonous serpents possessed by the souls of truly evil sinners she trapped in them. Ray was bitten and penetrated as the car sunk, and shortly after it's dragged out rises as an 'undead' zombie, who murders without provocation and is immune to lethal weapons. He soon finds the teens' trace and proves his indiscriminately evil blood-thirst by charging his only offspring equally lethally. However they were warned by Eden's friend Cece, the witch's granddaughter, who explained the situation in her home and assures them when the zombie attacks it's safe thanks to a 'blessed'...