Death Nurse (1987)

Edith Mortley is a nurse at a clinic that the city refers indigents for treatment.  Edith's brother provides surgical care, even though he is not actually a surgeon. He just likes to experiment with things, such as heart surgery.

Edith and her brother have a good thing going. They have a steady stream of clients who are quickly killed leaving minimal cost for the clinic. Then they bill medicare or the city for months of treatment. If anyone comes looking for the patient, they claim the person was released after their health improved.

This was shot on video and is only 57 minutes long.  What's even crazier than the short running time is that the film has so much padding. We're treated to scenes of someone digging a hole, as well as real time footage of getting a bowl of ice cream.  There are even scenes from one of the directors others movies, Criminally Insane, which was shot in 1975 and stars the same lead actress.

I was interested in this one because it was shot on video.  Having VHS cameras opened up movie making for amateur filmmakers.  Shot on video movies can have a certain charm due to the filmmakers sincerity, unintentional humor, or can be amusing to watch due to the questionable plot and bad acting. However the majority of these movies are just plain hard to watch, which is where this one falls.

The set for the clinic is the directors home, which makes it hard to believe this is a clinic of any kind.  There is no ADR in this film. The background sound changes from shot to shot during peoples  conversations.  The only music in the film is a single tension inducing chord when footage of two rats is shown. The footage appears to be taken from another horror movie and the chord abruptly cuts off when the scene changes.

The funniest thing about the film is that a character will say something menacing or meant to cause tension and the camera will zoom in on the persons face.  Typically you would hear a music to produce the intended effect, but there is silence as you stare at a face filling the entire screen.

As The Gods Will (2014)

Shun Takahata is a high school student who plays video games and bemoans his boring life.One day at school during a lesson, his teachers head explodes, and a daruma doll forces the class to participate in a life or death game.

Shun manages to survive the game and when one of his friends show up, they try to escape. But the school is locked down and they can't get out. They find other survivors in the gym and the next game begins.

There are times where they run into other survivors and band up to work together to attempt to beat the new game that is thrust upon them. Oh Japan, where do you come up with these things?

This movie is crazy. From little red marble like orbs falling out of the students who die when their heads explode, to the giant cat statue with huge claws, and a deadly game of kick the can.