Film Review: Drillbit (short film) (1992)

SYNOPSIS:

A scientist who discovered a problem with a new AIDS drug is killed, along with his wife. His son survives an attack with a power drill, and when the drill bit is found left in his eye socket, he is driven mad with his thirst for vengeance.

REVIEW:

Drillbit is about a futuristic “Anglo-America”, where AIDS has taken its toll on the populace to the extent that it’s become an epidemic. When a drug company releases a cure, the country enters a new era of partying and free love. However, one scientist discovers that the drug is actually killing the body’s cells themselves, and when he reports his findings to the drug company, he and his wife are murdered with a hammer. His son is attacked with a drill, and though he survives the attack, the drill bit breaks off and is embedded in his skull. Apparently, this makes him go crazy, and he will stop at nothing to get his revenge on the evil company that killed his family. Along the way, he encounters bad biker gangs and, if you know anything about a horror movie involving drugs that alter the body,  of course there’s zombies.

It’s a short film, lasting right about a half an hour, and while I’d like to say that it should’ve been longer, I don’t know that I could’ve taken it. It’s a really weird flick, because the first five to ten minutes are set up like, ya know, the beginning of a movie. After that, things kinda go off the rails, and it becomes a “trailer” for a longer film. The narrator of the movie, who does his best to affect a wrestling announcer voice, yelling in excitement when what he’s saying is important/supposedly exciting, tells us what happens on-screen, but in a movie trailer-type way, so I’m not sure if that was the intent or just the final result. It certainly felt like a 30-minute teaser for a longer movie, but… again, I’m kinda glad it wasn’t.

The film is in English, with German subtitles. All of the actors have an incredibly British accent. Which is odd, because, again, this is a film completely set in America. And, the narrator sounds like a typical American. It’s just a really poorly made movie, which is a shame, because there are some very good things that are being done here. The special effects are good, and the creature and makeup effects are awesome, very much like something in the Toxic Avenger-era Troma movies. There were some brutal kills, some nice gore, and some masks that look like they came from a Hollywood movie set. So there was definitely some substance behind all of the nonsense.

Despite its positives, the acting was horrific, the direction and cinematography was even worse, and the film wound up being a hodgepodge of odd incoherencies and ludicrous plot. I don’t feel like the filmmakers really knew where they wanted to take the story, and, consequently, after watching I also don’t know exactly what was happening. There’s not really an ending, though there’s a clear beginning. There’s not really a plot after the first ten minutes or so. There’s no cohesion to bring what little substance the film actually has together.

There is, however, a scene where Drillbit’s girlfriend walks into a room that contains a nude woman who has been disemboweled, and she screams in terror at the giant monster in the room who is jerking off with the dead woman’s intestines. So there’s that.