ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Exploitation-film historian A.C. Nicholas, who has a sketchy background and hails from parts unknown in Western Pennsylvania, was once a drive-in theater projectionist and disk jockey. In addition to being a writer, editor, podcaster, voice-over artist, and stand-up comedian, he’s a regular guest co-host on the streaming Drive-In Asylum Double Feature and has been a guest on Making Tarantino: The Podcast. He also contributes to the Drive-In Asylum fanzine and the Horror and Sons website. His most recent essay, “Of Punks and Stains and Student Films: A Tribute to Night Flight, the 80s Late-Night Cult Sensation,” appeared in Drive-In Asylum #26.

I enjoy regional horror films. Indeed, the modern age of horror films was kicked off in 1968 with the release of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, which was filmed in Pittsburgh. I’ve been watching a lot of Dixieland microbudget films lately. They often share cast and crew members, and while some are better than others, the biggest thing that they have in common is moxie. Their filmmakers each had a dream of making a film and not only hustled up the money (usually under $100,000), but also finished their films and secured distribution. To that, they have my sincerest congratulations on completing these Herculean tasks. Today, we look at the first film of Arkansas writer/producer/director Jason Pitts, The Forest Through the Trees.

Pitts has fashioned a satanic cult film where a young woman (Annie Sullivan), along with her lover (Alivea Disney) and her stepfather (James Stokes), runs afoul of a demon cult in that forest through the trees. Daughter and stepfather have not been on good terms, especially since the disappearance of the daughter’s mother (Anna Hardwick), who suddenly returned to the cult that controlled her as a young woman. Evincing some larger notes, the film progresses as an existential story of personal sacrifice for each of the main characters, with gory make-up effects and plot twists along the way.

At the screening I attended at the promising new Columbia, South Carolina venue The Babylon Kino, Pitts cited films like Hereditary, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, and Rosemary’s Baby and the TV show Lucifer as influences. While I get those references—particularly the homage to Julian Kane, the creepy preacher with the hat from Poltergeist II—I noticed touches reminding me of Enter the Devil (1972), a regional horror film about a satanic cult in the desert; Ti West’s much-loved 70s throwback film, The House of the Devil (2009); and The Prophecy (1995), with Christopher Walken as the Angel Gabriel on Earth.

Overall, this is an above-average film from a filmmaker whose previous effort was the well-received fan film Vorhees Night of the Beast (2021), where Friday the 13th’s Jason (Stokes) fought Bigfoot (professional wrestler Jacob Southwick). Low budget doesn’t necessarily mean low quality, and Pitts gets strong performances from Stokes, Disney, and Scott Doss, who, with hat, bolo tie, and malevolent cackle, does a grand job channeling the late actor Julian Beck from Poltergeist II. Pitts is a natural with casting and directing actors, and his dialogue generally sounds authentic. 

That said, my biggest issues with the film are pacing and consistency of style. The film runs 107 minutes, which is about 25 minutes too long. (Apart from saving money on shipping film canisters, Roger Corman knew that 82-minute films didn’t usually outstay their welcome.) Now, understandably, a microbudget doesn’t lend itself to big set pieces, and while Pitts does well with his violence and gore, some of which is unsettling, the film is a lot of talk before its neat hellzapoppin’ third act. Doss is so good doing his “we are here for the final sacrifice in three parts” (almost underscoring the padding), but he would have been even more effective with less speechifying.

The film’s technical credits are generally pro throughout—a shout-out to Italian composer Simone Cilio’s effective score—but I wish the film, especially some of the nighttime shots, looked a little more balanced. Though not a hindrance to enjoying it, skin tones, for example, shouldn’t look good in some scenes and like the actors had jaundice in others.

At the end of the day, Jason Pitts and his cast and crew should be proud of what they accomplished for so little money. I wish them well and look forward to their future film projects. 

The Forest Through the Trees from BayView Entertainment, the New Jersey distributor friendly to microbudget filmmakers, will soon be available on streaming services. Support regional filmmaking and check it out. 

Retired pro-wrestler and MMA veteran Jack “Horsepower” Silver (director, writer and star Greg Burridge, who is also a pro wrestler) has been taken to Deathpit, an underground fighting tournament featuring some of the world’s worst criminals and fighters, like Hammerstone (Bryan Larkin) and Kasparnov (Thomas Dawkins). Horsepower has no idea if what’s happening is happening to him at times, as he’s been hit in the head so many times that his ex-wife once threw in the towel in his last match when he was punched once.

I don’t know Progress Wrestling or the UK indy scene all that well, but I do know that the man playing Kasparov is Cara Noir. A lot of the stuntwork is done by wrestlers, so the fights are the main draw here, and they’re wild, including X-ray moments like a video game. Sure, I may have watched tons of underground fighting movies lately, but this stood out because of its high-energy style and willingness to go insane in its matches.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Cassady Jones (Karlee Rose) and Alexa Star (Kathryn Aboya) are about to battle for the Excelsis Fighting Championship title. Still, this fight is about more than just who the better woman is. It may be about the future of women’s MMA. As the women try to prove their fighting ability, Donna (Stephanie Jones), the president of the company, is dealing with corporate battles with shareholder  Frank (Richard Zeppieri) and PR man John (Alex Cruz). No matter who wins the fight, Scarlett (Avaah Blackwell) is waiting to take on the survivor.

The real star is the fight scenes, choreographed by Wayne Wells and Hubert Boorder. Working with director and co-writer Jaze Bordeaux, they elevate a low-budget fight movie. Sure, it’s a somewhat expected story, but when these fights feel like you’re getting grounded and pounded, you’ll forget that and just savor this movie’s gritty look and feel. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it!

You can watch this on Tubi.

I am a very simple man and Champions — AKA Karate Tiger: The Champions* — is the movie I am looking for. Yes, it’s every underground fighting movie ever — but it has Nikos from the My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies (Louis Mandylor) as William Rockman, the one-time Terminal Combat champion of the world, who quit the sport — it’s UFC — when he killed someone in training. Yes, it’s every underground fight movie you’ve ever rented, but somehow dialed up beyond what it should be.

After Terminal Combat has been outlawed, Max Brito (Danny Trejo, having the best time ever) gathers the champions, like The King (Ken Shamrock) and either takes their wives or kills their brothers, like Rockman’s sibling Ray (Jeff Wolfe), which brings everyone into a tournament to the death that has some wild characters in it, like a Japanese master (Rich Rabago) who doesn’t want to fight a female competitor and then kills her to the silence of everyone watching. Awkward.

There’s a microchip in the head of The King, which Max Brito uses to make him kill! A microchip in the World’s Most Dangerous Man’s head! That’s the only way I can believe that anyone in this can beat him.

Then, this movie doubles down with roles for George “Buck” Flower, Lee Reherman (Hawk from American Gladiators who plays the Jesus-living fighter Steele Manheim), Bobbie Blackford (Sgt. Kimberly Pepatone, who is here to bust the fight ring like Stryker from the Mortal Kombat games), Larry B. Scott (from Revenge of the Nerds), Harrison Young (Senator Able, who has his own prison fighter, Vedder, who is played Cristos, who was in Desperado), Lelagi Togisala (who is Jackal, a trickster who –s poiler — gets stabbed by Vedder), Fabian Carrillo (the Latin Dragon), David Rowe (Mage) and HOLY SHIT Kool Keith playing himself? Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Black Elvis, Reverand Tom, Mr. Nogatco, Poppa Large, Keith Korg, Rhythm X, Mr. Gerbik, Big Willie Smith, Tashan Dorrsett, Dr. Ultra Crazy…Kool Keith is in this underground MMA movie!?!

Directed by Peter Gathings Bunche and written by George Francisco, Peter McAlevey and Thomas S. McNamara, this is the kind of movie that gives Ken Shamrock a bazooka and has him blow people up real good. If that doesn’t make you feel something good, you’re lost.

You can watch this on Tubi.

* I have to straight up quote Matty from The Schlock Pit — and bow before his knoweldge — who has blown my mind with this: “Champions was released in Germany as the penultimate film in the Karate Tiger franchise: an eleven-strong series of generally unrelated biff-‘em-ups that, a la Italy’s sprawling La Casa horror saga, were retitled and slapped together for marketing purposes. To wit: Karate Tiger = No Retreat, No Surrender (1985); Karate Tiger II = No Retreat, No Surrender II (1987); Der Kickboxer: Karate Tiger 3 = Kickboxer; Karate Tiger IV = Best of the Best (1989); Karate Tiger 5 = The King of the Kickboxers (1990); Karate Tiger 6 = Kickboxer 3: The Art of War(1992); Karate Tiger 7 = To Be the Best (1993); Karate Tiger 8 = Fists of Iron (1995); Karate Tiger 9 = Superfights (1997); Karate Tiger: The Champions = Champions; and American Karate Tiger = Showdown (1993). To further confuse matters, The King of the Kickboxers is also known as Karate Tiger 4 in Hungary; Best of the Best II (1993) is known as the ridiculous sounding Karate Tiger 6: Best of the Best 2 in the Czech Republic and, sometimes, Germany; and Fighting Spirit (1992) is known as Karate Tiger 6 in several European countries.”

John Larson (Ian Jacklin) has lost a friend to the underground fighting world. Man, the fight clubs from the early direct-to-video 90s continue to make me so happy to watch old films that no one cares about but me. Anyway, Ian Jacklin was a karate champ, and that was enough in 1994 to get him to star in a movie.

Nick Wallace (Nicholas Hill) and John work in physical labor jobs, but there’s no money to be made working on the docks. The union has been on strike, and they’re down on their luck. It’s tough—so tough. So John leaves town, and Nick goes into the fighting world, and that brings John back to save his pal.

Paul Landis (Martin Kove) is a fight promoter who pals around with his main fighter, Mark Vanik (Matthias Hues, who is on the poster instead of the star), who finds them going around and blowing up other mob bosses like Jimmie Fratello (Richard Lynch). Yes, Richard Lynch is in this movie just long enough to reach the 90s video union rules for getting his name in the credits.

With the help of reporter Danielle Richardson (Renee Allman), fight promoter Big Man (Bob Wyatt, the director of Rhonda Sheer’s Tender Loving Care and one of the writers), neighborhood tomboy Tommy (Michele “Mouse” Krasnoo from Kickboxer 4) and Benny “The Jet” Urquidez playing himself, John will search for his missing friend. Is it silly for me to see this as two male couples fighting each other instead of just celebrating that love between them would solve things? This is not unfounded: Kove and Hues’ characters straight up get a massage together and watch the fights like an old couple taking in the theater. Bless them, I want them to be happy.

This has Brick Bronsky, Madusa and Tony “Ludvig Borga” Halme, three pro wrestlers, as bad guys, plus Lisa London (Rocky from Savage Beach), porn star Dick Nasty billed as Peter “Sugarfoot” London in a fight with Ed Neal (who played Lord Zedd), direction by Joe Coppoletta (who did episodes of Knots Landing and Falcon Crest before this movie), a script co-written by Steve Tymon (Fraternity Demon, Mirror, Mirror III: The Voyeur, John T. Bone’s Dark Secrets, the Ring of Fire movies) and the feeling that this could be a off-brand Capcom beat ’em up (SNK? Irem?) come to life.