American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon – Review by Luce Alan and Yeti

0

 

      So, the reason I waited on this review was because I really wanted to bring in Luce to do a double review on it. I thought it would be nice to get someone else’s opinion and possibly get someone else on this AGP train with me. On top of that, we really enjoy doing these things.  So without further rambling from me, let’s get into it!
 
American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon-A Review
by Luce Allan
       The dawn of the apocalypse is dependent upon the outcome of a young woman’s possession in American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon (2017), in which a succession of experienced Catholic priests attempt to banish a demon who hopes to use its human vessel, Mary (Jessica Cameron), as the mother of the Antichrist. As the demon kills the priests one by one, the fight against a future of triumphant evil grows more dire and terrifying with each gruesome end.
      American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon finds its core strength in the quality of its special effects and the creative and magnificently gratuitous gore present throughout the film. The movie features a significant amount of memorable bloodshed; however, without spoiling a major plot point within the film, there is a particular scene that features an extended sequence of creative and unflinching gore that is nausea-inducing in the best possible way. The special effects are enhanced by Jessica Cameron’s excellent performance as the possessed Mary, as she crafts an atmosphere of unbridled demonic energy with relish. The moments of palpable intensity within the film, at their best, grab the viewer with a potent rush of chills.
      This film, however, is subject to a few prominent flaws. Although the scenes involving the exorcism are engaging and powerful, certain plot points become repetitive as the storyline progresses, which considerably slows down the film’s pace. Some of the performances lack authenticity, and serve as a bit of a distraction. Finally, the film-with the exception of the twist ending-fails to contribute innovative elements to the well-populated demonic possession/exorcism subgenre of horror.
Overall, although American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomonmay delight fans of high-quality gore, it will be largely forgettable to those who are well-versed in possession films.
American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon
-Yeti
                Poor young sweet Mary has herself one hell of a case of demonic possession. The Church knows that there is something different about her case and will go to any lengths to deliver the soul within her. The problem is, Mary’s new guest doesn’t want to leave and will kill the shit out of priests to keep its cute new home.

 

                Okay! Third AGP film I’ve watched this week. One of the things I love about this series is how much variety you’re given. Bouquet of Guts and Gore is a grainy snuff film, Sacrifice is a beautifully shot descent into madness, and The Song of Solomon is a pretty solid possession film. The brutality and gore that I expected is there from the opening scene but this one has more plot than the other two I’ve seen. I’m torn when it comes to possession films, though. On one hand I love them and on the other hand, it takes a lot to make one different enough to be interesting. This film is definitely different. It delivers some plot twists that you don’t usually see and looks at things a little differently than your average “The power of Christ compels you!” flick.
                The thing about having a plot is that performances other than the suffering of the fallen kind of matter. That’s the weak point for Song of Solomon. The cast is unbalanced and most of the performances are pretty stiff. As far as acting goes in this one, Jessica Cameron really steals the show. She nails the transformation from kind of sullen college-age girl to full on gut-vomiting demonic entity. Honestly, though, I don’t think that the stiff performances are bad enough to take away from the overall film. I mean, fuck man, we all know we didn’t sit down to watch this movie for its nuanced and Oscar-worthy performances.
                Song of Solomon delivers some truly brutal scenes and a pile of dead priests. I honestly don’t know what else you could ask for. Seriously. Not only does AGP give you variety in types of movies, they’re not just doing the same old kills over and over again. Each film has something fresh to offer. This one gave tons of tongue ripping, some amazingly realistic broken bones, and (as evidenced by the poster art) Mary vomits up all of her organs. Fuck me, that was great. So, the priests don’t just die. They die in really new and interesting ways. That alone, makes this movie worth checking out.
                Honestly, I think this is the one film in the series that has the potential to have wider appeal. The themes and overall feel of the film would be more acceptable to the masses than any of the others. Without the incredible special effects, it would be a pretty decent possession film with a good story and a cool ass plot twist at the end. We’ve all loved possession flicks since The Exorcist and I feel like this one would be well received. To test this theory, I plan to show this movie to as many of my middle-of-the-road horror fan friends as possible in hopes of getting them hooked on the American Guinea Pig series. I know, I’m an awesome friend.
                So, all in all, would I recommend this movie? Hell yeah I would. It’s a good possession flick with a solid lead, an interesting plot, and some really creative kills. All the good far outweighs the wooden acting that shows up in places. Give this one a watch. Worst case scenario, you help bring about the end of the world. It’s available now. Go find it and watch it. Do it.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *