Director – Paul McAlarney (Ungovernable Force, Gay Jesus)
Starring – Maria Natapov (The Resurrection of Victoria Wheeler, Silence), LeNecia Edmonds (In the Bedroom, Lungs), and Lucas Fleming (Enough to be Dangerous, Moonsmilers)
Release Date – 2014
Rating – 3/5
Troma is a company I would follow to my death. I fucking love Troma and will buy anything they release regardless of what it is. Most of the time I find myself submerged in indie horror goodness but there has been a few occasions where I do get burned. These are few and far in between.
Sometime ago I received the press release for the film Honky Holocaust and its addition to the Troma Now streaming platform. An exploitation film centered around Charles Manson has my name written all over it. I spoke with the Troma table at Cinema Wasteland just a few weeks after that and they informed me of the future blu release of the film. I waited patiently for the release and one day it showed up in my mailbox. My friends over at CAV sent me a review copy. Thank you guys for hooking Horror Society up!
**Spoiler Alert**The film begins with Charles Manson and his followers and Manson convincing them to commit those heinous murders. Fearing a race war, Manson takes his family and followers to the woods where they build an underground bunker to wait out the devastation. Sometime after entering their makeshift bunker Manson falls ill and dies but not before fathering a daughter. When she grows up the family decides to leave the bunker and see the world after the white people has reclaimed. However, what they find is a world where the white man is a second class citizen while the black man reigns supreme.**Spoiler Alert**
I was very fucking excited to check out Honky Holocaust. It looked like someone was fans of Dire Wit and Troma so they decided to make their own thing. I can get behind that but the film was actually more than that which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The acting in this one is surprisingly very well done. Some of the scenes are inconsistent or out of place but the overall film is very well performed. Maria Natapov is great as the daughter of Charles Manson. She is the polar opposite of what one would expect the lineage of Charles Manson to act like which is what really carries the story. She is very innocent and sincere which travels miles with the viewer. She is very good and drawing emotions from the viewer. Her supporting cast is just as great. They make their character stand out and help move the story along at a tremendous pace.
The story for this one starts out promising but does hit a wall around the midway point. The opening segment with Manson and his family sets a tone that isn’t really touched upon once the film hits full swing. We get a man in a cheaply put together fake beard as he prances around the woods portraying the stereotypical hippy but the film does not follow that outlandish set up.
Once the family emerges from the bunker we get a more serious flick set in a topsy turvy world where the social groups have switched sides and the white people finally see the injustices that the minorities have gone through for centuries. This is a strong message that appears after the goofy beginning. It seems out of place as if two stories were put together to create one full script. Consistency is not there.
Finally, the film has plenty of blood and gore. The film showcases several on screen kill scenes that match the tone of the film. The effects are not the best but the film is able to make them work in the film’s favor to add a few more chuckles in here and there. Overall, Honky Holocaust is the finest bloodbath in exploitation history. The story could use a lot of work but there is fun to be had. Check it out.
