Let's split up: What the hell did I just watch? (Hectic Knife, 2016)

I think I’ve been Tromatised by this film.

When I was asked to review a Troma film I agreed. I had an understanding of the company but had not seen many of it's movies. It wasn’t until I actually watched one of their latest acquisitions HECTIC KNIFE (2016, directed by Greg DeLiso), that I really sat down and said to myself: "what the fuck did I get myself into?"

If you want your child to grow up into an apathetic, kitchen knife wielding vigilante who kind of hates himself, despite being somehow unable to die; then name him Hectic Knife. And so, the very, very loose plot of our story begins. Hectic Knife spends his days fighting drug dealers on the streets until there is new nemesis in town: Piggly Doctor. We know Piggly Doctor is the bad guy because he likes to tell us “I'M THE BAD GUY.” Well, this bad guy is blowing up children and only Hectic Knife can save the day- even if he doesn’t want to.

The film is obviously a satire of all the super hero films which saturate the market these days. It plays with tropes such as the tortured hero with a dark past. I would still rather watch this completely bonkers Troma movie than majority of super hero films that have come out in the last 5 years. Hectic Knife even makes fun of the trope of the hero learning his skills via ancient training techniques from exotic gurus. It has some amusing flashback sequences that are full of blood.. However, despite his training, Hectic Knife is no batman, he has that in common with Ben Affleck.

Peter Litvin as Hectic Knife is the best thing about this film. He delivers his lines with perfect amount of monotone and it is fucking hilarious. It is made even more funny with the bananas script. I don’t now how he kept such a straight face. Deadpan is a tough skill to pull off but in this film they got it right. All his lines were a nice break from the over acting surrounding him- this was hopefully intentional.

Hectic knife is an extremely meta little film - a lot of the jokes involve not only breaking the 4^th wall but knocking it down and not giving a shit about it. When this self awareness hit the mark it was great, when it did not it was all I could do not to roll my eyes. The main joke running throughout the movie seems to be scenes going on for too long and the characters commenting on it. Problem is the film is saturated with this joke to the point of the humour being drowned out.

Hectic knife is definitely an exploitation flick, so it does belong here on my horror movie blog. It is full of violence, although comical and not the least disturbing. Stabbings happen in this film about as often as you would expect for a film with knife in the title. Never mind that the blood looks suspiciously like barbecue sauce (turns out it literally was). Add the hard boiled eggs and bagels and Hectic Knife can probably also fit into the genre of cooking show.

Out of respect for every other movie I've reviewed on this blog, I cant give hectic knife a great score out of 10. However, Hectic Knife is a good Troma film; It caters to a niche market and it does well for its intended audience. Does Hectic Knife deserve any film making awards along with mainstream, higher budget films? No. Does it deserve to be bought and played at a bad movie night with good friends who love to laugh? Absolutely!

I'm giving it a 2/10, but for a film that is so bad it's good, I mean it as a compliment.