The Once and Future Smash/End Zone 2

Ever heard of End Zone 2? No nor have many other attendees at a convention in the US that is due to announce a reboot of the aforementioned obscurity.

A film that is part of a series of slashers that had American football at its heart. A promoter has lured both the players purported to have played the killer Smashmouth: Mikey Smash (Michael St Michaels) and William Mouth (Bill Weeden).

There is some dispute as to who is the killer though both appear to have some claim to the role. Smash was in the original but his actions offset meant he was dropped for the sequel and Mouth cast in the role though as that film stops after an hour, his performance was never seen. As such there’s a feud between them exacerbated by them both having to share a signing and merchandise table.

The whole thing as can be expected is muddle and mess with the reboot announcement not having quite the profile anyone expected, thus the numbers are poor. There’s also the small matter that there’s more interest in the Man-spider event that is drawing the crowds away from the pair. Eventually they are left with little option but work together in a bizarre way.

This a beautifully observed and lovingly made spoof by writers and directors Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein, with Cacciola going before the camera towards the end as the whole things starts to get out of control. During the film there are snippets of End Zone 2, which has a full run after the main feature. That the filmmakers could get so many horror industry notables in and happy to send themselves up and go along with the flow, says that there’s not a mean bone here.

The film covers almost every aspect of low-budget US exploitation film production, including the European rip offs that are part and parcel of this genre of filmmaking and could be classed as one of its own. Certainly, this film makes a case for that.

That, and much else, will be picked up by hardcore fans but as with Spinal Tap, this film shouldn’t alienate audiences with in-jokes because it is too well written, funny and played in such a way that it can’t fail to reach broader than the genre its ribbing.