Alvin Ecarma pushes gore and laughs with Lethal Force

Lethal Force is a high-octane, low budget action film. It's also an over-the-top satire on the entire genre of movies.

If you like Takeshi Kitano, Tsui Hark and old school John Woo, then you'll definitely like this movie - and get all the little jokes as well.

This film stars Cash Flagg, Jr. (ha ha) as ruthless killer Savitch. At the beginning of the movie, Jack Carter's (Frank Prather) son is kidnapped by crime lord Mal Locke. Jack then sells out his best friend, Savitch, to try and get his son back. Mal has been out for revenge ever since Savitch left him for dead many years ago.

There are a few other characters strewn throughout this back-story of revenge and brutality. The rest of the film is a series of encounters between Savitch, Jack and many faceless goons. Lots of action ensues and lots of blood is spilled.

For those of you who have seen - and enjoyed - movies like Harry Knuckles, then you can see that Lethal Force falls into that category. The low-budget special effects of dismemberment and excessive gore add to the humorous nature of the film.

I guess you could call it dark humor, but what's so dark about a man getting a drill bit through his temple?

This is director Alvin Ecarma's first feature film. You may have seen his shorts in past years here at the Johns Hopkins Film Festival or at MicroCineFest.

His more disturbing films, such as My Dog has a Cyst and Sister Mary Blowjob, have also played at the Chicago Underground and San Francisco Asian-American festivals.

Lethal Force made its debut right here on campus at the JHFF 2001.

Cinematographer and action director Eric Thornett had his own feature, 23 Hours, showing at last year's fest along with producer Kent Bye's documentary, Handicamp. This is a big crew made up of many filmmakers, and the finished product reflects good craftsmanship. Thornett's amazing hand-held camera work puts many other low-budget films to shame.

This gore fest has been getting rave reviews from sources like Ain't It Cool News, FileThirteen, Shock Cinema and Micro-Film magazine. While the script doesn't intend to give you a different outlook on life, it will please any action film buff. Made as homage, there are references to many Hong Kong action flicks - including a big scene straight out of Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill.

Lethal Force will be playing at this year's MicroCineFest on Saturday Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. All CineFest shows will be held at the G-Spot at 2908 Falls Rd.

For more info on the movie or the fest check out http://www.lethalforcethemovie.com and http://www.microcinefest.com.