Hell bent on retribution the wild, comical and crazy movie Groupers gets a wide release on October 1st and it’s insane. Just in time to kick off the Halloween month, the film has some good acting from the main character and a couple of support roles as well. It’s just enough to justify the script that luckily has the crew and cameras to pull it off. It may be an indie, but the filmmaker knew what he was doing
Two friends Brad (Peter Mayer-Klepchick) and Dylan (Cameron Duckett) who are both school chums and big men on campus enter a bar and head straight for Meg (Nicole Dambro) the nearest good locking female. She seems to like their attention so she invites them out to her van in the parking lot. Before they know it, she has them hog tied in a empty swimming pool.
Before I get ahead of the story and I promise not to give too much away, we find that the two bullies have been terrorizing Meg’s brother Orin (Jesse Pudles). Setting up this diabolical revenge scheme that will be filmed and sent out on the web, Meg starts to torture the young men in ways you would not imagine, especially since they are homophobic.
Nicely written and directed by Anderson Cowan he shows that even with his limited funding, if you have the equipment, a scathingly sadistic plot and can work with a cast of fairly unknown actors, that one can put together a viable show. Very cunning and devilish, the movie won’t win any awards for best picture, but it’s worth watching all the same.
That said however, Cowan does let the film get away from him a bit by adding too many support characters that are unnecessary and stretch out the good parts. A good rule of thumb for filmmakers, as far as this kind of movie goes, keep it as close to an hour and 30 minutes as possible.
His saver is the acting by Nicole Dambro as the sister who teams up with her brother to take down bullies. Her Meg’s a crafty twenty-something that knows how to punish Brad and Dylan by keeping them “locked” together. She also has an attitude that fits her character showing she can’t stand guys who take advantage of women at bars. You may recognize Nicole if you have watched the TV series “Con” in which she plays lead character Iris.
Groupers has not been rated by the MPAA, but has sex, pervasive language and some violence. The film should not be viewed by immature children and has contents for the over 15 crowd.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A good production for the limited budget. (3 out of 5 Stars)
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Nicole Dambro, Peter Mayer-Klepchick, Cameron Duckett, Jesse Pudles
Directed and written by: Anderson Cowan
Genre: Comedy, Drama
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, contains pervasive language, sex, some violence
Running Time: 1 hr. 49 min.
Opening Date: October 1, 2019
Distributed by: Global Digital Releasing
Released in: Theaters, in color
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
