To celebrate his birthday, a group of veterans meet up at Fred's (Stephen Lang) VFW hall to talk shit, drink too much and hit the strip club after closing the bar. Their night takes a turn for the bloody when a young woman nicknamed Lizard (Sierra McCormick AMERICAN HORROR STORIES) turns up on the door step with a bag stuffed with a highly addicting drug called Hype. A drug that the local drug dealer (Travis Hammer DOMINION) is looking for and he's not above putting everyone's lives in danger to get it back.
Set is a dystopian city reminiscent of the scary images shown on the nightly news back in the 70's and 80's where crime is rampant, drug abuse prevalent and the cops are nowhere to be seen, VFW is an homage to those films that took the negative images capturing a nightly television audience and spun it into a celluloid fantasy. The most obvious influence is John Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976). Berserk scum laying siege to a building, the VFW hall in this case, who seemingly are oblivious to the fact they are throwing their lives away. The timestamps denoting the passage of time; and that it is running out. The dirt and grime of a city in decay in nearly every outdoor shot. Even the dark cinematography is a commonality between the two films.
But VFW isn't just trying to re-capture the magic of one film. It is transporting the viewer back in time. A time when F/X was practical, films had grain and a group of talented people with not much money could exhilarate us with their hard work and dedication. A time when cinema and VHS ruled.
The cast. The cast is fantastic. They are the actors we grew up with watching on television or in some Italian exploitation film. Martin Kove (THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT). William Sadler (DEMON KNIGHT). David Patrick Kelly (THE WARRIORS). Fred Williamson (1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS). They all have aged, and frankly can't get around like they use to forty or fifty years ago but they all looked to be having a blast performing in this type of film one last time.
The best compliment I can pay to a film is that it was fun to view. VFW was a lot of fun to watch.
*** out of ****
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