WEASELS RIP MY FLESH (1979)
Directed by Nathan Schiff
Image Entertainment DVD
Reviewed 05.13.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba

THE FILM
Among the moldy cardboard and layers of dust in the back corner of your attic lies a box of mysterious old Super 8 reels...all shot way before you were even born and all begging to be spooled up again. Let’s see -- cousin Freddie’s baby shower, family Christmas ‘69, trip to Wisconsin in ‘71, wait...what’s this...Weasels Rip My Flesh?!

The newly released DVD of Nathan Schiff’s Weasels Rip My Flesh is like a chance discovery of the greatest home movie ever made. Weasels is a feature length cheesy gore film, completely shot on Super 8 by a group of high school seniors in Long Island, NY. It’s also a glorious piece of non-film, with all the requisites you’ve come to expect from bad movies, only hidden beneath the guise of a home movie enthusiast.

The plot of this film really isn’t too important. For interest’s sake, it concerns some radioactive waste, a couple of giant weasel monsters, a mad scientist (sporting a blue windbreaker and huge mustache), and some very macho police officers. Naturally, things are pretty run of the mill in the story department, but that’s not much of an issue here. The non-stop barrage of strangeness kept me glued to the screen. The gore effects (which are pretty much non-stop) are of the cheapest variety -- chicken innards, strawberry jelly, egg yolk, homemade fake blood, cotton balls, etc. -- but somehow manage to appear effective in a surreal kind of way. Acting is totally nonexistent and almost every male appearing in the film sports a gigantic mustache and tough mirror shades. The weasel monsters themselves tend to look like strange elephant deformities and are mind numbingly odd. On top of all that, Schiff is obviously a “realist” in the strictest sense -- think about what it would be like if you stood in one spot and watched someone start their car and drive away. Boring? Certainly! But that’s what home movies are all about...

Weasels Rip My Flesh is a regional treasure. This is what happens when a group of kids get together and decide to make a monster gore movie in their parents’ backyard. While it’s better than any home movie my family ever shot, it’s still a home movie, and therein lies the charm.

AUDIO AND VIDEO
For a twenty year old Super 8 film, the print and sound are pretty darn good. Of course the expected lines and scratches are present, and the audio is somewhat tinny, but it works. I was actually a bit surprised that the transfer and print looked as presentable as they did.

EXTRAS
Now this is the way to do it. There are a veritable boatload of extras on this disc, so let’s dive in...

First off, we’ve got a commentary track by Nathan Schiff, the man behind the camera. This track runs the length of the film and is more often informative than not. Schiff occasionally falls into the “describing on-screen action” trap and has a somewhat monotone voice, but he manages to keep the tidbits flowing. In addition to the commentary, there’s a 20 minute onscreen interview with Schiff that tends to overlap a bit, as well as a 12 minute interview with two of the original cast members. Both interview segments are interesting, but not terribly engaging.

Up next are six of Nathan Schiff’s early short films, all shot on Super 8. The films range from around eighth grade right up until Weasels was shot. I only found one, “Katherine Khullman Lets It All Hang Out,” to be as enjoyable as the feature. It’s some kind of spoof on evangelism and features a rubber-masked devil with a vampire cape. The other five are about what you’d expect from a 12 year old -- fun to watch once, but a bit boring overall.

Finishing up the supplements are a few trailers for Schiff’s other Super 8 films (probably some of the goriest stuff I’ve ever laid eyes on) and a still gallery made up of screen grabs.

FINAL THOUGHTS
By now, you should have a pretty good idea about whether or not you’re going to appreciate this DVD. For me, Weasels is a perfect amateur obscurity, the kind of stuff I really enjoy. A tip of the hat to Image for releasing something this eccentric on DVD (and for treating it so well).

Two dudes


Weasel incident


Mad scientist at large


Weasel attack