Review from MTVs Headbanger’s Ball
Source
This B-movie horror/sci-fi film is a case study on how to make a compelling, stylistic movie for $8,000. Director Christopher Sharpe shot the flick in and around Oklahoma City, using volunteer actors, producers and cameramen, and only paid for location shooting, food, special effects and makeup.
For this reason, the director’s commentary that accompanies the DVD is especially interesting, revealing how the move dealt with numerous setbacks including late night shoots, lighting problems, uncooperative strippers and over meticulous makeup specialists to create a flick that’s gripping, convincingly gory and, for the most part, unpredictable.
Sharpe’s passion and vision, and Shogo Nakagawa’s cinematography skills and creative editing compensate for the sometimes mediocre acting, amateurish fight scenes, continuity errors and plot holes, and if you focus on the storyline and the cool camera angles, Sex Machine (Anthem) will suck you in and keep you there.
Sharpe’s greatest asset, despite his limited budget, is his love and knowledge of film, and throughout he and Nakagawa make nods to movies that inspired them, including “The Reanimator,” “The Matrix,” “Grease,” “My So Called Life” “Rocky” and “Ichi The Killer.” But “Sex Machine” can be thoroughly enjoyed on its own merits without a degree in geek films.
The story addresses a man, Frank, (John Howell), who finds himself covered in bandages and severely scarred from multiple operations he can’t recall. Moreover, he discovers that his body parts have been assembled together Frankenstein-style from the limb of a black boxer, the arm of a sleazy tattoo freak and several other specimens that have driven him to a life of violence and retribution.
At a peak moment of realization, he bloodily extracts a metal implant in his neck and is suddenly flooded with snippets of memories from his past life. Hooking up with Claire (Jessica Alfrey), an ex-girlfriend who thought he died in a coma, and a friend, Owen (Sheridan Marquardt), who owns a local bowling alley, he embarks on a quest to find out how he became a monster and how he can exact a punishing revenge. But events don’t go as planned, and Frank finds himself and his friends in the middle of a bizarre government conspiracy as combatants swoop down comic-book style, in an effort to snuff out him and everyone he cares for.
For fans of mad scientist flicks, “Terminator” style adventures and Dario Argento splatter, Sex Machine is a must.