100 Tears

A portly sicko in clownface (and a wig) looks totally bored even as he takes this absurdly humongous meat cleaver and butchers folks in a halfway house (some crew working there, as well as, patients; junkies, those who have might life’s misfortune, the janitor, the cook, etc.). A reporter, working for a mag that publishes stories on the crazy and strange, wants so badly to get access to a real developing case that will provide the means of garnering some success and respect. The killer clown murders could very well be the opening she needs to gain some serious cred as a legit reporter.
**

So you have the reporter and her overweight photographer boyfriend (I normally don’t point out explicitly a person’s weight, but he makes it a point of emphasis to use it as a source for humor) investigating the “tear drop” murders (the killer clown leaves a tear drop drawn in blood as his calling card), soon encountering him first-hand, along with the wacko’s equally psycho daughter. I actually like the fact that an average guy like this has a hot girlfriend (this is also often used for humorous purposes as she pokes at him regarding their uneventful sex life due to his size and lack of initiative in looking more fit and athletic; however, their relationship seems fine due to how easily they get along and the humor between the two), but when you are on the prowl for a big story sometimes you become the big story you’re investigating.

The next time you’re looking for a dwarf, stay low.

The more interesting character could be a dwarf named Drago (Norberto Santiago), as he knows Gurdy, was in the circus with him, and understands the motivation behind this psychopath's murdering spree. He runs from the reporter and her photographer into a vehicle graveyard (can't go wrong with yours truly if a vehicle graveyard makes an appearance) not knowing they are just in pursuit of the killer's identity and location (he thinks they are FBI or The Fuzz). Drago turns the whole case on its head because he has vital information. I like that this is the character who will be dependent upon to stop the bloodshed.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Herschell Gordon Lewis as I was watching 100 Tears. Hacked limbs, entrails all over the place (one poor stole literally gets suffocated by his own guts, wrapped around his neck, choking him into unconsciousness), body parts upon body parts, victims in severe degrees of punishment (we see people trying to get away, suffering the likes of mutilation and devastating slashes to their torsos, arms, and legs, along with the typical gaping wounds), and blood splashing/splattering in all sorts of puddles, patterns, and streams. Gurdy, the psychotic, stone-faced, killer circus clown, eventually joined by his hyperactive, pig-tailed, energetically violent daughter (vocally enjoying her own handiwork, this character is outrageous and over-the-top, even verbally abusive to pops when he is unable to kill a soon-to-be victim without her help!). These two are quite the pair: one silent and deadly while the other can’t shut the hell up and takes to killing with a thrill-seeking glee. Wait till you see how this little girly nutcase shines a bright smile of twisted delight when holding a sledgehammer in her hands, relishing the thought of what damage it can do, soon getting a chance to use it. I could go into depth on those killed but really this film doesn’t give a crap about them; these victims are essentially nameless bodies on a chopping block. Heads do roll, let me tell you. I think the spirit of HGL reigns supreme primarily when characters who have been disemboweled or had their stomachs torn apart (along with the severed lower torso) are grabbing/fondling their guts in a state of delirium and shock. This kind of gore will definitely test the resolve of those who find such violence hard to take (I do think most of this audience will flee in droves after the opening halfway house slaughter).

The ending really paints the leads, Georgia Chris and Joe Davison, as imbeciles who deserve to be punished as they wind up hunted and harmed by Gurdy (Jack Amos) and his lunatic daughter, Christine (Raine Brown; this actress goes for broke in her performance) when it is painfully obvious by all the blood and area in disarray that the killer they are trying to get a story on is out and about someplace. Davison even shouts out, “Hello!” Yeah, smart guy, eh? They enter right into the killer’s lair after discovering the location during their investigation because of its correlation with the serial killing murders and two businessmen (and their real estate agent) who went missing…it was pretty damn hard for me to feel sympathy for such numbskulls walking right into danger (sure Davison has a loaded gun, little good it does him if he doesn’t know where the killer is located; add the fact that the killer knows this location better than him and it just colors him even more stupid).

 The film establishes a flimsily silly reason for why Gurdy is annihilating people with his cleaver: he was having sex with a member of the circus when another woman goes and reports this as a rape to the strongman resulting in a beatdown. Gurdy snaps and takes out those responsible for his being released from the circus because of its scandalous nature. That’s it in a nutshell. Slasher movies are known for such ludicrous reasoning for the swath cut by the killer’s bloody rampage.

100 Tears is what the doctor ordered if you seek the service of plentiful bloodshed. This movie puts the blood in bloodshed. Returning to my comment on HGL, 100 Tears is built on the gory ultra-violence chopped and spilt during its running time. You have a killer that seems to live and breathe butchering others; he has no other function. The independent horror films like “100 Tears” and “Are You Scared?” are shot in that cheap digital process, with low quality sound and cinematography that is plain and dull. This film will not be remembered for how impressive it looks and sounds, though, as this is all about the violence. In that regard, this delivers the goods, no doubt.  

 Victims screaming out while their lower torso is hacked away or a young woman’s legs are established as missing while she speaks about how cold she feels, 100 Tears epitomizes awarding a particular slasher/torture audience their gore at an extreme, heightened level. I’m not a fan of seeing non-stop gratuitous violence and characters tortured repeatedly; it bores me after a while because nondescript characters suffering violence just so the film can satiate those salivating for nonstop brutality becomes tiresome. I may seem like a whiny pussy, but I just need something more in a film myself. I don’t necessarily need a masterpiece of a plot or performances by those who have spent a career on Broadway, but if you just throw up characters to be gutted, stabbed, and chopped, after a while it all leaves me wanting more.

That said, I did think the leads had considerable chemistry, played off each other well, and came off as reasonably likable. But, by film's end, I found their judgment questionable, to say the least; when logic dictates that if there's blood and a location that looks like a crime scene where a massacre took place, you should run in the other direction not walk into a basement without the back up of law enforcement. This is a slasher film so logic sometimes takes a back seat...