I’m a sucker for musicals, and the weirder they are, the more intrigued I become. When I heard about the premise of CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING, I knew I had to see it. Directed by Sander Maran (and coming to us all the way from Estonia) CHAINSAWS brings an EVIL DEAD level splatterfest to the screen, but the film also includes songs reminiscent of Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s CANNIBAL: THE MUSICAL. Definitely one of the weirder installments at Fantasia International Film Festival (which is saying something).
Told in chapters (with each chapter focusing on a different main character), the story starts with Tom (Karl-Joosep Ilves), who has recently been dumped and is feeling quite down about it (which he sings about). But during a suicide attempt, he sees Maria (Laura Niils), who is having an even worse day. She sings about not wanting to be seen, but the lovelorn Tom changes her mind. Cue a falling-in-love montage, complete with Monty Python level sight-gags. But this isn’t a delightful love story. It’s a horror movie (kind of?), with an incredibly weird cast of characters. A chainsaw-wielding Killer (Martin Ruus) attacks and then separates the two love birds by kidnapping Maria, with the intention of bringing her back to his inbred cannibalistic redneck family. However, as the couple tries to escape Killer to find help, they are met with little assistance, because no one seems to believe them about the bloody danger. Only the deranged Jaan (Janno Puusepp) will assist Tom in rescuing Maria. Jaan is desperate for a friend, and Tom is desperate to save Maria, so he will tolerate anything to see his love again.
Chapter 2 focuses on the post-kidnapped Maria, as our Estonian Leatherface drives away in his incredibly creepy chain-filled van with Maria in tow. What sets this film apart from the more simplistic slashers of the genre is the creativity with the kills. When Killer performs his craft, he does not simply go slash, slash, blood-spray: Oh no! Killer views murder as his calling, so he brings a little bit of artistic pleasure to his kills. Did you ever wonder what it would look like to have a guy’s eyes ripped out, then have his balls removed and put in his empty eye sockets? Well wonder no longer, because CHAINSAWS has fulfilled that lifelong dream.
Aside from the bizarre characters and gruesome deaths, CHAINSAWS has some really catchy songs. Imagine songs similar to CANNIBAL: THE MUSICAL (with very outlandish topics for the songs and silly lyrics) but everything is sung in Estonian. There is the calypso-inspired “Vasse Bukkake” and the crowd favorite “Kill! Kill! I Just Want to Kill!”
The budget is definitely low and the whole film has a fairly amateurish vibe, but in the horror genre, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as the tone and appearance of the film is definitely on par with EVIL DEAD, BAD TASTE, and CANNIBAL: THE MUSICAL (which is not a bad batch of movies to hold company with). My next step is to download an Estonian language learning app, so I can sing along with Tom, Maria, and Killer on my next watch through.
Tags: 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival, Amylou Ahava, comedy, Estonia, Fantasia 2024, Horror, Janno Puusepp, Karl Ilves, Karl-Joosep Ilves, Laura Niils, Martin Ruus, Musicals, Rita Rätsepp, Romance, Sander Maran
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