Father's Day (2011 film)
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| Edited by | Adam Brooks |
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| Distributed by | Troma Entertainment |
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Running time | 99 minutes |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000 |
Father's Day is a 2011 American-Canadian action-horror comedy film directed by Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, Matthew Kennedy, Steven Kostanski, and Conor Sweeney. The film stars Adam Brooks as Ahab, a man determined to exact revenge on Chris Fuchman, the Father's Day Killer, a rapist and serial killer who murdered his father years ago.
Originally made as a short film,[1] the feature-length version had its world premiere on October 21, 2011 at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, where it received multiple awards. A documentary detailing the film's production process entitled No Sleep, No Surrender was teased in 2012 (although it has yet to be officially released).[2]
Despite being produced and distributed by Troma Entertainment, it bears no relation to Mother's Day or its 2010 remake.
Plot
The film is presented as a late night movie about a deadly tale of revenge on Channel 6 (Astron-6) at 1 am, followed by Star Raiders at 3 am and Sexy Beach at 5 am.
Thirty years ago, Chris Fuchman (Mackenzie Murdock), murderer/rapist/cannibal responsible for the deaths of ten fathers, is arrested and trialed, but released due to an unsigned search warrant. In the following ten years after his demise, Chris Fuchman becomes an urban legend and a feared boogeyman by boys and fathers, known as the "Father's Day Killer". During that time, more father rapes and murders are committed, but no such evidence was found to be the work of the Fuchman. One of the victims was the father and sole guardian of siblings Ahab and Chelsea. Ahab attempted to save his father, but Fuchman cut his right eye out and left him to die. The siblings are separated and Chelsea is sent to an orphanage run by nuns, while Ahab is sent to stay with local priest Father O'Flynn (Kevin Anderson) for a while. Ahab, now donning an eye patch, begins training and goes searching for Fuchman. After less of a decade of searching, Ahab (Adam Brooks) tracks Fuchman down at the scene of his latest crime, and after a brief chase, supposedly kills him. Later do we find out that the supposed killer was a husband and father of two named Bill Cummings. The police show up in a heartbeat, and Ahab is arrested by Detective Stegel (Brent Neale) and is trailed for the murder of Bill Cummings and the murders committed by Fuchman. The jury concluded that Ahab was just a vigilante seeking vengeance, to the dismay of Stegel, and is sentenced to ten years in prison for the murder of Bill Cummings.
Cut to 12 years later, present day, as we follow a sexually confused 16-year-old named Andrew, aka Twink (Conor Sweeney), a male prostitute who helps rob older men with his best friend Walnut (Garrett Hnatiuk), who Twink secretly has a crush on, but isn't willing to accept his sexuality. After his father (Billy Sadoo) picks him up from jail for the third time (each time being caught in bed with a dead father), Twink's dad sets Twink up to meet with a local priest, and confronts him about his behavior, not knowing he's gay. Twink runs away and goes to help Walnut rob and kill another father. That night, Twink's dad is gagged with his own tie and raped by Fuchman, who sets him on fire just as Twink arrives home. Twink is arrested and questioned by Stegel, but upon hearing Fuchman's name, Stegel tells him to get out. Leaving the station, Twink is greeted by the priest he was supposed to meet, Father John Sullivan (Matthew Kennedy). Twink brushes Sullivan aside and tosses his dad's burned tie at him.
Sullivan returns to the Church, and speaks to Father O'Flynn, now blind. Upon hearing the tie being used to gag Twink's dad, Father O'Flynn recognizes this as a trademark of Chris Fuchman, and tells John he must find Ahab and bring him to talk to him. John goes out and travels across the world to find Ahab, who for the past two years has been living in a hut all by himself, making syrup from maple trees. It's evident that Ahab thinks there's something special about his syrup. John tries to convince him to come back and fails, but Ahab soon changes his mind when he remembers that he hasn't seen Chelsea since they were separated. Before leaving, Ahab grabs a jar full of "toxic" berries (not his "tasty" berries that he thought), a spigot, and a jar full of syrup to give to John.
They go back to the church and Ahab talks to Father O'Flynn, who suggests that Ahab search Twink's house for clues. Ahab searches the house, only to discover a pentagram in blood and Stegel, who was waiting for Ahab. He still believes Ahab is responsible for the murders and reveals that Chelsea (Amy Groening), now working at a strip club called the Lowlife, has been investigating on her own. Ahab goes to the club and meets the manager, Sleazy Mary (Meredith Sweeney), an old flame from his past. He also meets a stripper known as the Chainsaw Ripper (Zsuzsi), who has a chainsaw as a weapon. Ahab tries to talk to Chelsea for the first time since they were kids, but she has no desire to speak to him and tells him to leave. Ahab leaves and tries to get John to take him back to the airport, but John manages to convince him to stay.
Stegel and his partner, Mark, watch Chelsea as she leaves work from their car. She bumps into her friends, Twink and Walnut. After finding out Twink's dad was killed, she invites them over to her apartment, where it's revealed Walnut recently got a girl pregnant. One moment later, the lights go out and Walnut is brutally mutilated by Fuchman. Twink is almost killed but Chelsea scares him off when she shoots at him. Fuchman escapes as Ahab arrives to talk to Chelsea again. Ahab and Twink meet for the first time and band together to kill Fuchman when Stegel knocks at the door to question Chelsea. Chelsea agrees to help Ahab and Twink escape from Stegel on the condition that they meet her at the Lowlife so she can join them take Fuchman down. They agree, and Chelsea dresses them as chicks, and walks them straight out the door past Stegel, and stays behind to seduce him. Ahab, however, tells Twink that he wants to protect Chelsea at all cost and they're going to keep her out of this. Twink agrees and they drive to Ahab's father's grave, and dig up weapons Ahab buried there.
That night, Father O'Flynn is killed by Fuchman, and John takes over the church, but then turns his back to God for allowing Fuchman to take away his 'father', and joins Ahab and Twink on their mission. They decide to go back to the Lowlife to start their search and discover Fuchman has killed everyone there, save for the fatally wounded Sleazy Mary. Mary tells Ahab that Fuchman kidnapped Chelsea before she dies. They grab Chelsea's notebook on Fuchman and head off. On the road, Fuchman drives up behind them and rams them off the road and injures Ahab. With no transportation, the men make a fire and Ahab passes out from his wounds. John and Twink discover the "toxic" berries inside Ahab's bag, eat them and feed them to Ahab, causing all of them to get incredibly high. Meanwhile, Fuchman performs a ritual on Chelsea where he draws blood from his penis and smears it on her face. The next morning, John goes through Chelsea's notebook on Fuchman and discover that all of the murders connect to form a pentagram and lead to abandoned water slides at a condemned dam. The men take off in search for the slides.
The film goes into intermission to show a TV spot for the following 3 am late night movie, Star Raiders.
Back to the film, they find the slides, enter, and find Chelsea badly bruised and barely breathing. As they find their way onto the railroad tracks, they see Fuchman running across the dam, and Ahab takes his vengeance on him, all the while accidentally shooting Twink in the hand. With Fuchman dead, they get Chelsea to the hospital and all three men return to their lives. Ahab gets drunk, Twink accepts his homosexuality, and John goes to clean out Father O'Flynn's room, where he discovers an ancient tome Father O'Flynn had before going blind. It turns out Chris Fuchman is a manifestation of a demon known as the Fuchmanicus, who is worshiped and protected by a cult of Satanists. There is a Fuchman each generation, for the sole purpose of raping, killing and eating the souls of Fathers, and when one Fuchman dies, the Fuchmanicus possesses the body of a woman in order to reproduce another Fuchman. The book tells the prophecy of a man, resembling Ahab, being responsible for creating "the most powerful Fuchman ever".
Chelsea, possessed by Fuchman via the bloody face ritual, arrives at Ahab's motel room completely cured, and with little hesitation, both have sex with each other. Upon climaxing, Chelsea/Fuchman disappears and the Satanist cult enters the room, where it's revealed Stegel and Mark are members of. It's also revealed that Stegel was the one who planted Bill Cummings for Ahab to kill and is responsible for him being imprisoned. John and Twink reconvene and arrive just in time to help Ahab fight the cult off and kill them. The plan now is to find Chelsea and get an abortion to stop another Fuchman from being born, but after discovering that Fuchman has taken Chelsea back to Hell with him, they decide they're going to kill themselves so they can all go to hell, save her and kill the Fuchmanicus. Ahab and Twink kill themselves and end up in Hell, while John kills himself and ends up in Heaven. John takes an Angel (Falcon Van Der Baek) hostage and tries to force God (Lloyd Kaufman) to lead him to Hell, for God and the Devil are the same person. This doesn't work and John kills the Angel. Father O'Flynn shows up and holds God hostage as John runs off to find the exit.
Meanwhile, Hell freezes over and Twink and Ahab are separated, both experiencing their worst nightmare (Chelsea being married to Fuchman by John with their dad's consent; Twink's dad proclaiming that his mother killed herself to get away from Twink). Ahab manages to break free from Hell's grasp, but Twink succumbs to Hell when it uses Walnut as bait. Ahab finds the Fuchmanicus' lair, just as John falls from Heaven into Hell. The Fuchmanicus has Chelsea chained to him while Stegel and Mark serve as guards. Both Ahab and John's attempts to kill it fail and result with Ahab literally puking his guts out, Mark and Stegel being crushed to death, and John's upper half is separated from the lower half. Sleazy Mary comes to their rescue and throws the jar of syrup at it, causing the Fuchmanicus to shrink back to human size, and Chelsea stabs him with the spigot and drains his blood out. Fuchman turns into a baby and is stomped to death by Chelsea. Chelsea and Ahab kiss and admit their love for each other as her soul goes back to Earth. Ahab, John and Sleazy Mary find Twink stuck to the wall, barely alive. Ahab tries to get back to Earth by shooting himself again, but fails. Sleazy Mary leaves them as they begin to hope their way back to their bodies on Earth. Back on Earth, their bodies continue to rot away with no one to find them. It's unknown if Chelsea got the abortion or not.
The film ends with a reminder to watch Sexy Beach at 5 am.
Cast
- Adam Brooks as Ahab
- Matthew Kennedy as Father John Sullivan
- Conor Sweeney as Twink
- Amy Groening as Chelsea
- Mackenzie Murdock as Chris Fuchman
- Meredith Sweeney as Sleazy Mary
- Brent Neale as Detective Stegel
- Garrett Hnatiuk as Walnut
- Kevin Anderson as Father O'Flynn
- Billy Sadoo as Twink's Dad
- Falcon Van Der Baek as Heaven Guide
- Zsuzsi as The Chainsaw Ripper / Angel
- Lloyd Kaufman as God / Devil
- Kyle Young as Mark
- Murray Davidson as Artie
Release
Censorship
While passed uncut in the United Kingdom by the British Board of Film Classification, Father's Day was banned in its uncut form and in a censored form in Australia by the Australian Classification Board before a second censored version was eventually passed with an R18+ rating.[3]
Critical reception
Critical reception for Father's Day has been predominantly positive and Ain't It Cool News reviewed the film favorably.[1] Film School Rejects gave Father's Day a positive review and stated that "This is what Grindhouse films should aspire to be."[4] CBC Manitoba remarked that the movie would not be for all viewers but would have a large appeal for gore hounds.[5]
The film was featured in Theater Mode, a Mystery Science Theater 3000-style show produced by Rooster Teeth, in September 2016.[6]
Accolades
- Audience Award: Best Feature Film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (2011, won)[7]
- Fan's Choice Award: Best Hero at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (2011, won)[7]
- Fan's Choice Award: Most Original Film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (2011, won)[7]
- Fan's Choice Award: Best Kills at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (2011, won)[7]
- Fan's Choice Award: Best Trailer at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (2011, won)[7]
- Best Film' at A Night of Horror Film Festival (2011, won)[7]
- Best Director' at A Night of Horror Film Festival (2011, won)[7]
- Best Actor - Adam Brooks' at A Night of Horror Film Festival (2011, won)[7]
References
- 1 2 "AICN HORROR plays the numbers game with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3! HELLRAISER 9! ZOMBIE DIARIES 2! HOWLING 8! and…uhm…FATHER'S DAY…err…1!". AICN. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ↑ "NO SLEEP, NO SURRENDER Charts ASTRON-6's Rise To The Exploitation Promised Land". Twitch Film. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ↑ "Father's Day (2011)". Refused Classification. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ↑ "'Father's Day' is the Best Anal Raping Ultra Violent Troma Gorefest in Decades". FSR. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ↑ ""Father's Day" by Winnipeg's Astron-6 is a hilariously bloody treat for horror fans -- but not dad". CBC. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ↑ Achievement Hunter (23 September 2016). "Theater Mode: Episode #16: Father's Day". Rooster Teeth. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "AWARD WINNERS 2011". TADFF. Retrieved 29 December 2013.