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Gag (2006) DVD Review
Gag (2006) DVD Credits:
Gag (2006) Directed by:
Scott W. McKinlay
Gag (2006) Written by:
Not available at this time
Gag (2006) Cast:
Trent Haaga, Gerald Emerick, Vince Marinelli, Brian Kolodziej, Scott W. McKinlay
Gag (2006) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
Gag (2006) DVD Release Date:
22nd October 2007
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

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Gag (2006) Synopsis:

Gag (2006) DVD Review:

The last time a film made me physically ill, and by that I mean a splitting headache and that burpy sort of nausea you get sometimes, was The Blair Witch Project. Until I watched Gag. Co-written by Scott McKinlay and Kirk Sever, and directed by McKinlay, Gag is a cheap knockoff of films like Saw and Hostel. And I mean really cheap. First off, while I can’t stand either of those films, at least they were shot with some semblance of professionalism. They were properly lit, the production design looked good, and the acting was passable. Gag is like watching a really bad student film, and that’s an insult to students everywhere. Several times I found myself wondering if they wanted it over lit, or they just weren’t allowed to turn off the overhead lights. At one point the two thieves, and I use the term loosely, are wandering around pointing flashlights at everything in a room that is better lit than most convenience stores. The production design is atrocious. Sadly, it may have been passable if lit properly, but as it stands, every time we switched locations I found myself wondering if crazy people really do hang toilet seats like family portraits, and glue strips of newspaper to the ceiling. But if you can get past the fool’s screen (full screen) aspect ratio, bad lighting, and garish PD, there’s a great story in there, right? Um, no sorry. Really, I thought we were past that whole “characters in horror movies make stupid decisions so that we can have a movie” phase. But maybe Mckinlay and Sever didn’t get that memo. So here we have a couple of hapless thieves, whose introduction couldn’t be more clumsy, breaking into a “Hollywood Hills mansion” to find a safe. How do they know there’s a safe? What’s supposed to be in the safe? Okay, so we buy that, but it ain’t in the house. So we trundle out back to the guest house. Guest house? It’s bigger than the 2000 sq. foot house my parents bought in AZ. Sure, whatever. Pop the lock and voila, it’s a location from Seven, only the lights are on. Which means that you can see everything. Which means that you carefully close the door and walk away, right? Um, that’s a negatory. Instead, you wander around through the really over the top, but still sufficiently creepy crazy person feng shui to a room marked private where you find a guy strapped to an old-school bed spring set with a ball gag in his mouth, and the mythical safe. Now can we go? Still no. By this point I really don’t care what happens to these idiots, because, well, they’re stupid. Then of course, hijinks ensue. And by hijinks I mean mistaken identity, lots of sexually charged S&M torture, forced incest, and chewing glass. Well, maybe not chewing, but pouring it down someone’s throat anyway. And finally, at the end, this reviewer found himself asking: what’s the point? But then, I asked myself that same question after watching Saw and Hostel, so maybe I’m just missing something. Although those films were sufficiently gory enough, I suppose. Gag on the other hand substitutes a sort of sexually charged torture/dream sequence for the gore, where a sister is forced to orally service her brother while Brian, the resident whack job, stands behind the brother holding a box cutter to his throat in a position that is obviously meant to seem like he is sodomizing his victim. There is a certain amount of gore to be sure. Two incidents of throat cutting offer up some adequate if unspectacular blood effects shots, and there is plenty of blood on the faces of everyone, along with some implied gore in the opening credits sequence as a white mouse is run down a long clear tube into a female victim’s throat. The female victim is of course wearing some sort of frill covered lingerie panties and is topless. All in all gag lives up to its name in the sense that I wanted to vomit when I was watching it, but fails to do much more than that for this reviewer. Then again, if you’re into making your eyes bleed, this might be the film for you.
As for the DVD itself, the specs are a bit lackluster. A 4:3 aspect ratio and basic stereo sound with English or Spanish subtitles are all that can be found on the sparse technical side of things. The special features are where this disc really shines. There is a full length commentary with the Director and Producer, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, a music video, the trailer, other thinkfilm trailers, and an amusing little behind the scenes featurette that runs about six minutes. I have to admit that I didn’t listen to the commentary because there was no way I could stomach a second viewing of the film, but if the featurette with the director is any indication, it should prove entertaining at least.
Finally, I have to say that regardless of what I might think of this offering, I give these film makers credit for going out there and getting it done. In a town where everyone and their mother has a script these days, there are few people who actually have a finished product with even this level of polish. So, vomit inducing or not, these guys did something.

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Gag (2006) DVD review written by: Joe Burns

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