It's great to be able to spend my time watching so many movies, and to then have this outlet for reviewing those movies. It's also always a balancing act though. My brain wants to watch every movie around, despite me knowing how impossible that is. My brain also knows that I have to get a review done every day. I know that the world won't end if I don't get my thoughts down, and I am well aware that the world is not waiting with bated breath for my opinion on everything I watch, but it's still a very strong compulsion/habit/memory aid nowadays. Why did I mention it being a balancing act? Well, there are only so many hours in each day. I don't get paid for any of my writing (nobody would be quite that insane), which means I have to focus on my day job and plan everything else accordingly. Which means sometimes I am reviewing movies a week or two after viewing them. Which is the case here. That's not always a big deal, but with something as low-budget and independent as The Brooklyn Butcher time is of the essence.
What you have here is a film that is listed in many places as a horror, but that's not really the case. It uses some horror genre trappings, but there are a few different genres played around with in a fun anthology that moves around the various residents of an apartment building that may well be the recent playground of the titular killer. While not always successful in achieving whatever it is striving for, The Brooklyn Butcher is admirably amusing and steadfastly unique throughout, serving as a decent calling card for co-writer/co-director Joshua R. Pangborn.
I wanted to like this more than I did, but there's nothing here that is actually bad. You have to know that it's made with very little money, although it looks and sounds much better than some movies made with a hundred times the budget, it's aiming to throw plenty at the walls in the hope that some things stick, and it very much belongs to the many films we have helping to make up the ever-growing selection of genre films that can make up part of the LGBTQ+ cinematic rainbow. I will say that a very fun opening scene actually worked against it, leaving me wanting more of that scenario as the film instead jumped to spend time with other characters, but everyone tries hard to deliver consistent fun.
Pangborn and Johnathan Cerio try to pack a number of good twists and turns into their screenplay, alongside many individual lines that should make viewers smile or chuckle, and they also take a turn at portraying a couple of characters in front of the camera. The same goes for Stuart Kiczek, credited as both a segment director and the character of Dmitri Jeffries.
The rest of the cast includes Paul Antzoulis, Andrew Carter, Jahir Christian, Alexander Colon, Alexander Dorf, Mark-Eugene Garcia, Jonny Gottsegen, Greg Hoffman, Dhafir Jackson, James King, Alvin Christmas, Anthony J. Smith, and Ashley Monique Menard, as well as a few others I don't have the time or space to namecheck here. Everyone deserves recognition though, and they're all in line with the tone and intention of the film.
It should be clear that I liked this, but I have to say that I didn't love it. I wanted to, and I absolutely admire what Pangborn and co. have achieved with the obvious limitations restricting them, but the good only just outweighs the bad, and the best moments make the weaker moments a bit more frustrating. That can happen with any anthology though, and I would easily rewatch this ahead of some better-known titles. (Creepshow 3, I'm looking at you)
6/10
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