By Keri O’Shea
Here in the UK, we’re now in the grip of a good old fashioned British winter (with the exception of all the flooding, which is a fairly new development): at the moment, we have to contend with that unique Blighty cold which clings to your bones, frost, snow and high winds. Marvellous. That’s at least one reason why I’m happy to be bringing the world of Brutal Relax to Brutal As Hell – it’s just nice to see the sun, sand and sea, even if this turns out to be a very unorthodox beach break…
The singular Mr. Olivares (José María Angorrilla) is under strict doctor’s orders to stay calm, as we see him leaving the care of some sort of institution: we can guess, even at this stage, that perhaps he has a bit of a temper, so specific is the doc who suggests he should go for a nice vacation somewhere. Anywhere would be fine, just so long as he stays tranquil. So where better than a pleasant, sheltered beach?
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Brutal Relax!
The gag here is remarkably simple, but it’s executed with such a sense of fun that it just works brilliantly as a gore-punctuated farce, in the truest sense of the term; that being ‘a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skilfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character.’ It is light and humorous, which is a wonder when you consider the limbs flying and the ribcages sailing through the air.
That said, there’s a long horror tradition of gory farce. In a few ways, the high-action scenes reminded me of scenes in Braindead (a.k.a Dead Alive), albeit with a dash of CGI here and there which the older film didn’t have; all the same, you look at that body-strewn beach at the end, and you recognise the excess with a wry smile. The action scenes here are a lot of fun as well as being well-handled; deliberately, gleefully cartoonish, with a group of zombie-creatures who, shall we say, can be ‘deconstructed’ in a nice range of increasingly OTT ways as payback for their misdeeds – all while that happy-go-lucky soundtrack trills away in the background. Brutal Relax: in a nutshell, it’s energetic, nicely self-aware and very entertaining.
One final remark I’d make is that, regardless of the tone of the film, using a dead toddler to beat zombies to death with is the mark of a brave filmmaking team…so let’s hope we get to see more of their work in future. Hey, Mr. Olivares could always make a welcome return…
With thanks to the Brutal Relax team.