Les (Brant McCrea)– or The Ghoul as he is endearingly known on the streets– has just finished serving time in a prison outside of Chicago. Now, The Ghoul is back on the streets fueled by revenge, seeking retribution for those that killed his mother and sent him to prison, searching high and low for those that have wronged him.
The plot for Chicago Rot seems simple enough, but in this case, looks can be deceiving. The film starts off with a bloody shootout in what appears to be, at first glance, merely another crime film set in Chicago. However, Chicago Rot surpasses all semblance of the genre and instead opts to amaze and surprise throughout its entire running time. After the bloody shootout, Les, with a bullet hole clean through his chest, seeks his old gal pal Alex’s (Shira Barber) services, grafting some torn skin on the exit wound. It’s not the only scar on his body; his back looks like one of Leatherface’s masks. Any other person would have died from the bullet hole… but not Les, he’s different, and he’s not your typical hero either, and even anti-hero is a little generous.
In fact, the film seems to blend ideas of pure good and evil. Here in this dark and strange underworld of Chicago, there is no such thing as moral absolutes. Here you will find no good guys and no bad guys, just people trying to make it through life in the best way they know how, and more often than not this will involve violent means. There’s a moral grey area that director Dorian Weinzimmer– and co-writer Brant McCrea– gleefully take us through in their hyperbolic tale of revenge and mayhem. Character actions are unsavory, questionable, and often outlandish, but despite the brutality of the film, Chicago Rot makes for a good time.
Too many films attempt the ambitious task of genre-bending or genre-blending and more often than not attempts at such a task tend to flounder. However, with Chicago Rot, director Dorian Weinzimmer, fluidly moves from action, horror, science fiction, and fantasy with ease and balance. Weinzimmer gives us bloody deaths, mythical imagery with a hyper-eclectic look to match. It never feels jarring or excessive; everything feels right, we believe the underworld of Chicago to be a real place, leaving the audience with a want for more. Chicago Rot is over the top and ambitious, but the film ultimately comes off as surprisingly focused and precisely executed, which is ironic considering how much chaos goes down in the film.
Chicago Rot is now available on video on demand through Amazon, Itunes, Google Play, Vimeo, Xbox, Flix Fling, Vudu, Youtube, and Cable VOD. Check out the trailer below.
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