Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence
Dramatizes the Seedy Underworld of Porn and Drugs in the Face of Global Zombie Infestation.
Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence has porn and drug trade in a world overtaken by zombies. As we learn in this film, annihilation of the world to zombies is not necessarily a bad thing for some people.
Written by The Horror Czar
April 13, 2008
Release: August 5, 2008
Directed by: Matt Yeager
Written by: Sean-Michael Argo
Starring:
Shey Bland as Johnny Sunshine
John Patrick McCauley as Stein
Eric Halsell as Max
Sean-Michael Argo as Raid
Casey Halsell as Dez
Death Mistress as The Receptionista
Over the years zombie movies have evolved nicely. George A. Romero led the charge elevating zombies from mindless slaves centered in voodoo to undead beings risen from the grave hungry for living flesh. Most zombie movies, largely led by Romero’s work, have based the primary story on the quest for life after zombie infestation. In Night of the Living Dead it was surviving the night after the initial outbreak. In Day of the Dead it was searching for a cure as the infestation spread. In Land of the Dead it was searching for some semblance of normalcy in a gated community after global zombie infestation was part of life.
Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence takes a different approach to world-wide zombie infestation. What happens with those that are not granted access to the clear and gated communities? Will those poor souls left to fend for themselves huddle in their homes hiding from danger? Some might, and others would likely find a way to turn the situation to their advantage. In today’s society there is a “seedy underworld” of drugs, prostitution, pornography and even snuff films. What becomes of those that walk in this world after the zombies arise?
Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence delves into this underworld and the logical metamorphosis of “seedy culture” considering the circumstances; zombie-porn snuff films.
Max (Eric Halsell) is a porn producer. He seems to have been “born at the right time” because a zombie outbreak overtook the globe just as he was reaching the age of entrepreneurialism, and he has an eye for exploitation, murder and porn. So, asks Max, how can one turn a seemingly devastating global event into extreme profit potential? Give the survivors what they want – bloody and sexy lawlessness in an age of few laws.
Johnny Sunshine (Shey Bland) is just the ticket to propel Max to uber-riches. Johnny is a sexy and deviant zombie warrior with a taste for blood and a high libido. Since all forms of “traditional values” are completely lost and unattainable in a zombie-ridden world, all Johnny has to do is play out her deviance with a video camera rolling to make a bundle of money. Johnny Sunshine is a star and sex/death-starved people both inside and outside the gated communities buy her films with their every spare dollar. Life is good.
The psychotic equilibrium is skewed a bit when Johnny’s movie sales start to plateau and Max decides that betraying her to the sex and blood obsessed cop Stein (John Patrick McCauley) will allow him to profit even further as “the fall of Johnny Sunshine” is offered at the local blockbuster. Sex and blood abound.
Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence is nothing short of brilliant. Although this is clearly
a low budget film it makes such exceptional use of story, editing and flow that budget is completely a non-issue. The sets stink, and are extremely boring at some points, but as a viewer you just don’t care. What is happening on the screen is so utterly captivating and engrossing that nothing else matters.
The acting in this film is very good generally, and in the instances of Halsell, Bland and McCauley the performances are truly superb. Halsell is cheesy while being very direct about his duty to profit from an unfortunate situation while demonstrating his need for acceptance through his desperate attempts to gain entry to one of the walled-in cities. McCauley is obsessed and broken, a man whose inner demons are allowed to run free due to the world situation. Then there is Shey Bland as Johnny herself.
Bland is tough, sexy and severely troubled in a way that makes her appear incredibly strong. Johnny Sunshine would be considered a death row inmate candidate in any normal societal situation, but in her current environment Bland’s performance makes Sunshine appear to be one of the sane ones. I can’t find evidence that Shey Bland has performed in any other films, but as soon as I do you can bet that I will be first in line to watch them. Shey Bland is a superstar in the making.
Kudos must go to writer Sean-Michael Argo and director Matt Yeager for Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence. This is a story that could have gone so terribly wrong in the telling. Too much cheese, too much camp, too much seriousness – any one of these elements might have derailed the real meaning; in a true zombie-infested world there would indeed be those who profit. Before watching this film I hadn’t thought of that side of the equation much. Thanks to the brilliance of these film makers I have seen it first hand. Questions or comments about Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence? Contact us!
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