Plot: What’s it about?
No one wants to come in last place, especially in a beauty contest. So when the hotties in the pageant decide to stick in a loser to make sure none of them wind up dead last, the choice is obvious. Phyllis is an overweight girl with no chance to win whatsoever, so she is pushed into the contest. Plus she happens to be the joke of the school, subjected to taunts and pranks from the popular kids, so this is a double win for the cool crowd. What better way to torment her than to get her in front of the entire school, then humiliate her like never before. The event goes as planned, with Phyllis crushed by the cruel turn of events, but this time, she is filled with rage, instead of self pity. Now she begins to plot her revenge on her fellow students, but will she stick to pranks, or will she have more violent intentions?
I couldn’t wait to check out Beauty Queen Butcher, as I love low rent horror movies and this one sounded like it had promise. As it turns out however, that promise remains unfulfilled. I am generous when it comes to bad movies, I embrace camp and schlock, so a horror movie has to be either dull or lifeless to earn my disdain. I can tell director Jill Zurborg wanted to make a fun 80s style slasher, but she fails on all fronts. The worst thing a horror movie can be is dull and Beauty Queen Butcher is a total snooze. In most cases, when filmmakers have a thin plot or inexperienced cast, they load up on blood, breasts, or both. This one is bloodless and devoid of naked females, as if it were made for Nickelodeon. There are some humorous moments, but not enough and in the end, Beauty Queen Butcher doesn’t deserve a crown.
Video: How does it look?
Beauty Queen Butcher is presented in full frame, as intended. I have compassion for low rent filmmaking, I don’t expect low end movies to look pristine. This one was shot on Betacam and while I have seen worse transfers, this one is pretty bad. The image is on par with a mediocre VHS transfer, but in defense of this release, I doubt it could look much better. The visuals are beyond soft, while colors and contrast reflect that softness, so they’re up to snuff. If you’re a veteran of low budget VHS horror from the old days, you know about what to expect here.
Audio: How does it sound?
The video was bad, but the sound is even worse. This is due to the production itself, as the sound design is terrible and makes it hard to hear much of anything. I was hard pressed to pick up on half the dialogue, thanks to poorly captured live audio and no kind of post production efforts. I understand that low budgets can hold back production values, but to not be able to understand dialogue is beyond the realm of forgiveness.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes a brief, but fun to watch behind the scenes featurette. I think those involved had a lot of fun making this movie, but sadly, it doesn’t show on screen.
