What do Elvis, the Terminator, and multiple decapitations have in common? Not much really, except for Massacrator.

Massacrator is essentially a silent movie, but a very uncharacteristic one. It is shot in the unique style of Grindhouse - an American style of film named after the now-defunct burlesque theatres on 42nd street in New York City, characterized by excessive sex, violence, and generally outlandish subject matter. (Many of you may be familiar with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s homage to this style in their Grindhouse double feature in 2008.)

The film opens with the main antagonist appearing in the style of the Terminator - in a flash of light, crouched down, and in his birthday suit. Noticing a young man and his motorcycle nearby, the antagonist promptly takes the kid's head off with one blow of his fist, takes his clothes - including the Bauhaus t-shirt - and rides away on the bike. He arrives at his intended target's apartment - a young woman - and proceeds to chase her both through the apartment, down the street, and into a cemetery. In the cemetery, the ghost of both Elvis and his motorcycle are resurrected to engage in battle with the Massacrator.

Warning - Spoilers Ahead! Though Grindhouse films usually end in a sadly tragic or ironic way, there is a little bit of campiness underlying this film - mainly due to the character of Elvis - and I was hoping that the King would be victorious. Sadly, he and the young heroine ended up with their respective headless bodies on the floor. At one point in the battle, Elvis plugs in his guitar and almost destroys the Massacrator via music and massive speakers. The Massacrator also shoved his head into a television set, which was perhaps an homage to the real Elvis shooting his set. (However, I hoped for a showdown involving a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich cooked up at the last second by the heroine and given to Elvis to use as a weapon or a burst of strength in the manner of Popeye.)

With the style and effects of this film, I was surprised to learn that there were no computer effects added. The opening title of the film, which looked amazing, was of soldering lead being melted in a frying pan and played in reverse. The decapitation of all three victims was put together with creative editing and traditional special effects. Even the Massacrator's point-of-view shots—which were tinted red, but included great graphic novel-esque images rather than the typical computerized lettering—were animated photographs with transparencies laid over them.

CGI is a great tool, but far too often every other technique gets thrown out the door in favor of this 'quick fix.' The best example of this is the Star Wars movies. For the first trilogy, George Lucas used every creative trick in the book; for the blowing up the Death Star in Episode IV, he bought tons of plastic battleship kits and stuffed all the pieces together with little explosives. He ran the camera back and forth, blowing up little bits as he went to create those low tracking shots over the surface of the Death Star - even today that effect looks good. And even though Episodes I-III look technically better (at least, at times!), the fact that he threw out all that creativity in favor of a computer is a bit disheartening, which is why it’s a relief to see a filmmaker bucking that trend.

Visual Look Grindhouse films are often shot in a poor quality style - whether intentional or not. Massacrator was no exception as it was shot on actual film stock, which gives the opportunity to scratch and otherwise destroy the footage in a way that is very difficult to accurately duplicated with digital. (Although Robert Rodriguez did his best to do so with Magic Bullet MisFire in Planet Terror.) The footage was sped up and seemed to create multiple jump cuts, which greatly matched the frantic mood of the chase and fight sequences.

This type of shooting, when used effectively, can also be beneficial in that it is often enhanced by techniques that would normally be considered bad filmmaking. In one shot, the camera appeared to have been either mounted on the motorcycle or held by its operator as it looked down at the handlebars as the bike moved. This type of shot would have been horribly shaky without any type of professional and expensive rig, but it really doesn't matter with this movie. The only downside to this particular style is that the more sensitive might be a bit dizzy or nauseous by the constant shaking and jerking.

The effects involving Elvis and his motorcycle rising from the grave looked great - I don't know how it was done, but there must have been a lot of creative thought put into that sequence. Elvis himself had all the moves down great, but he really didn't look like the King at all. Also, he and his bike were not affected by being dead for several decades. Given the mystique surrounding Elvis, that isn't strictly necessary, but a bit of 'Zombie Elvis' effect might hide the fact that the actor doesn't look like him at all.

Use of Audio When one thinks 'Silent Film,' actors like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and even Mel Brooks usually spring to mind, as does black-and-white title cards and campy saloon-esque piano music. But, strictly speaking, this movie does fit the criteria as there is no dialogue, only a music bed.

As with the visual style, a lack of dialogue make for a much easier shoot, as audio can be very tricky with digital, let alone film. The music, rather than being the typical silent film fare, is a great intense rock piece. There are no lyrics, but it fits the movie perfectly.

Massacrator... do I really even need to go further into detail? The name alone writes the review. You take a "Massacre" and you mix it with "The Terminator" and you have Massacrator. A four minute short film, it's not something I can really dissect for you without giving away the entire plot. However, I will give you the general idea: taking a cue from The Terminator, we find a tough guy transported to our reality (kinda...) wearing no clothes. He finds a biker in an alley and immediately punches his head completely off. With his foe decapitated, he takes the biker's clothes and motorbike and sets off to find the person he has been sent to "terminate". The target turns out to be a young woman with an attitude and a love for exercising. When The Massacrator breaks into her apartment, she flees the scene however and stumbles upon the grave of Elvis, who rises from the dead! He then uses his magic powers of rock & roll to cause his motorbike to rise from its grave right next to his. Now this young woman is on the lamb with the King of Rock, will he be able to save her?

It's a short that is as crazy as it sounds, maybe even more-so. Detailing all of that wild stuff mentioned above, but done so in a hyper-kinetic and adrenaline fueled high speed mix of editing and gonzo photography. Within the first 35 seconds of the short, we're given our first decapitation. From there, the movie goes into a high speed pursuit that lasts for the remainder of the short. A strange silent film with only music blaring over the audio, we watch as The Massacrator drives his stolen motorbike from the freeway into the house of our Sarah Connor-esque character in 0.5 seconds. It is as if Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto got together with (director of Six-String Samurai) and the two decided to make something as wild and as violent as they possibly could. It certainly succeeds in doing just that. A strange, wild and fun ride. If you get the chance to check it out, take the four minutes and enjoy it for the insane burst of cinematic energy that it is. I sincerely hope that we get to see more from director Pierre Ayotte!

This is my Internet win of the week. If I had a No-Prize to give out, this trailer would get it. When director Pierre Ayotte's next feature after this is called Satan, Jesus & Elvis you know you're cooking with gas.

I was always a little curious to know why so many people pointed out that the fake trailers put in Grindhouse were so good. After seeing them, I could see why. The real aesthetic that these films tried to capture were slightly absent, I would assert, in Planet Terror and Death Proof. They were good films, true, but the trailers really came to represent the scratchy, crazy, gonzo moment these movies existed in. You couldn't recreate the feature length beauty of these movies but the trailers managed to do it; they were able to sustain the qualities that the features wanted to put into a bottle and preserve. This trailer looks like it could harness a dozen bottles of insanity.

I know it's a lot of build up to call something glorious, as you know there are some that will just say 'meh,' but you would be wrong and a communist for thinking this is nothing less than a showcase of awesomeness.

We're introduced to the Massacrator, an indie version of The Terminator, who looks kinda european and swarthy with a lush head of hair and undeniable good looks. Shirtless is the way he rolls, motoring around on something not unlike something out of The Dirtbike Kid, but when he pounds on some unsuspecting target (love those lo-fi effects) he literally takes the person's head off. The blood fountain is an excellent touch as is the gritty film stock effect and throaty voiceover. The color balance, which is a misnomer because it's all sorts of askew, gets worse/better as that motor bike takes off inside an apartment (huh?) as an Elvis impersonator rocks out hard in that same space.

And then voiceover man steps in with the news: this is a battle between The Terminator and Elvis. Not since Bruce Campbell in Bubba Ho-tep have I been this excited for a re-imagined version of The King but when The Terminator starts landing punches and tossing Elvis head first into a television set, mussing the man's well oiled coif, I am ready to see a full on rumble.

Yes, it absolutely is bizarre and strange and weird. And, to make it worse, the real thing couldn't possibly be as good as this trailer you would think, but the mere fact that this trailer exists makes me happy in ways that Grindhouse proper could not.

Weird and wonderful take on Terminator 2, except Ahnuld is some weird Jay Reatard-looking dude and Robert Patrick is... Elvis. The result of their match may not be predetermined. Place your bets.

A young woman and Elvis struggle to escape from a killer cyborg from the future…
Pierre, you had us at "Elvis"!

Was that a really long trailer, or a really small short? Either way, the Massacrator, from director Pierre Ayotte, blows by in a quick four minutes. In these four minutes headless bodies explode and Elvis, reincarnated, is chased via motorcycle.

Filmed in grindhouse fashion, the Massacrator has no dialogue, but instead includes a catchy retro soundtrack, that even Elvis would have approved of. The horror short involves three characters, of which only one survive. The tagline "this time he wins," might give you a clue as to who dies and who survives. Shot in grainy styled cam, the film could have been a lot longer.

Already, the Massacrator has been at the Slamdance Film Festival, The New York City Horror Film Festival and it has won at the Fantasia Film Festival. A triumph of Canadian horror short cinema, the Massacrator is worth checking out. Come on, did this review state there was blood spraying, headless corpses?

Massacrator is a human/cyborg killing machine, who is after a young woman.
Luckily Elvis rises from the dead to defend her. What?

This few-minute action thriller by director Pierre Ayotte won't get you bored. Instead, it slaps you in the face right in the beginning, and then kicks in the groins. Although there isn't much content to talk about, the aggressive and hilarious twists makes Massacrator a great entertainment. The use of "Elvis" is a bit worn-out decision, but somehow everything just clicks.

Ayotte uses trendy grindhouse feel in the visual department, but it fits reasonably in the context. The cheap effects and insane plot makes the viewer laughs his/her head off. And if not, the Massacrator will take care of the latter. Yes, there are some gruesome gore and decapitations too.

The soundtrack resembles a lot of Beastie Boys' Sabotage, and it gives a nice rhythm to frantic imagery. Maybe they share influences, since the Sabotage music video was also influenced by 70's and early 80's Z-grade action films?

Massacrator is neither a clever nor ground-breaking short film of our times - it is just energetic, pure fun. Next time though, I would like to see a story.