Are you a fan of Troma-esque entertainment? If the answer is yes, I have a nifty little gem in store for you. If the answer is no… I still may be able to convince you to have a good time with James Balsamo’s film “Cool As Hell.” If you could roll Lloyd Kaufman, Sam Raimi, and Kevin Smith into one filmmaker, you would probably get James Balsamo. Slapstick and sarcasm baby… and it works for “Cool As Hell.”
The plot centers around two best friends named Rich and Benny who tend to strike out with the ladies, have some very strange sexual encounters, smoke tons of weed, and work in a comic shop. They become friends with a demon named AZ and things get stranger from there. The dialog is very “Clerks-ish” and it may actually have more F-bombs than Scarface!
James Balsamo tends to work his ass off apparently on all of his films — starring, writing, directing, editing, producing, and having a hand in the effects. So it would come as no suprise that he is the best character in the film. He is such a likeable average joe that you can’t help but root for him to get the girl and save the day.
Small cameos appear throughout the film including one by the legendary Tom Savini as a demon slayer. It is a film for the fans of the “We don’t take this movie shit too seriously” crowd. That’s not to say it doesn’t have some faults with some of the audio being drowned out by wind or some night scenes being too dark or grainy. However miniscule, they are still present. I will say they didn’t take away from my viewing experience because I was too busy enjoying myself.
James Balsamo is a young and talented filmmaker with an already impressive list of films under his belt. Remember the name and stay current with his body of work; He gets better with every outting behind a camera. This film gets the Rottin’ Roger Demarco seal of approval with 2.5 Bong Rips out of 5.
