For the Better of Mankind Productions DVD

Ron DeCaro and For the Better of Mankind Productions of Massachusetts finally bring us the long awaited conclusion to the "Brightside" trilogy (after the short films EATING RAZORS: A LOVE STORY (2005) and THE WHITE LIE (2006)) with their first feature film THE GATEWAY MEAT.

DeCaro stars as Markus, a Satanist whose father recently passed away. His father was a Satanist himself and was trying to find a portal to hell before his death. Markus along with his wife and their little girl move into the old man's house. The family decides to keep his legacy alive by continuing his unfinished business. A series of "rituals" get underway and a retarded young man named Bahtoe along with one of Markus's sadist friends (who snorts powdered glass, videotapes himself torturing hitchhikers and has a fetish for rotted corpses) find themselves contributing to the cause. In the vein of AUGUST UNDERGROUND (2001) and MURDER-SET-PIECES (2004), an incredibly sickening and blood-splattered orgy of gore, extremely brutal torture and other nastiness ensues involving shootings, stabbings, throat slittings, decapitations, self-mutilation, razor eating, dismemberment, disembowelments, eyeball removals, face carving, heads and spinal cords bashed with sledgehammers, ripped out tongues, faces pinned to walls, genitals hooked up to car batteries, etc. Markus's little girl also gets to participate in several of the acts of brutality.

THE GATEWAY MEAT is easily one of the best and one of the most disturbing, vicious, unrelenting, and brutal indie films I've ever seen. The acting from DeCaro, his daughter and the other cast members is exceptionally good, the gore effects (by DeCaro and Aaron and Ben LaBonte) are plentiful, repulsive and very convincing, and the movie has an extremely gritty atmosphere to it that draws you in and never lets you go. Nothing is left to the imagination and if you pay close enough attention, you can easily see the underlying social commentary about how awful things in the world can be and the fact that there are very sick people out there who (for lack of self-esteem or whatever reason) flat out don't care one way or the other about what they do or who they hurt in order to achieve something to their benefit. DeCaro's daughter herself was never actually exposed to any of the nasty scenes her father was filming during the making of the movie, but her acting is very convincing and the editing of the picture further adds to the realism of a young girl being raised by her parents to engage in sadistic, murderous activities. Overall, THE GATEWAY MEAT is a very well done, no-holds-barred micro budget gore effort that's guaranteed to stay with you long after viewing.

FTBOMP's limited edition DVD of THE GATEWAY MEAT is a signed and numbered edition of 1,000 copies. The movie is presented in 16x9 widescreen and the extras include an audio commentary with DeCaro and members of the cast and crew, an insightful "making of" featurette with behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes, effects footage, and more, an audition reel entitled "The Bahtoe Auditions" featuring footage of actors auditioning for the part of Bahtoe, a behind-the-scenes still gallery, two trailers, and a few hidden Easter eggs.

If you're a fan of the works of Andy Copp, Toe Tag Pictures, Morbid Vision Films, Abortion Bin Productions, and Lucifer Valentine, you owe it to yourself to buy a copy of Mr. DeCaro's gorefest THE GATEWAY MEAT as soon as possible! The movie has everything you could ask for. I certainly look forward to DeCaro's next movie. Visit FTBOMP at www.ftbomp.com.