Rene Perez returns with a double-dose of conservative
exploitation filmmaking, that sees the director run with the outlaw status bestowed
upon him when his 2020 action film ‘The Insurrection’ was effectively
blackballed by his usual distribution outlets.
Since both ‘Only Fans Allowed’ and ‘Pro God-Pro Gun’ were likely to
suffer a similar fate, these two have bypassed traditional distribution with
Perez and his producer Joseph Camilleri opting instead for the 21st
century equivalent of four walling.
Setting up a website ‘Rebellion Flix’ to release these two new movies
themselves, as well as the frequently suppressed The Insurrection. Perez seems to be in his element when he is
pushing the buttons of people with opposing politics, and in that sense the
Rebellion Flix site is a master class in Perez’s brand of provocation. The site bloodying its gauntlet with fighting
talk along the lines of ‘watch the movies that liberals don’t want you to see’,
‘indie films that fight against the Government’s Covid scam’, while hyping Pro
God-Pro Gun as ‘an anti-woke movie starring a straight white male hero’. The Insurrection, filmed pre-pandemic, had
attracted trouble by suggesting that a virus was about to be released onto the
masses. Something that proved to be
disturbingly prophetic, and unsurprisingly made the film a hard sell when a
minor plot point in a Rene Perez film turned into a global reality. Never one to run from controversy, these two new
productions offer an extremely vocal voice to anti-vax theories, essentially tying The Insurrection, Only Fans
Allowed and Pro God-Pro Gun together as a loose trilogy of Covid themed movies.
Part radical manifesto, part slasher movie, the focus
of Only Fans Allowed is a cam girl (Viveann Vankeith) who uses the internet
name ‘Pluto the Relentless’. However it
is her audiences’ minds, rather than the flies of their pants, that Pluto really
wants to open. Once Pluto’s stream
switches from public to private, she drops the prick tease shtick, swaps
lingerie for army combat clothing, and lets loose her politics with both
barrels. Urging her followers to resist
the vaccine “unless we comply and wear the mark of the beast, meaning either a
mask or proof that we’ve been vaccinated. They restrict our travel, our job
opportunities. What’s next, no vaccine, no entry to supermarkets?”, as well as
encouraging them to join militias “guns and mass disobedience are the only things
that will save us” and remove their children from state education “schools are
80% indoctrination to conformity and only 20% of actual education, and now on
top of that schools are explicitly teaching children about sexual
perversions”. In short, Pluto has all
the qualities Perez looks for in women: non-vaccinated, conservative minded,
and willing to undress in front of a camera.
Philosophical quotes validating Pluto’s stand against authority flash
onscreen throughout the film, sourced from such diverse individuals as Albert
Einstein, George Orwell, Emiliano Zapata, Bruce Lee and James Brown. Pluto serves as an appropriate mouthpiece, if
not proxy, for Perez: a lone wolf who has turned to the internet as a means to
shake the masses out of what she believes to be a sheep like mentality, but who
has otherwise removed herself from society, preferring to bury herself away in
the Shasta County wilderness. As with
all his movies, Only Fans Allowed serves as a love letter to the great outdoors
–if you take nothing else away from Perez’s films it is that Shasta County
isn’t short on gorgeous views or gorgeous women- with Pluto the Relentless
taking time out from online rebel rousing to marvel at the breathtaking,
mountainous views that surround her.
Only Fans Allowed and Pro God-Pro Gun also bring a new wrinkle to
Perez’s movies, a love of dance, the two films bonded by sequences that reveal
their leading ladies to be exceptionally gifted dancers. Pluto’s outdoor routine being where the James
Brown quote comes in “the only thing that can solve most of our problems is
dancing”. In a visualization of Perez’s
anti-vax, anti-compliancy concerns, Pluto meets a small boy during her
woodlands excursion, immediately striking up a friendly relationship with
him. That is until the boy’s mother shows
up, and upon discovering Pluto’s unvaccinated status, reacts as if she and her
son had encountered Frankenstein’s monster lumbering around in the woods. Shielding her son, and warning Pluto off in a
hysterical, hateful rant. In a
distressing turn of events, she then roughly slaps a mask on her son, as if she
was muzzling a dog, before confiscating his G.I. Joe toys as punishment for
talking to the unvaccinated lady.
To her core audience Pluto is rather apologetic about
having to use Only Fans to stream her covert political broadcasts (although
‘Only Fans’ is never mentioned by name in the film itself). “I have to hide here on this platform
pretending to be some kind of temptress and you all have to pretend to be
bloody wankers”. However the film’s
horror elements kick in when the illuminati get wise to her online antics, and
considering Pluto the Relentless to be a threat to them, mark her down for
political assassination. Enter
illuminati bigwig Dr Bieger, a returning character from Perez’s Cabal (2020)
once again played by the film’s producer Joseph Camilleri. Having been concerned with harvesting the
organs of young ladies in order to keep the aged members of the super rich
alive in Cabal, Bieger here oversees a plot to transform one of Pluto’s
followers into a drug fuelled, super strong maniac who will serve the
illuminati. The unfortunate man in question, known only as Patient X (Tony
Jackson), having been one of few Pluto fans to have been vaccinated, done
before he came round to Pluto’s way of thinking. Something which allows Bieger to test the hidden
potential the vaccine has to control the will of those who take it “this
construction worker is about to go from an all-round nice guy to homicidal
maniac”.
Having been a talky, political diatribe until this
point, the last 25 minutes of Only Fans Allowed goes full on, balls to the wall
horror as Pluto plays a suspenseful game of cat and mouse with the berserk
Patient X who has been given a sledgehammer to do the job and now sports a
leatherface type mask. Perez holds
nothing back in terms of gore or nudity, one female victim is viciously beaten,
stripped naked and has an eyeball ripped out, another discovers that not even
the vaccine can protect you from a sledgehammer to the face, as Only Fans
Allowed takes on the appearance of an alternate universe Friday the 13th
movie. One where being vaccinated,
rather than having sex, is what gets you killed, while being unvaccinated earns
you final girl status. Viveann
Vankeith’s angry, dedicated performance is the glue that holds the film
together, with lengthy sections of it being one woman monologues, and Pluto’s
soul searching culminating in the admission that guilt over a youthful abortion
is what transformed her from liberal party girl to born again
conservative. A revelation which also
allows Perez to work in the pro-life themes that dominated his previous film,
the Western ‘Righteous Blood’.
To me though the real discovery of Only Fans Allowed
is Chelsea Evered, who is wonderfully evil as one of Bieger’s underlings. Evered shines as an utterly conscienceless character
who’ll sends shivers down your spine, whether it is in her ruthlessly ambitious
plan to climb the ladder of power, or presenting Patient X’s mask to a male
co-worker, then explaining with sadistic glee “I’m going to have this bolted to
his head so he can’t pull it off. Scary, huh?”
Evered is an actress that Perez should definitely keep on the payroll,
indeed she returns for further standout villainy in Pro God-Pro Gun, and is also
in the cast of Perez’s as yet unreleased vampire movie ‘Nightfall’, which I
believe has British involvement on the financial side.
The final act of Only Fans Allowed inevitably evokes memories of Perez’s Playing with Dolls series, what with a maniac whose murderous actions are being controlled and gloatingly observed by a far greater bunch of degenerates. I still suspect that Perez has a decent Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Friday the 13th movie in him, were someone to hand him the keys to either of those franchises. Realistically though these Rebellion Flix productions appear to signal a retreat away from the mainstream for Perez, and into self-imposed exile to an obscure area of the internet where he can be himself and make the type of movies he wants to make. Whereas Perez’s ‘above ground’ movies like Cabal and Cry Havoc...the ones which receive DVD releases and show up on mainstream streaming services... contain political content that may go over the head of the average viewer, Only Fans Allowed and its Rebellion Flix bedfellows are far more direct, capturing the director at his most incendiary, opinionated, and in your face. Due to its anti-vax, anti-government, pro-life stance, Only Fans Allowed is –depending on your political viewpoint- either going to strike you as an incredibly brave film, or an incredibly repulsive one. It is a divisive film, made in divisive times.
“You’ve seen the conservative car bumper stickers, now watch the movie” could have been the tag-line of Perez’s Pro God-Pro Gun. The proud owner of what –hands down- has to be the most contentious, fuse lighting, attention grabbing movie title of 2022. One seemingly derived from the ‘Pro God, Pro Gun, Pro Life’ slogan that decorates the cars of conservative minded Americans, presumably abridged slightly for the movie because unlike in Only Fans Allowed, Perez wasn’t able to work an anti-abortion message into this one. Its 1974 and ‘First Blood’ vibes are strong as Vietnam Vet Joe Colton (Chase Bloomquist) walks the roads of rural America on a mission to deliver a precious locket to the family of his slain Nam buddy Emilio. From the outset there is an across the decades connection between Colton and the heroine of Only Fans Allowed. They are both persecuted loners who want little to do with society, and carry albatrosses around their necks which cause them to be the subject of open hostility when they do interact with others. In the case of Pluto the Relentless it is her unvaccinated status, while Colton’s cross to bear is his dishonourable discharge from the service. In First Blood fashion this instantly brings him into conflict with the local sheriff, Buford, who berates Colton as a spineless hippy who has failed to live up to the heroism of the older generation. Colton gets a warmer reception from Emilio’s father, a priest (Joseph Camilleri) whose attempt to reach out to the troubled young man is rejected by Colton, who having lost his faith in Vietnam feels uncomfortable being around a man of God. After a frosty introduction, Emilio’s sister Alma (Ana Isabel Rosso) also offers Colton an olive branch, picking him up on the road and inviting to an impromptu picnic where God, 8 track tapes and disco music are the main topics of conversation. Like Pluto the Relentless, Alma is another conservative gal who loves to dance, with leading lady Ana Isabel Rosso proving to be quite the mover, as well as the definition of cuteness...where does Perez find these women?
The peace is shattered by the arrival of four
criminals, on the run after shooting up the local bank, who invade the priest’s
house and lie in wait for Colton and Alma.
The two most memorable of the unnamed foursome being one (Michael
Jarrod) who models himself on John Shaft, while the sole female member of the
bunch (Chelsea Evered) is dressed like John Travolta in Saturday Night
Fever. Colton’s dishonourable discharge
status quickly earns him a beating from the patriotic crims, Evered’s character
sneering “my father didn’t die in Korea so cowards like you could get out and
save their own skins”.
Pro God-Pro Gun is another Rene Perez film distinguished
by Chelsea Evered’s ability to be really good at playing really bad
people. She is more than capable of
filling the boots of the lead antagonist in a home invasion movie, the type of
role usually assigned to male actors. A
wolf in John Travolta’s clothing, her character bullies the other male criminals
around, and isn’t above shooting innocent people in the back, or moments of
sexual perversity. Chloroforming Alma,
exposing the unconscious girl’s breasts and tormenting Colton with the prospect
of turning her rape-ready male cohorts on Alma.
“Look at how mad you’re getting just by having a woman fondle her,
imagine how badly you’ll feel if I let the men each have a turn with her”.
Pro God-Pro Gun treads a similar path to Robert A.
Endelson’s Fight for Your Life (1977) only with Christianity rather than race
relations being the bone of contention between captors and captives. It’s a film which questions the compatibility
between faith and military service, pushing the idea that wars ultimately suit
the elite of society, but can compromise and shatter the religious beliefs of
those who fight them. “If soldiers
followed God’s laws instead of following the laws of men, he wouldn’t be fooled
into fighting wars that only benefit politicians and money tycoons” claims
Alma. An opinion surprisingly shared by
Evered’s character, who turned to crime after her father’s death plunged she
and her mother into poverty “my father died in Korea thinking he was fighting
for our freedom, but really he was fighting for some hidden Wall Street
interest”.
Perez isn’t unsympathetic to the hatred of the
government and people of power that fuels the bank robbers’ outlaw
lifestyle. However this bunch are no
latter day Robin Hoods, and the film backs away from endorsing their viewpoint
when it comes to their abandonment of God and embracement of nihilism. Evered’s lady bank robber reminding her
captives “Yes, we are godless, but at least we aren’t cowards”, only for Alma
to argue back “you should have followed God’s light instead of turning into a
murderous thief”.
Theological debates spill over into bone breaking
punch ups and bloody shootouts, as Colton escapes... but beaten and wounded in
the wilderness has to confront the two things he has really been running from, God
and violence, in order to take on the atheist bank robbers, save his life and
protect Alma’s virtue.
As has been commented on elsewhere, Perez does break
the mould when it comes to conservative filmmakers. A type that tend to pride
themselves on making family friendly movies, while finger wagging at the use of
violence and nudity in Hollywood movies, yet Perez is once again all over gore
here, and I’ve never seen a film of his that reneges on the promise that if
there is an attractive woman in his cast, Perez will find a way of showing her
naked at some point. An elegance to red
blooded audiences, and knowledge that excessive violent and female nudity have
a tendency to wind woke minded people up the wrong way, seemingly being his
motivating factors there. As much as
Perez is Pro God-Pro Gun, he is also very much Pro Blood-Pro Boobs.
Although the two filmmakers are miles apart
geographically, and I suspect politically, Pro God-Pro Gun is a worthy
cinematic blood brother to the recent Charlie Steeds movie Death Ranch
(2020). Both are films with a jones for
1970s culture in general, and grindhouse cinema and blaxploitation in
particular. While Pro God-Pro Gun and Death
Ranch can get heavy handed at times when it comes to emphasizing their 1970s
settings “an 8 track tape player, they’re kind of new” these are two films made
with a greater understanding and love for their cinematic source materials than
are usually found in faux-grindhouse films.
As is the norm for Perez, he acts as his own
soundtrack composer on Only Fans Allowed and Pro God-Pro Gun, but shows another
side to his talents, by coming into his own as a vocalist on the latter
film. The no nonsense bravado that plays
out over Pro God-Pro Gun’s opening titles is the perfect primer to the two
fisted movie that follows “put your guns down and fight me like a man, if you
can, here I am”. The repeat use of
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2 as a love theme does unwittingly bring forth
unwanted memories of Eric Carmen’s All by Myself, but Perez’s belated
contribution to the disco craze ‘Cross the Dance Floor’ (just wanna dance) is a
belter that would have gotten them on the floor at Studio 54, and sees Perez
vocally channel The Bee Gees “I..I..I..I..I..I just wanna dance with you”.
While both Only Fans Allowed and Pro God-Pro Gun have
their merits, for my money Pro God-Pro Gun is the stronger of the two. Only Fans Allowed comes across as a small
scale echo of what Perez has done before, the online whistleblower theme from
The Insurrection, and a masked killer as a puppet for the super rich from Cabal
and the Playing with Dolls series. On
the other hand, Pro God-Pro Gun is livelier, faster paced and fresher, the 1970s
setting and the home invasion theme being something we’ve never seen Perez
attempt before. Both Only Fans Allowed
and Pro God-Pro Gun see Perez edge closer and closer to becoming a modern day
Ron Ormond, employing exploitation film techniques in order to preach hard-line
Christian ideology, and creating films that flit from Grindhouse to
Pulpit.
Pro God-Pro Gun, Only Fans Allowed and The Insurrection are available to stream on rebellionflix.com $1.99 buys you access to all three movies.
