Billy Club (film)

Billy Club
The poster shows a man dressed in an umpire uniform carrying a baseball bat with several nails attached to it. Above him is the tagline: "You'll Never Run Home Faster!".
Directed by Drew Rosas
Nick Sommer
Written by Drew Rosas
Nick Sommer
Starring Marshall Caswell
Erin Hammond
Nick Sommer
Music by Chris Fuller
Cinematography Justin Russell
Edited by Drew Rosas
Production
company
D-Cent Entertainment
Decent Entertainment
Surgery Room
Release dates
  • October 1, 2013 (2013-10-01) (Milwaukee Film Festival)
Running time
 94 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Billy Club is a 2013 independent comedy horror film directed and written by Drew Rosas and Nick Sommer. The film had its world release on October 1, 2013 at the Milwaukee Film Festival and focuses on four friends that reunite after a long time, only to have to overcome dark secrets from their past.[1] Funding for Billy Club was partially received through a successful Kickstarter campaign.[2][3]

Plot

Fifteen years ago Bobby (Marshall Caswell) and his friends (Allan, Jay, Alison, Kevin, Phil, Vanessa, Larry, Kyle, Mitch, Barb, Dan, and Joyce) tormented their little league teammate Billy Haskins after he lost them a big game. In retaliation Billy murdered Mitch, Vanessa and their coach before he was stopped and placed in a mental institution. Bobby moved away afterwards, but has returned years later in 1996 to reconnect with everyone at a baseball stadium. This reunion is cut short when someone dressed as an old fashioned umpire begins killing any survivors from the team, making the survivors fear for their lives.

First, he suffocates Kevin by emptying a bucket of baseballs into his throat, choking him. Next, he murders Jay with a spiked baseball bat. Meanwhile, Barb and Larry have a falling out, and Barb ends up breaking up with Kyle. As the party continues, Alison begins to become worried about Kevin and Jay, but Phil tells her that they probably just left. Dan seduces Barb and the two have sex. The killer then impales Dan and Barb with a sharpened bat, killing them. Meanwhile, Larry wanders onto the field looking for Allan. He finds blood around first base. Larry lifts the base out of the ground, only to discover that Allan's severed head is impaled on the base's spike. Larry then tries to run, but the murderer shoots him dead with a pitching machine.

Alison, Phil, and Joyce plan to play a game of baseball on the field, and Kyle and Bobby head up to the announcer booth. Alison, Phil and Joyce find the dead bodies of Kevin, Jay, Dan, Barb, and Allan in the dugout. Phil and Joyce believe that Bobby is the killer. The three of them run onto the field, and Bobby makes menacing comments over the P.A. Alison, Phil and Joyce then flee the field. However, it is revealed that Bobby was just joking. Then, Kyle stabs him to death with a sharpened bat. Kyle meets the other three, and tells them that Bobby attacked him but he managed to kill Bobby. They then hear Larry's screams broadcast over the P.A. and race to save him. After the four split up, Kyle beats Joyce to death with a bat.

Alison and Phil discover the booth, where they find out that Larry's screams were prerecorded and that they are being broadcast via Kyle's phone. They also find Bobby's corpse. Alison and Phil are cornered by Kyle. He reveals that Billy was his best friend, and that he died in the mental asylum. He murdered the others out of revenge. Kyle throws a baseball at Phil's head, causing him to fall off the balcony to his death. Kyle then chases Alison through the entire park. Alison hides in the snack bar, but Kyle discovers her. He attempts to kill her with a spiked bat, but she retaliates by incapacitating him with the cash register. She then pushes a soda machine off the counter, causing it to fall and crush Kyle dead. Alison then leaves the park, the sole survivor of the attack.

Cast

Production

Rosas and Sommer, both of whom had worked together previously on the film Blood Junkie, began developing Billy Club as both wanted to "make a slasher movie in the vein of the classic boogie men movies of the ‘80s and ‘90s" and felt that the theme of baseball "lends itself to the horror genre really well".[4] Funding was partially raised through a private investor as well as through Kickstarter.[5] Sommer designed the killer's weapon to incorporate a "bolt-action retractable bayonet blade that comes out the end", as he wanted to make it different from the typical "baseball bat with nails in it".[4] Filming took place in northern Wisconsin and several baseball players from McDonough, Georgia's Union Grove High School were brought on to portray the young versions of the main characters.[6][7]

Reception

Billy Club won the "Best Feature" award at the Hollywood Horror Fest, the "Best Horror Film" award at the Phoenix Film Festival, the "Award of Excellence" at Indy Fest, and the "Best Wisconsin Film" award at the Beloit International Film Festival. The film was also an official entry in the PollyGrind Film Festival, the Green Bay Horror Festival, and the Milwaukee Film Festival.

Music

The band Alison's Mailbox, from Highland, Indiana, contributed two songs to the movie. "Just Askin'" and "The Feminine Song" are from the band's first official release titled "Alison's Mailbox". The four song tape was released March 4, 1995. "Just Askin'" can be heard at two spots in the movie, at 21:06 and 21:31. "The Feminine Song" can be heard at 56:12. The scenes include the songs playing on the radio in Billy's truck.

Shock Till You Drop rated Billy Club at a 5, stating that the film was "far from perfect", but that there was "real talent on display".[8]

The official Billy Club poster created by Dog & Pony won the "Award of Distinction" at the 19th Annual Communicator Awards in 2013.[9]

See also

References

External links

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