From Buttgrape to Badass: The Homicide Mcleod story.

He's mean, He's deadly, he's a badass, he's Homicide Mcleod. From the mind of Sean Ashley comes this wildly inventive film that I honestly can't wait to rave about.

Centering around the Titular character Homicide McLeod the First film sees our hero investigating a newly discovered drug circulating in his city, enlisting the aid of his retired but equally badass father, Slaughter. Homicide must uncover the truth behind this new high and take out as many scumbags as he can along the way.

Not one moment of screen time is wasted in this 1-hour movie as every second is filled with hilarious jokes, banter, gunfights, interesting backstories, and villains you will be excited to see more of with "The Bidet", a Gangster on a porcelain throne whos shit sounds change ever so slightly depending on his emotions being a stand out

for sure.

the film has small charms that just bring it together, like the overdubbing of 90% of the dialogue, Blow-up dolls in place of actors, a surprisingly great cat costume (i love the way

the mouth moves), and special effects just bad enough to be good but not good enough to ruin the movie and don't get me started on that kick-ass theme Homicide has whenever he goes on a rampage.

the dialogue is a super-strong aspect of the movie with every joke hitting, references for the sharp ones, and great exposition, never leaving anything to wonder and giving us

a reason and answer for everything.

From the beginning of the film where we follow homicide as he discovers the drugs to the gunfights that ensue to the absolutely bonkers end twist there won't be a second

that you aren't enjoying yourself. it really is that good.

When is the last time you remember leaving a movie smiling? I mean just happy, you enjoyed the movie 100%, the characters were fun, the plot was great and the

the atmosphere made you want to see more.

When is the last time you couldn't wait to recommend a movie? you just NEEDED someone else to see it so you could talk about every stupid detail.

Those moments seem too few and far between lately, I mean don't get me wrong. I ADORED Willy's wonderland and a few other flicks this year, I've told anyone who will

listen that they are good films and should be seen BUT very rarely a film like that comes along and tickles you the right way.

Homicide Mcleod could be the start of a whole new trend in Indie filmmaking. MAKE WHAT YOU WANT. Speaking with Sean he was very clear that he made these movies

because he wanted to tell the story, "if anyone sees it, cool".

To me, THAT is what makes this movie great. yeah, I totally enjoyed the story and loved the characters, but what made it so special was the feeling of seeing someone's pure

joy and passion spilled out on the screen as opposed to the "idea that will make them rich" or "the film that will get me noticed". not here, here you can feel how badly

Sean wanted you to have as much fun as he did. and I did. I wanted to see more, I wanted to laugh that hard again, and thank fuck I got to.

Homicide Never dies is the next installment and I enjoyed it as much as the first if not a bit more after starting to feel more familiar with the characters after the first film.

it's very much an Alien/Aliens situation. Both are great, but one has a more story-based element and the other is balls to the wall action. with that said, nothing in this film

is diminished from the first. the film at points takes on a retro color bleed I just love and the new characters are a great addition with Baltimore being an easy favorite.

picking up shortly after the first film we see homicide recovering from the death of someone special while doing what he does best, get some suckers did and punching dick.

Stumbling upon a relic known as the Anahtar Homicide and the newly formed Homicide Squad are thrown into an interdimensional, time travel war with a big bastard of a demon and his mannequin love. Great care was put into carrying over the feel of the first film as well as the portrayals of the characters and keeping the plot centered

without losing the weird.

The next film in the series, "Old man Slaughter" is said to be hopeful for 2022 with more to come I'm told meaning that the Homicide Mcleod universe will be going strong

for years to come.

Now stick with me cause I'm gonna deviate a bit here. There are so many movies out there, just as good as this. just as fun and crazy and enjoyable along with all the trash.

and we never get to see any of it, it's buried under things like not knowing how to advertise, not knowing who to reach out to in terms of getting it seen, not enough

word of mouth, etc. I've seen some fantastic movies in my time doing reviews and id say 90% of my reviews are on Indie works. Indie works that I don't hear a lot of folks

talking about. things like Homicide Mcleod, Psycho ape, The good Exorcist and so many more, that were built with love, for fun, for you, with nothing but your enjoyment

in mind. I'm sick of missing out on that. I'm sure you all are too. going forward I will be only reviewing indie films and I want ANYONE who has ANY project to share it with me

so I can share it with the world. I want the joy I felt watching Homicide Mcleod the other day to be your joy. I want the moments of laying on the floor with my kid laughing

at the Good exorcist to be yours. I want someone to say "is he killing people with a banana" to you! and while we're at it if you know of any films that you don't hear anyone

mention, then talk about them! tell the world all about it, recommend it. Share it around.

In the meantime why not hang around as I have a chat with sean Ashley, the creator of homicide McLeod and honestly a great and wildly creative guy and don't forget to check back when Old man Slaughter drops for another review and check out both films mentioned here. if you don't enjoy it you can DM me to get did :) guaranteed xox

Sean: My name is Sean Ashley. I'm a trash filmmaker in Atlanta, GA. I created Homicide McLeod as a youtube short series in 2012 and after making 6 episodes I decided that was the character I could write my first feature around so I did! And I'm here now almost 10 years later with 2 Homicide McLeod flicks under my belt and excited to keep creating ridiculous movies.

Lily: Let's dive right into the first film

I want to start off by saying it's such a unique take on the detective genre and very refreshing, it feels like an anti-cyber punk style, gritty and aggressive and odd tech but not overly reliant on these tropes. what were the inspirations behind the style of the film and the overall tone it manages to achieve

Sean: Awesome, I love that takes away "anti-cyber punk." Which is funny because I love cyberpunk. SO the inspiration for Homicide McLeod came to me while I was watching the Morgan Conway Dick Tracy movies from the 1940s. I was digging the idea of these old school flicks being the blueprint for what became some of my favorite movies like Dirty Harry and Lethal Weapon. Following HOMICIDE DETECTIVES around and the thing that's hysterical to me is the idea that these "heroes" are causing more Homicide's than they're actually preventing them. So I took that idea and ran with it. I was like fuck it, I'll make a character whose name is Homicide and he goes around causing Homicide while following all the tropes that I love. The really fun part is that I love comic books and I always liked the Mike Mignola Hellboy universe especially Lobster Johnson and how ridiculously violent those books are. So I was like what if Troma made a Dick Tracy style hero and instead of gangsters he fought Aliens or the Wishmaster and it's just been something I absolutely love writing and creating ridiculous scenarios to insert Homicide into.

Lily: that's great that actually answered my next little question which was about how the world seems to encourage the detectives to murder rather than arrest lol

So correct me if I'm wrong but I could swear you dubbed the dialogue overtop of the actual actors (I'm missing glasses at the moment so I could totally be wrong there), was this style choice or a technical choice

Sean: It's the style I want. I love the old Sergio Leone western's and how everyone has the rubber lip thing going on. But! What's awesome is I don't need a boom operator so my budgets are obviously really cheap so it helps from a technical standpoint meaning I don't have to worry about audio while I'm shooting. And it makes it fun and I always like that about TROMA movies so you can add funny shit if you want or have someone say something they didn't say during the actual take. It makes everything more ridiculous. My creative force is I'm not just spoofing a genre I'm making fun of making movies, the entire process is funny to me.

Lily: A lot of the stylistic choices work so well together, this is sort of a 2 part question I suppose but did you know when you were making the film that things like the blow-up dolls, the purposefully lacking special effects, the obscenely hilarious dialogue, etc were all going to work so well together or was that just a natural evolution as you worked with what you could? Did you have a budget in mind going in or did you just add things as they came up?

Sean: Thank you, I'm glad you dig the style so much. I like the style because you either get it or you don't, and if it's not for you rock on! But I feel like we live in an era where everything is so "dark and gritty" and I'm going against that grain consciously.

Now the reason I used blow-up dolls in the first movie was because I had some auditions that didn't go as planned and my rebuttal was to just use Blow up dolls cuz they couldn't tell me my dialogue was offensive or whatever, haha

Sean: So the second go-round I kept the blow-up doll for the Logan character, I actually only see him as that blow-up doll now so that's funny. But the mannequin was a decision early on and that it would be funny but after using it, I did learn mannequins suck because they will just collapse and fall apart while you're shooting. So in the sequel, you can see GWEN's wig keeps moving around. It's because she kept falling over.

Sean: But as far as special FX I'd love to have awesome special FX but I'm doing it all myself and I'm not the best with after effects but I can make it serve the purpose I want it to and it adds to the ridiculousness so there are times where I try to make it look "good" and times where I'm like that just looks silly, PERFECT!

Lily: That's exactly what I was saying watching it, the less then perfect effects are part of the charm, if they were good it would take away from the film

it all adds up to this really weird combo of things that just work so damn well, I never thought id feel for a blow-up doll but I literally shouted "NOT THE BLOW-UP DOLL" when the Irish dude gets shot lol

A smaller question, Slaughter mentions his metal knee and how he got it, but how did he get the metal dick :P

not sure if that ones canon lol just the line sticks out so heavily

Sean: Well he doesn't actually have a metal dick, he just refers to his Johnson as "STEEL" but now you've given me something to consider. There will be more to that mythos in my next movie "OLD MAN SLAUGHTER" which is a spin-off that will be a solo Slaughter McLeod story.

I love that line as well, my writing partner Nick Backer has got some zingers and that's one of them! Get ready for a lot more of those!

Lily: that makes me so damn excited lol I was gonna ask about a slaughter film

Sean: The screenplay is done and will most likely be shot and completed before the end of 2022 if everything goes as planned, and it will! Cuz we get 'em did!

Red heart

Lily: you're a chode if the head don't explode

Sean: damn right!

Now Slaughter was a fun character because I created Slaughter to help make a feature around Homicide. I couldn't think of what the story should be and I was watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and thought. OH FUCK! It should be a father-son story

Sean: In my head, I was like if Indiana Jones's father is James Bond then Homicide's father would be a blaxploitation hero like Shaft or Slaughter and so I just bit the name cuz it worked with Homicide and I also love Bernie Mac so the Black Irish joke was too good not to use

I try to be careful with the jokes. I'm not trying to alienate anyone just get aliens did!

The world is so fucked up that I honestly want these movies to be the escapism most people are craving.

Lily: So that's another small point, there are SO many wicked little pop culture references scattered throughout, from beetle juice to king of the hill. some are slipped in so well it's hard to find them, when writing the homage lines is it difficult to find a place to slip them in well, or is that just a natural part of your writing style

Sean: Wow! You caught me! So my rule for these movies is absolutely no pop culture references by name. So if we do it, it's got to be slick but I'm not doing Ryan Reynolds or James Gunn style humor that as funny as it may be in 10 years nobody's gonna understand the jokes cuz they won't get the reference. So if we do it, it's natural and how we would converse with one another and if you know you know and if you don't it's just how they talk. But I'm taking a very bold stance against pop-culture references being the punchline. I love the Naked Gun but the worst jokes are when they make fun of something political or some reference to 80's pop culture and I know what they're talking about but my kids and the generation behind me would have to google those jokes. I want my movies to be timeless.

Lily: "don't knock it till you try it" made my heart jump lol

So ill stop picking through the first so much :P and hit on Never dies a bit

Sean: hell yes! Thank you. My dude Eric Thompson absolutely crushed the voice for Hallenbeck.

Lily: In Homicide never dies, you made the bold move to have slaughter killed via snake on penis diarrhea attack and be replaced with his time-traveling younger self. This changes the dynamic between homicide and slaughter quite a bit bringing them from father and son to buddy cop status and I dig it but I'm wondering was this change something you worried about? the tone of the film is slightly different without being something that's unfamiliar which is great but it must have been something you had to consider greatly

Sean: It was a BOLD decision but it seemed like in doing that I'd be writing a completely different movie with the same characters which is what I did want. The idea originated from the idea of what if Slaughter traveled through time and kicked his own ass and then I wrote a movie around that simple idea. I also wanted Homicide to fight the Wishmaster so I created my own Wishmaster-style monster in THE BOGUMAK and that's how that happened. It really is the middle chapter though a lot is happening with Slaughter McLeod in the next two McLeod movies. I've already got Homicide 3 planned I just wanted to make an OLD MAN story first before I finish the trilogy.

Lily: I literally just choked on my coffee reading this answer lol

Sean: I had to make OLD MAN SLAUGHTER because I missed the old man in the sequel even though he's there and I love it, I needed to explore more of that Old man.

Lily: This younger slaughter seems to be more of an asshole, is this because it's before he met whomever he was with when they had Homicide? or is that a secret still :)

Sean: Secret but I'll say this. It's a completely different Slaughter. I'm a big fan of THE ONE with Jet Li. That's the closest thing to a spoiler for what's going on with Slaughter in these movies...(stay tuned!)

Sean: all of my ideas come from well what if this movie crashed into this movie and then those movies crashed into this movie. It's just how my brain works

Lily: Kind of random but the secret thing made it pop up. was it homicide Mcleods choice to be credited as "himself" in the film or was that part of the magic so to speak

Sean: ANSWER REDACTED AFTER THREATS OF DICK AND OR VAGINAL PUNCHES BY HOMICIDE MACLEOD.**

Lily: We hear about a defunct supernatural sector and we see a glimpse of a possible resurrection of this in the film. is this something we can look forward to you exploring more. id love to see homicide take on more underworld freaks

Sean: The supernatural sector will come into play in Homicide 3, now how it will play out I'm still figuring out the specifics. I promise this though, the third film will be epic in every sense of the word. I've got a lot of BIG things planned for new and existing characters.

Homicide doesn't fight normal villains that's why the world needs him, those "underworld freaks" need to get did!

Lily: Speaking on new characters Baltimore was a fun addition to the crew, with the appearance of her character we are set up for the more supernatural side of things, not that aliens aren't fuckin weird. Was her character to help anchor that and what were the challenges of writing for such a unique character. telporting cyborg badass?

Sean: Yes! I love evil villains. I feel like so many moves now are making villains into anti-heroes or the antagonist is so gray you feel bad for them and for me I'm always watching those movies and thinking "fuck that". That's how the real world works. There's no villains in the real world. We're all people just doing what we believe right or wrong. So I'm fulfilling the fantasy that is the fairy tale villain and it's a blast. THEY'RE BAD , THEY'RE EVIL! You're not supposed to like them and if you do that's cool but you know that they're bad. In the real world, evil people seem normal and that's boring to me in a movie.

Sean: Now that being said I think there are really bad and evil people in the world but they have supporters who would say otherwise. I'm just trying to have fun with the idea of for the sake of controlling my movie, THIS GUYS IS BAD! No question about it.

Lily: so I just realized I've kept you for almost 2 hours lol, 'll wrap up with a few short easy ones for fun :). If Homicide Mcleod was asked why you should see his films, what would he have to say?

Homicide: If you want the TRUTH, You need to watch Homicide McLeod.

Lily: What is the best way for fans to support the series and where can they watch it in a way that helps you out and not some bootlegging bastard

Sean:

HOME | Homicide McLeod

homicidemcleod.com

The best way is to head to http://HomicideMcLeod.com you can stream the first on TromaNOW. The second one will be there soon. Just spread the word on social media tag

@homicideMcleod

and show it to your friends. These movies are for people who love fucked up stuff and I'm not gonna stop. So keep getN em did!

Lily: Absolutely loved this. thank you so so so much for letting me watch the flicks and have this time with you, they really are phenomenal, just a lot of fun all around and so goddamn funny at points while also having me waiting for another gunshot. I can not wait for more. id be glad to do this all again when the next one drops :)

Sean: I look forward to it! Thank you so much for taking the time to watch the flicks. This has been an absolute blast and I can't thank you enough. so THANK YOU!!!!

Red heart

** Homicide Mcleod in no way threatened the genitals of anyone involved in this article, this does not however cover your genitals or any future punching by Mr Mcleod.