So, my friend Jake and his splatter-freak pal Paul Solet made a horror movie. Well, 13 minute’s worth, so far. I could have predicted this would happen, as last time I saw him – he helped me with the layout on Snake Oil Supercharm – there were photos on the wall in his office of Jake dressed up in various Star Wars outfits, with light sabers and shit. Jake had a retro-boogie metal band called There at the time, and There were also known to randomly go sci-fi without warning. You can kinda tell that Means to an End has been brewing in his brain since he was 12.

The film concerns two special effects artists (Jake and Paul) who are so over-the-top with their gore gags that no one will hire them. In probably the same way death metal was invented, the fellas decide the answer to their problems is to get even MORE disgusting, so they start mutilating each other, and filming it, for the snuff reel to end all snuff reels. I don’t wanna give away too much, but suffice to say, one of ‘em gets their ass sliced off with an industrial size cheese grater, and you just don’t see shit like that everyday, man.

Even with it’s brief running time, Means to an End is fast and frenetic, with every gore-nerd trick in the book, including camera angles and methods borrowed from Argento and Raimi and 20 years worth of Fango references, from “Horror Holocaust” to Ichi the Killer. Sure, it rolls dangerously closer to film-geek territory with virtually every frame, but ultimately, it’s enthusiasm and charm and sense of humor wins out over it’s cellar dweller tendencies. There is no mistaking the talent at work here, and given that Means to an End is already being developed into feature-length, I have no doubt you’ll be hearing more from these terror twins soon. In the meantime, you can buy the short version (with over half an hour’s worth of extras) for a measly ten bucks. If you’re a real horror fan, you’ll wanna support these indie-minded true believers. You’ll also have a ball watching it.

One thing, tho: the special effects looks totally fake.