First up is Tim (Killing Spree) Ritter's "Switchblade Insane" - a cool meta-slasher with a twist (you didn't think you'd escape without some twists, did you?) that you might see coming if you're smarter than me. What I see is a sassy, assured piece of work that echoes - oddly - Man Bites Dog and others, with healthy doses of humor and savagery. "A Very Bad Situation" is directed by Marcus Koch, who started out doing effects work for such notorious low-budgeters as Nikos The Impaler. (well worth seeking out if you love scraping the sides of the offal bucket - and who doesn't?) "Situation" isn't quite as smooth as "Switchblade" - with the barest premise and sometimes-shaky performances, but the payoff will have fans of old-school gore effects tittering with delight.

"The Tape" by new-school 3D Viz-guy Tony Masiello (The Amazing Spider-Man) skirts under the premise - Tony was inspired by the likes of Ritter and other '80s SOV auteurs, but never worked in the trenches of a New Jersey backyard - however, the story kicks this collection into high gear with a vengeance. Featuring the immortal put-down "stupid VHS hipsters", "The Tape" examines an unknown VHS atrocity called 'Bloodgasm", doted upon and obsessed over by unemployed rental clerk Tim. Sit back and enjoy the guts, laughs, and unbridled enthusiasm of this addictive effort.

"Gang Them Style" by Ron (The Vicious Sweet and Clay) Bonk, revs the comedy up to dangerously stupid levels. A super-homage to other horrors, with a place-that-quote mentality, Gang finds a super-macho warrior helping his 'Nana' escape the zombies invading an old-folks home. Smart, hilarious, and just a little gory, Gang Them begs you to watch it again the minute it's done.

Chris Seaver's "Genre Bending" is not all that horrific, until the rape jokes start flying. Commencing with an ominous stalker scenario, it quickly becomes ridiculously funny, then a little offensive, then funny/offensive in the way only the late Joan Rivers might attempt. Daring and hilarious, you'll have to check your politically correct ways at the door, at which point you'll be pretty pleased. "The Request" by Zombie Bloodbath's Todd Sheets finds the backyard gore auteur entering E.C. Comics terror-tory with a creepy, suspenseful revenge tale that features a really bad relationship.

Speaking of bad relationships, "Thicker Than Water" represents Donald (Savage Vengeance) Farmer's nasty take on a realistic relationship (co-dependent, unbalanced) that goes sickeningly off the rails. There's a lot of honesty found in examining the coupling of a horror fan with someone who just can't let go of the past. "The Scout" represents a mild letdown as a pair of self-involved Hollywood wannabes cruises out into the desert to find a perfect location to shoot. A spectacular throat slitting redeems an otherwise nonsensical ending. The wraparound story weaving throughout all this short subject goodness is titled "No Budget Films Presents ..." by Hi-8 co-producer Brad Sykes. While somewhat predictable, it nonetheless squeezes out some smart laughs and lets all aspiring directors in the audience know that all you really need is a camera and some willing help to start down the road to independent infamy, and that, along with this truly fun, exciting compilation, is very inspirational.

It should be noted that Hi-8 directors were compelled into a 'Dogme 95' kind-of deal, (though I'm sure these directors would hate the comparison to Lars Von Trier's early ethos) following these filmmaking constraints:
Running time: Each short can be no longer than 10 minutes but no shorter than 8.
Format: Choose your weapon, be it VHS, Hi-8, Digital 8, mini DV. No HD, 1080P, DSLRs.
Lighting: Use no more lights than you'd find in a standard lighting kit. Don't be afraid to use the best and cheapest light source - the sun!
Camera Work: Hand held or tripod only. No dollies or elaborate jib arms, steadicam rigs, etc.
Sound: Outboard boom mics are accepted, but using the onboard mic is also acceptable, as long as all dialogue is clearly audible. For exteriors, wind noise is OK and encouraged.
Special Effects: Old school makeup effects are encouraged, the gore the merrier. No CGI, Visual FX, Greenscreen of any kind are allowed.
Editing/Post: Edit on whatever programs you want. Keep sound and picture editing relatively basic and simple, imagine you are cutting on a non-linear system. No high tech post effects allowed.
Aspect Ratio: All shorts must be full screen, 4 x 3 just like the good old days before (real and fake) letterboxing.

In all, Hi-8 is enthusiastically Recommended for fans of short subject horror love.

The DVD

Video:
Sadly, Wild Eye Releasing brings the 'low' to Hi-8 with a presentation that's pretty confusing. Obviously the shorts themselves don't look great - that's part of the ethos. They don't have to look great to be great. Fake tape decay and other things familiar to those of us who love the genre are added to the titles sequence, while the shorts themselves do what they can with purposely limited resources. Images are sometimes soft, sometimes grainy, sometimes blown-out, and otherwise look perfectly janky. The whole thing is wrapped up in a 16 x 9 presentation that's not anamorphicly corrected. Everyone looks slightly flattened out and fat, as the image is stretched to fit the screen. Adjusting my set to display the image in a 4 x 3 ratio only served to reveal a little information at the top and bottom of the frame. The picture itself was still too wide.

Sound:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Audio is also as low-tech and low budget as you'd expect, the main detractor being the limitations of mostly room sound for dialog recording. Nevertheless, you can pretty much always hear what you need to hear, while dialog and soundtrack elements are mixed adequately.

Extras:
Producers Brad and Josephina Sykes contribute a recorded-by-phone Commentary Track that doesn't sound all that great (the phone, doncha know) and is not scene-specific (over the phone, you know). However, it's an informative commentary covering generalities of low-budget filmmaking, specifics about their cinematic contribution, ("No Budget Films Presents ...") the inception and fostering of the project and its contributors, and tidbits relayed to them from the directors, about each short. A 15-minute featurette, The Making of Hi-8 talks more about the genesis and philosophy of the project, and the individual shorts, with BTS clips and still shots. A Stills Gallery, some Trailers for Hi-8 and the shorts within, plus Trailers for other low-budget Wild Eye horror films round out the package.

Final Thoughts:
Hi-8: Horror Independent 8 is an unwieldy title for a horror shorts collection that's anything but unwieldy. Profane, hilarious, gory, and a hell of a lot of fun, Hi-8 hearkens back to the glory days of Shot On Video slop. Love movies like Redneck Zombies and Woodchipper Massacre? You will eat up Hi-8 and beg for more. A weird visual presentation (stretched images that pay no heed to the aspect ratio) can't stop this collection from being Recommended.

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