I doff my cap to the commenter known as “junebug,” who, in the “Pootie Tang” discussion thread this morning, mentioned a movie called “Ax ’Em.”I’d never heard of it.
“Ax ’Em” was written, produced and directed in 1992 by Michael Mfume, a son of the ex-congressman and former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume.
The movie wasn’t released until 2002. Skraight to DVD.
Since then, various B-movie aficionados on the Web have discussed “Ax ’Em” in terms of its mind-boggling technical incompetence. (“How do you review a movie so unfit for public viewing that you can’t even figure out any of the characters’ names?”)
One dedicated YouTuber has uploaded the entire film... in eight parts. He calls it “the worst horror movie ever.”
How much of this 10-minute clip can you sit through?
I made it to .41. I couldn't understand what they were saying. Bad sound. Bad lighting. Bad acting. Dang, 82 minutes of that? Was it a Guantanamo torture tool?
ReplyDeleteI kept wanting Barbara Billingsley to show up and translate for us.
ReplyDeleteMy nigga UBM on the shout out! LOL! Glad I could oblige, bruh. Did you see the part with the two drunk bums? At the end of the scene, you can hear Mfume yell "CUT"! I'm guessing this won't get him a directing gig on 'Treme?
ReplyDelete"It was supposed to be a weekend getaway until the horror began." What an original line! I made it to .12
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the problem... Its obviously a low budget student film. I only made it through 3 minutes, but its far from the worst student film I've seen.
ReplyDeleteHell, its better than Sweetback and some people think that movie was great.
YES! This is the worst movie ever made. I actually attended the "premiere" of this "movie" in Baltimore back in early 1992 when it was called "The Weekend: It Lives". Michael's father gave a nearly apologetic introduction saying, "This film is not Steven Spielberg at his finest but Spike Lee at his beginnings." Of all the nasty things people have said about Spike that must be the biggest insult to him ever. It's not even a good bad movie. You can barely see or hear anything enough to laugh at it much less understand what is supposed to be going on. I've been on a mini-campaign to get this movie into it's rightful place atop imdb's 100 Worst List ever since it go actually got distributed a few years ago. Unfortunately it's still nearly 200 votes shy of the 650 minimum votes need to qualify for that honor. Jump in and give this movie a 1, it deserves it. And thank you UBM for giving this thing the recognition it deserves.
ReplyDelete"This film is not Steven Spielberg at his finest but Spike Lee at his beginnings."
ReplyDeleteBuuullshit. I've seen "Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads."
Good luck with your campaign, Russell. And thanks for the first-person reporting.
@ Michael Murray-It was not a student film but an "independent" film. If Mfume had gone to film school it would've helped. Another comically technical issue with this film was that Michael apparently did not pay his lab bill so he never got a real print. Instead he just video taped his work print off of a flatbed and then had it up transferred to film at another lab. Michael was notorious for not paying people. A year or so after this magnum opus he got a contract to direct a couple of music videos for Willie D. of Geto Boys fame. Two camera guys I know worked for him and said it was the most disorganized shoot (including student films) they had ever been part of and at one point there was near mutiny on the crew in order to get fed and get paid.
ReplyDelete@ Russell
ReplyDeleteA lab bill? Wait a minute...you're telling me this cinematic abortion was actually SHOT ON FILM?!!! It looks like it was shot with a old VHS videocamera, then dubbed to a third or fouth generation copy of said tape, then syrup was poured over that. If this was a film school project, if would've gotten an F.
By the way, this turd was distributed by York Entertainment. I'm sad to say that early in my career, I served as DP on another one of their "masterpieces", a little ditty entitled "Our Turn". I ended up being fired after 4 days of production due to "creative differences" (I had the audacity to suggest to the director that scenes by properly lit, that a sound crew was needed, and that we use Kyro syrup and food coloring for fake blood instead of the preferred substitute...a plate of spaghetti and red Kool Aid). Some years later, the thing was available for sale on Amazon.com. A friend (who appears in it) bought it for $1.98. 95% of the footage was stuff I shot! Sadly, I never received my full payment that I was promised. But thankfully, I wasn't credited either (it's almost as bad as Ax 'Em...almost), and I don't list it on my resume, so I don't mind telling you about it.
The moral of this story? STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM YORK ENTERTAINMENT!
^ York Entertainment's list of titles looks amazing.
ReplyDelete@ UBM
ReplyDeleteDamn. I just took a look at that list of "classics". Robert Townsend has a movie on there! ROBERT TOWNSEND!!!! I feel sick.
^ I wanna get that one.
ReplyDelete... he just video taped his work print off of a flatbed and then had it up transferred to film at another lab.
ReplyDeleteAmazing. Simply amazing.