The Choke (2005)

Director:

Juan A. Mas

Writers:

Jessica Dolan (co-writer)
Susannah Lowber (co-writer)

Genre:

Thriller | Horror

Tagline:

This is not how rock stars die

Plot:

A hot young band playing at clubs and raves across the Northwest. Handsome lead singer Dylan Brown has a bit of an ego problem...

Plot Keywords:

Band | Rock | Blood | Video Camera | Gore

Cast

Damon Abdallah	...	Homeless Man
Brooke Bailey	...	London
Sean Cook	...	Dylan
Jon Fowler	...	Lefty
Robert Gerl	...	Featured Extra
David R. Johnson	...	Dave the Doorman
Jason Mckee	...	Mike Pritchard
Tom Olson	...	Nancy Boy
Andrew Parker	...	Guy Johnson
Sam Prudhomme	...	Eliot
Wonder Russell	...	Jonesy
Bee Simonds	...	Starr
Lila Vlavianos	...	The Flirt

Also Known As:

Axe (UK) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Spokane, Washington, USA

Company:

North by Northwest Entertainment

Trivia:

Portions of this film were shot in what used to be a Wonder Bread factory.

Quotes:

Nancy Boy: Did you do this?
London: Yeah, because I have a key to this door.
Starr: Really?
London: No. Why would I want to lock myself in here with you people?
Nancy Boy: Because you're a homicidal maniac with a taste for flesh?
London: Shut up Nancy Boy!

Movie Connections:

Spin off The Choke: The Legend Begins (2006) (V)

I'd rather choke to death than watch this again...

At the time of writing this review it would seem that over 50% of IMDb voters had given this film a rating of either a 10 or a 1. I can only surmise then that those giving it a 10 were either cast or crew members.

They say that given enough monkeys and enough time and enough typewriters, those monkeys, just by random proddings at the keyboard, would eventually type out the complete works of Shakespeare. However, I seriously doubt that given the same number of monkeys and time, you could find a single one to give this movie a rating of 10.

I patiently watched the first half, foolishly assuming that the film would, on some level, develop either the plot or the characters, or maybe make some kind of social comment or provoke barely intellectual thought. Failing that, I was quite prepared to accept action, suspense, comedy, horror or even gratuitous sex as a way of holding my attention. Ultimately, I was disappointed and consequently, much of the second half was viewed at double speed as I searched in vain for some small snippet of cinematic redemption. Sadly, there was none.

If "The Choke", was put up against an episode of Scooby Doo then I'm afraid the cartoon would win hands down in terms of mystery, intrigue and unpredictability. And speaking of cartoon characters, the acting abilities of the various cast members varied between acceptable (at best) and embarrassingly poor with Brooke Bailey's portrayal of the freaky, death obsessed pseudo goth, London, being so bad I almost felt sorry for her.

I would have liked to have finished on a positive note but even the soundtrack, a second rate feast of contemporary punk rock, failed even to entertain, let alone serve to enhance a very poor flick.