Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury (2011)

In this unearthed lost movie from 1990 that the studio deemed too terrible to release, a Vietnam Veteran Sal Bando(Sorbo), tortured by his past as a Poolboy returns home to Van Nuys, ... See full summary »

Director:

Garrett Brawith

Writer:

Ross Patterson

Stars:

Kevin Sorbo, Ross Patterson, Danny Trejo

Cast

Credited cast:
Kevin Sorbo	...	Poolboy
Ross Patterson	...	Saint James St. James
Danny Trejo	...	Caesar
Jason Mewes	...	Doug
Edi Patterson	...	Peters
Bryan Callen	...	Eduardo
Mark Curry	...	Captain O'Malley
Robert LaSardo	...	Spider
Alanna Ubach	...	Karen
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cherise Bangs	...	Hot Hostess
Paul Ben-Victor	...	Kip Tippington
Ahmed Best	...	Sidney Moncrief
Al Carabello	...	Miguel Santiago
Robert Caso	...	Bob
Jennifer Elise Cox	...	Rita

Storyline

In this unearthed lost movie from 1990 that the studio deemed too terrible to release, a Vietnam Veteran Sal Bando(Sorbo), tortured by his past as a Poolboy returns home to Van Nuys, California, and a country he doesn't recognize, in which it seems only Mexicans run pool-cleaning companies. Bando sets off on a brutal mission to reclaim his "rightful" vocation and enact revenge on the man(Trejo) who killed his wife and son.

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Plot Keywords:

pool party | murder of family | violence | murder | swimming pool

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

rated R for crude and sexual content throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language, violence and drug use

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 July 2011 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Poolboy

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

A Common Thread, Street Justice Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Caesar: My ancestors didn't sneak into this country so that wives could clean their own pools!

User Reviews

Best Worst Movie of the Year!

I recently stumbled upon Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury and was inspired to write this review. The storyline is quite simple. Vietnam military veteran returns home from the war to Van Nuys California and finds that white suburbia has been tarnished with migrant laborers performing pool cleaning labor. His wife takes off with a Mexican pool cleaning rival. He soon realizes that he must clean all the Mexican's out of white suburbia. Five minutes into this movie (if you can make it five minutes) and you will be screaming that beyond being simply a horrible movie it is offensively racist as well. But like a hooded cobra which mesmerizes it's prey before injecting lethal poison and destroying all sense of movie viewing taste; ten minutes into Poolboy and you will begin to notice some critical facts.

Some low budget movies may have an offending story or awful acting. Perhaps they have terrible special effects or have a cheap overall feel. But few can combine all of these items together as well as Poolboy. The more I watched the more fascinated I became. It wasn't one of those "it's so bad it's good" situations. It was more along the line of of being artistically terrible. In fact, within those ten minutes it became the "best worst movie" I had seen all year.

Everything about Poolboy is awful. The acting has industry veterans such as Kevin Sorbo, Danny Trejo, Robert LaSardo along with total unknowns who were probably working as boom operator's before their "lucky break." Regardless of the experience the acting was ALL BAD. Not only was the acting bad but the special effects were terrible. I swear you could see the Heintz and Karo labels littering the ground with all the watered down blood. The movie is filled with many of these cheap special effects. Halfway through the movie I wondered what the point of all the bad special effects were, but then I though perhaps Poolboy served as an industry junior special effects camp that helped pay for some of the budget costs for the movie. The camera work and setting was also terrible but at least they splurged and got one of those camcorders with a stabilizer.

The main character of the movie was Kevin Sorbo playing Sal Brando (i.e. poolboy). As a fan of Kevin's it was almost a tearful event watching him play this part. This wasn't Captain Dylon Hunt of the Andromeda or Hercules battling the Gods. This was simply Kevin Sorbo having to put food on the real life family table. Damn you TV land!! Put together a decent show for this talented actor.

Like a bar of extremely bitter dark chocolate, Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury isn't a movie for everyone. Most people will probably turn off this movie and run from the room gagging within a short amount of time. However for those who can choke this movie down it has provides a strangely rewarding experience. I am convinced that Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury remains a contender for not only this year's "BEST WORST FILM" but will stand out for the entire decade!