Wow! I was pretty damn impressed with this little horror flick! THE VICIOUS SWEET shows that you can still deliver a movie with an intelligent script, creative camerawork, an effective score (by Jeff Jones, who also played a part in the film) and wonderful acting even though you're working with a low budget. It has it's rough spots, but director Ron Bonk's tense writing and sharp direction raise the movie above its weaknesses.
The story focuses on Tyler Phenix (wonderfully played by Sasha Graham), a popular b-movie scream queen whose career is on the rise. She's even starting to get the attention of Hollywood, which may lead to some more "respectable" roles. Her boyfriend, Charlie (Jason Wicks), has even proposed to her. And yet, even though everything seems to be going right for her, she still seems aloof from it all. Her internal turmoil is soon cut short, however, as she soon finds herself imprisoned by one of her adorning fans. Now, she's forced to confront her past, and as time wears on, the walls of her reality slowly begin to crumble as she's thrust to the brink of madness!
Well, I must say that I was quite impressed with Sasha Graham's performance. She's proven that she can play a real bitch ("Angie" for the ADDICTED TO MURDER flicks), but Tyler Phenix turned out to be a very complex character (more complex than what you usually find at this budget level) and Graham was obviously up for the challenge. She handled all of the dramatic and horror elements very well as her character slipped closer and closer to the edge, building towards a violent climax!
Like I said, the movie has some problems. Some of the scenes appear really grainy due to low lighting and sometimes the audio is a bit hard to understand, but they don't ruin the overall experience. I gladly rank this up there with SAVAGE HARVEST, ADDICTED TO MURDER & SHATTER DEAD as quality examples of shot-on-video movies that make the most of their limited resources! Check this one out!
