Sweatshop (2009) User Reviews

Bloody and brutal, but lacking depth and dimensions...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 15 March 2013]

I picked up a copy of "Sweatshop" because it seemed like a fairly interesting slasher movie, and the DVD cover did have a certain appeal.

And now having seen the movie, I can say that it is a fairly average slasher at best. The story is straight forward, albeit a bit lacking depth and any real weight as to whom the killer and his two ghouls were and where they came from.

The story is about a group of young people, punks, emos and goths, who are at an abandoned building to set up a rave of sorts. But they are not alone there, and a deranged killer is going to turn the party into a bloody mess before the night is over.

What makes the movie bearable to sit through is the amount of violence and gore there is. The effects are nice and look realistic, which is really what is the major supporting factor that carries the movie. Plus the way that the violence and mayhem is executed is quite well, fun (in a morbid way) and inventive. There are some fairly interesting and brutal scenes to be seen throughout the movie.

As for the characters, well despite having cool costumes and outfits they turn out to be rather meaningless people that you don't really come to have any sort of relationship to as you watch the movie. It is not a matter of if they die - it is a matter of how. And the size of the hammer made from an anvil, well it just seems so ridiculous, as the guy can handle it so easily, and you can see that it is painstakingly fake as there is no weight to it as he lifts it.

For fans of macabre and violent movies, then you will surely find something enjoyable in "Sweatshop". But for fans of the horror genre, then you'll most likely find the movie to be plain and rather generic.

Splatter film = nifty violence + brutal tedium

[Groverdox · 5/10 · 16 July 2018]

Like most splatter movies, "Sweatshop" features a melding of brutal violence with brutal tedium.

This one also has sexy ladies and a little bit of nudity, but unlike the violence, that is not put to much use and is mostly negligible.

This review could be used to describe basically any splatter movie. It's been the same story with every particularly violent slasher I've watched recently: from low budget affairs like "100 Tears" and "Headless" to better budgeted sleeper hits like "Laid to Rest" and "The Collector", these movies exist to show violence, and unfortunately, we still need things like plot and characters to string the violent scenes together.

If only the people who make these movies could show half as much zeal for telling a cohesive story as they do for showing intestines falling out.

The plot (not that you care) is about a few sexy Suicidal Girl types who break into a warehouse with their obnoxious male friends. Their reason for this is to start an illegal rave, so it's interesting that they are all dressed in punk style.

Anyway, the warehouse is not unoccupied, there are at least a couple of assailants hiding out there, and you can probably guess what happens next.

Interestingly (?) this one has more than just the usual one bad guy that slasher movies always hang their hat on. The bad guys in it look like something out of "Silent Hill" or "The Evil Within". There's only one bad guy who really got my attention though: a huge person wearing a welder's outfit and holding a massive sledgehammer.

The conclusion, a must-see for anyone who hates ravers, is actually something special, but will you still be paying attention by the time you get there?

a demonstration in phenomenal gore effects

[SpannersGerm669 · 5/10 · 12 July 2014]

I really wouldn't say that Sweatshop came as a disappointment. In fact it was the complete opposite.

Overall it isn't a good film. Its a movie that has poor acting and poor characters that you hate right from the beginning, but it feels very deliberate. The best thing about Sweatshop is that the most annoying characters are killed in phenomenal ways which gives you a strong sense of satisfaction!

The last 15 minutes of the movie is where it really kicks in.

Go and see Sweatshop if you are a fan of practical gore effects, because there aren't many movies out there that demonstrate gore as well as Sweatshop does!

Good gore but nothing more.

[Greenzombidog · 3/10 · 27 July 2011]

What we have here is a cheap horror movie with terrible dialogue who's only saving grace is its bad guys and quite impressive gore scenes.

The movie starts with a naked goth chick being killed. Then for 20 minutes you just watch the rest of the non acting cast spout the terrible, unfunny dialogue and dance. I'm not even joking there is a 5 minute scene of three of these idiots just dancing. The set up of this movie is a little dated. I don't know if it is supposed to be set in the late 90's but judging by all the cheesy goth attire and the fact they're going to a secret rave it should be.

When we finally get to the meat of the film what we actually get is a lot of meat. The gore scenes in this movie are actually very impressive and if like me you were just constantly annoyed by the pathetic characters, you'll enjoy seeing them smashed by a giant hammer in ever more inventive ways. The main bad guy 'The Beast' is also a pretty imposing figure. Both the gore and 'The Beast' are what made me score this movie any points.

I wouldn't seek this movie out. Just wait until it's on the horror channel and watch for free, you'll enjoy it more that way.

More smasher than slasher

[Stevieboy666 · 5/10 · 2 July 2022]

Sweatshop starts off with a young naked woman trying to escape an unknown killer in an industrial building, only for a cop to come in and accidentally blast her death. Quite an opening! The rest of the plot sees a group of punks/Goths stage a rave in the same building, but killers lurk inside. I bought this on DVD for £1 and it was quite a bargain, I remember thinking Wow after my first viewing. Fast forward several years and I have just watched it for a second time, sadly I felt a lot less impressed. This is a B-movie so it goes without saying that the acting is not going to be of a high level, and it's not. Generally speaking it is reasonable but there a few of those awkward silences between characters, etc. If, like me, you find Goth chicks attractive then you get your monies worth here. There are several scenes of sex and nudity, on the flip side much of the dialogue consists of sex talk (in particular oral sex), this does become a bit tedious. After the initial death the movie does drag for the next 20 minutes or so, it is one of those slasher movies that progressively gets more violent as it goes on but may test the patience of some viewers. The killer is a hulking man who wears a welding masks and is called The Beast, however he also has a pair of female accomplices who look like nightmarish vampires. This is never explained and to be honest I would have preferred to have just had The Beast alone, thus avoiding slightly confusing thoughts (are these women of supernatural origin, etc?). Negatives aside what Sweatshop does is provide much splatter. Beast wields a huge foundry hammer and uses it to literally smash some of his victims to pieces. He also indulges in some torture porn too, one victim has her fingers cut off one by one. Given the low budget the graphic special effects are impressive, if you don't like nasty gore movies then this most certainly is not for you! The closing credits are cool, each cast member is shown with three photos, the third ones being of their corpses (or what's left of them!). For splatter fans only.

Incessant gore

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 4 February 2016]

SWEATSHOP is your usual brain-dead slasher flick in which a bunch of horrible characters are bumped off by even more horrible villains. Despite some impressive-looking bad guys, wearing welding masks and the like, this is an absolutely pitiful movie that has nothing going for it aside from the incessant gore.

The acting is laughable, the script equally so, and the dingy warehouse look is so done to death that I wonder why they bothered. There appears to be no technical proficiency in terms of film-making whatsoever. Instead, SWEATSHOP merely cuts a swathe through its irritating cast members, showing them getting their heads smashed in and faces pulled off.

The gore goes on forever and forever and is quite nasty, but when there's nothing else about the film to enjoy whatsoever then it quickly becomes tiresome. In the end, SWEATSHOP is your usual bottom-of-the-barrel crud, with zero redeeming qualities.

What a waste of great villains

[oynaqozgar · 4/10 · 5 April 2011]

OK, I will sum up the movie. The main charters are flat, no personality except there is no reason to care so when they die, well you don't have to worry about another scene with them. At one point I asked myself, hadn't this guy already been killed? No he hadn't the main charters just weren't worth paying attention too. I LOVE "B" horror, but this is the first movie I have seen that you "just don't care" when someone dies. You don't even not like them and wish they would die.

If you are a "B" horror fan such as myself, why sit through it at all? Well let me tell you, the villains are VERY VERY good. You have no idea where they came from, why they are doing what they do and they still pull it off. There a huge fat guy wearing a welders mask welding a huge pipe with a blacksmith anvil at the end. Along with a group of female minions that are a cross between the girl from "The Ring" and a Harpy.

This bad guy and bad girls need to be reused in a well written movie. Like I said what a waste of great villains.

Bad acting, worse script

[Der_Schnibbler · 2/10 · 14 December 2018]

Just because this is a low budget movie aimed at "gorehounds" does not excuse the fact that it's still...well, bad. The acting is typical amateur level and the script simply consists of failed attempts at drama, which usually means one character talking about how another is a "b****" or how they don't "give a f****" or how this is some "bull****". Pointless.

But what about the kills?

They are inventive, to be sure. But who cares when the actors' reaction to the pain inflicted upon them is to scream expletives even louder? Did you just sustain a life threatening injury or did someone scratch your car, dude? Even the attempts at self-aware nudge-nudge humour fail. They're just juvenile.

The reason I gave it a 2 is 'cause the best and only tolerable part about this is all the average-to-slightly-cute white girls flashing plenty of B-cups and the fairly sexy goth outfits and goth dancing.

Plenty of problems, but that gore!

[TdSmth5 · 6/10 · 28 September 2014]

In the intro, some naked girl finds herself in some abandoned plant. A cop arrives. But there's someone else at the plant. Both of them don't end up well.

Then a dreadful bunch of goth punks arrive to organize a party with lights and a dj at that same plant for some reason. The dialogue that ensues among all these people is mostly sex-related talk. Soon enough they meet two female ghouls with creepy teeth...and then the killer--some big welder dude who carries an anvil on handle with him. And then the killings start. Somehow the party still materializes, and then the killer crashes it.

You kinda want Sweatshop to be a nice horror B-movie. Unfortunately, it's not. It's a struggling C-movie. What this movie has to do with a sweatshop, no one knows. Colored lights are annoying, the darkness is annoying, the characters are mostly lame, the voice recording and synchronization are off most of the time, the music is terrible. A party with electronic dance music is one thing. Another is some electronic industrial noise thing that no one makes let alone listens to. I take that back since apparently the songs here are from bands that do that kind of stuff. But, man, it's just not enjoyable. The sound effect are also dreadful, mostly the same 80s inspired synthesizer sound. This movie is proof that multitasking just doesn't work. The director is involved in every aspect of the movie--not a good idea.

But that's the bad stuff. On the good side, we have the likable Peyton Wetzel and the hot Julin in the most enjoyable performances. These two are trying their best here. Then there's the fantastic gore, violence, and original death scenes. They're really good. The villain is also exceptional and has potential to turn this into a franchise. Overall, despite plenty of annoyances, the horror aspects nearly save this movie and the lovely Julin is a treat to see. I'm being more generous than necessary but the violence and gore make this movie worth a look.

Smooshy...

[azathothpwiggins · 15 November 2021]

Somewhere, someone said: "OK, let's find an abandoned warehouse, fill it with annoying, expendable young people, and kill them off in horrible ways! It'll be the best movie ever!" Then, 2 seconds later: "Oh yeah, and let's bring in a hillbilly and a huge guy with the world's biggest hammer (aka: a steel pole with an anvil on it)!".

SWEATSHOP explores a man, his sledge-o-matic, and the punks he pulverizes. In between homicides there's mindless chatter and rave party decoration. These in-between times make up a lot of the movie.

Gorehounds will rejoice, as the splatter quotient is quite high. The Beast (hammer man) and his female cohorts eliminate the intruders by means most grisly! Anyone looking for anything other than a slippery bloodbath could be very disappointed...

Pure waste of time

[tom-bartsch-255-454775 · 1/10 · 9 January 2012]

I have seen a lot of movies in my life. Sometimes the movies were bad. But this movie is one of the worst movies I ever saw in my whole life.

I borrowed the movie and I was looking forward for thrill. What I got was a complete disappointment. The dialogs are extremely bad and lowest level. It all comes down to sex and alcohol. The actors were extremely low-level without any good acting performance. The movie location looks very low priced. If you watch the cut version you will get almost nothing to see. In cut version you have to resign nearly 10 minutes.

The best thing of the movie was the makeup of the both hammer guy girlfriends from my opinion.

This movie broadcasts pure boredom. If you really don't like someone you have to present this guy with this movie for birthday.

Starts bad, ends amazing.

[dustyp-1 · 9/10 · 12 June 2013]

Seriously, if you want high art this movie is not for you. If you want a movie that sets you up to root for the cast to get killed in fantastic ways, then you need to watch this film.

I'll be honest, I almost turned it off at the 25 minute mark. VERY bad acting, and a setting (a rave. Really?) that I didn't care about, but once the killer enters the fray it's incredibly creative.

The gore is off the charts and worth a watch to any true horror fan. I watch EVERY bad horror flick in hopes of finding gems that stand out. You'd be surprised at how many low budget horror movies don't have any effects in them these days.

I can handle a bad movie. That's what cult cinema is all about. But I can't handle a BORING movie. This movie, once past the 25 minute mark, is definitely not boring. It's blood-soaked and it's beautiful.

It's good, but it is what it is.

[ratchetrizzo · 7/10 · 11 February 2011]

OK, I can sum this up real fast. Run of the mill low budget slasher movies with suicide girls. HOWEVER, it has one awesome thing going for it. A HUGE HAMMER. Yes folks, the big killer smashes people to bits with a huge, and I do mean HUGE, hammer. Did I mention it was a huge hammer? I give it a solid 7 just for the way they handled all of the gore. Plot wise, ehhh, so-so. So lets see, mediocre plot, awesome death scenes and very nice eye candy (if you like suicide girls, I do). It's better than a lot of the other low budget crap out there. If you are bored, give it a shot. It will keep you entertained for an hour and a half. Oh, and you really want the killer to kill everyone, they are all rather irritating characters. Anyways, it's worth watching just for the death scenes.

Painful to watch

[walkingdead-fan50 · 1/10 · 7 November 2011]

Okay, I can sum this up in just a single sentence: lack luster over acted gore film about a maniac who beats people with a magic troll hammer. Didn't we see the hammer on Buffy the vampire slayer already? I admit I am not as much into the titty slasher masked killer genre as I am zombie flicks. But this looked interesting so I gave it a shot. Luckily I bought a cheap used copy and didn't pay full price for this movie.

There has been a lot of really crappy low budget movies coming out since the digital cameras became available for just anyone to get and declare themselves a movie maker. But for real fans of horror it's going to take more than some fake blood and tits to entertain. The acting was pretty lame. Visually there were some impressive visuals, I will give it that, but it really could have been better. I was hoping for so much more. Too much really lame and irritating dialogue, and not enough terror action.

I think I will just stick to zombie flicks from now on.

I've obviously missed something.

[judithturner · 4/10 · 19 April 2020]

It's not particularly suspenseful. It is woefully written. You don't even slightly care if the characters live to fight another day and several of them you are quite pleased to see die. The monster is reasonably scary but wasted in such a poor effort writing/acting wise. If gore is your thing this might be for you but if you like being scared by a clever horror film it's most definitely not.

Missing something

[marco-30-384328 · 4/10 · 5 May 2012]

I must admit that I was pretty thrilled throughout the movie. But there was missing something: A background story. Why was that creature in that old factory? What's its purpose? This movie shows basically a group of people which one by one gets killed by some mysterious monster with 2 survivors. Nobody knows why they get killed or even why that monster was there. Hold on.. Did I see more then one bad guy? Are there some more zombie-like creatures? Where did they come from? The story of this movie does not deserve any star. As well as the dialogs. Pretty flat. I rate this movie with a 4 because it still gives some thrill and keeps you excited. Oh. One more observation: showing some of the actresses topless does not fit in a horror-movie and does not necessarily make it a good movie. My hint: If you have nothing better to do and want to get thrilled, watch this movie. You will not want to watch it again and you will not recommend it to your friends. Still you will not consider it as a waste of time.

Relentless Fun

[gregsrants · 6/10 · 15 September 2013]

Any horror movie that opens with a naked woman automatically gets notice in our books. We don't mean the statement to be sexist, but rather an observation that the film being screened will go for the R-Rated jugular – a rating to which most horror films should aspire. So when Stacy Davidson's Sweatshop opened with a naked woman awakening on the ground only to be gunned down by a trigger happy police officer, our attention was grabbed. The opening scene was hardly shocking, but it was gratuitous and the exploitive nature of the opening kill was only the salad of a 12-course meal of blood and guts that Sweatshop relishes in so unapologetically. The setting is an abandoned steel mill where a group of punks descend in an attempt to transform the warehouse into a parlor for an evening rave. Unknowing to the drinking and sexual promiscuous party planners there is a bruiting killer disguised by a welding mask that is lurking in the corridors. Using a hammer the size of a video game prop the killer smashes his way through the group – sometimes in one quick hammer to the head swoop and other times with the taking of prisoners which are tortured in hard-to-watching excruciating manners. The script as penned by Stacy Davidson and Ted Geoghegan is irrelevant. The characters are underwritten and disposable. And the dialogue is downright embarrassing with the film's best lines being forced or expressed out of context. We are sure director Davidson cared not so much for the details but for the focus on the splatter and Sweatshop has gore to spare. Every single death is gruesomely bloody with each kill seemingly topping the absurdity of the last. We could not detect any CGI blood but marvelled at the practical effects that drive the film. For horror fans that consistently argue that all the fun has been extracted from modern day genre films, they can sit back and enjoy a film that had one clear focus and delivered on its premise's promise. Most horror movies are worthy of a re-watch if the kills are earnest enough for a second glance. Sweatshop definitely delivers those goods. The lack of any true story, killing motivation or relatable characters keeps the film from ever being considered a classic. But Sweatshop will grab your attention

Brutal. Nasty. Brilliant

[Simonster · 9/10 · 29 March 2011]

Viewed at the Festival de Film, Cannes 2011

Sweatshop is a dark, mean and nasty, grungy delight! A group of highly disposable young people decide to throw an illegal rave in a semi-abandoned warehouse; semi-abandoned because, unknown to them, its sole resident, a giant of a man with the world's largest hammer (basically an anvil at the end of a long pole), is still very much at home and determined to keep the noise down! And that's all there is to it!

Filmed over a couple of years, as and when, mostly at the weekend when people had time to work on it, Sweatshop is way, way better than you might think. There is a (sort of) backstory, which is more hinted at than explained, but it's also unnecessary since the film's director and writers, Ted Geoghegan and Stacy Davidson (who also directs) know what material they have and what their audience wants.

This means the audience can sit back, relax and watch people being smashed to bloody pulp! Can life get any better than this?

Good but not enough gore

[milkhole213 · 7/10 · 20 September 2011]

Sweatshop is a pretty gory slasher film about a bunch of teens setting up a rave getting bumped off by a dude with a giant hammer. That's really all you need to know about the plot. The characters are mostly uninteresting but the redneck was amusing. The whole rave thing is an instant turn off. There wasn't much nudity and more would have been appreciated though the women in the cast were mostly nothing special looking.

The main reason you're watching this is for the gore and while there are a few notable scenes, it's really not that great. A pulled off jaw and a head smashed through a grate are a couple of the better scenes. Most of the kills with the giant hammer itself are weak and not very graphic, mostly just the bodies being pushed down without much blood. The main villain was pretty cool. There were also these female zombie chicks roaming around not doing much. There's no explanation as to why they are there and they weren't utilized very well.

The gore is still enjoyable and it's a fun film but I can't imagine how much more plentiful and graphic the gore would have been if was made by Olaf Ittenbach, Brian Paulin or even Andreas Schnaas. Imagine the ending scene of this film if was done like the endings of The Burning Moon or Premutos. It would have taken this film to a whole other gory level.

No One Here Gets Out Alive...

[cchase · 8/10 · 22 May 2010]

Texas Frightmare Weekend is the best place I could ever imagine to be able to screen some of the best work on display from the young, hard-charging up-and-comers in the the thriving field of independent horror. Last year, I was wowed in equal parts by Robert Hall's impressive hard-core gorefest, LAID TO REST, and the epic struggle of Good Vs. Evil (or Evil Vs. REALLY Evil) in Stacy Davidson's microbudget epic thriller, DOMAIN OF THE DAMNED, which looked, sounded and played better than 2/3rds of the bigger budget Hollywood-made pieces of crap that had the audacity to classify themselves as "horror films".

The mark of a great filmmaker is seeing how they raise the bar for themselves with the efforts that follow their previous work. Looking forward to the future offerings of both Hall and Davidson, I was pleased to see that Mr. D. was first out of the gate this year with his sophomore feature, SWEATSHOP. I am happy to report to fans of true, out-and-out, balls- to-the-wall mayhem, that the director of DOMAIN has delivered in spades, giving us everything we'd hoped for and nothing we expected.

The movie bucks the trend right out of the gate when it establishes its premise. As enjoyable as a great part of the series is, the Friday THE 13TH franchise does defy logic in more ways than one (how many groups of kids would have to be butchered at Camp Crystal Lake, before the authorities simply closed it and razed the place to the ground?), asking audiences to suspend their disbelief roughly the height of Mount Everest.

SWEATSHOP, though it hardly tries to reinvent the wheel in this respect, does NOT suffer from this problem. The scenario is still kept pretty simple: a rave promoter and her friends, all involved in that lifestyle, do what ravers do best: find an old abandoned warehouse, break in and set up a party in order to score some quick and easy cash and party down at the same time.

Their mistake? Not asking permission of the previous tenant. Who never left. Who isn't happy with their intrusion, and who walks not so softly, and carries the biggest freakin' stick you have ever seen in life. And actually, it's not a stick. It's a pipe...with an anvil attached to the end. No, that is not a typo, either.

When you witness what this character, known only as The Beast (Jeremy Sumrall) does with this brutally improvised implement, you will never think of the phrase "getting hammered" in quite the same way again. In the same F13 tradition that was well-established as that series progressed, there are few likable characters to root for here, and the ones that do have your empathy or sympathies? Don't get too attached to them.

Having said that, plenty of time is still taken to establish the dysfunctional dynamic between the friends, including Charlie, the organizer (Ashley Kay), DJ Enyx (Naika Malveaux), slovenly equipment handler Wade (Brent Himes, making Larry The Cable Guy look as cultured as Basil Rathbone by comparison) and his put-upon assistant, Kenny (Vincent Guerrero), amongst others. All of which makes little difference as it turns out, once The Beast begins to decimate the group in a fashion not seen since grindhouse ruled the drive-ins and the dilapidated urban movie palaces back in the Seventies.

Which brings us to the most impressive thing about SWEATSHOP: the technical aspects. Lighting, camera-work, sound design...everything is on point here, and it makes you wonder how in the hell Davidson and crew managed to pull it off, and make this look as good - or better than - a watered-down, PG-13 piece of dreck from a major studio. And that goes double for the FX work. Though the death sequences are far from pleasant, this is a whole different animal than the 'gore-ture porn' offered by series like SAW and HOSTEL. Kristi Boul, Marcus Koch and Mike Oliver are not beneath giving The Beast multiple and cruelly creative ways of dispatching his victims, but the monster seems to be as much about his business as he is about dealing out unimaginable suffering. He wants to teach these interlopers a lesson they'll never forget, and does so with a vengeance that YOU'LL never forget.

And then there's that ending. If you're the kind of horror fan who loves to rewind the prom scene in CARRIE and watch it several times, you cannot miss SWEATSHOP'S hell-bent-for-leather conclusion.

When it comes to a well-done indie horror entry served up straight, no chaser, Stacy Davidson and company have delivered, firing on all cylinders with this one. So strap in and prepare for a bloody, terrifying ride.

And don't forget to thank them for putting the "hard-R" back into "hoRRoR" again.

Great 70's grind house style slasher film!

[jcs_vh1 · 10/10 · 4 September 2011]

First off this film isn't for everyone,if your looking for a actual plot or deep characters than this movie isn't it.But thats what makes it even more awesome!the basic plot is about a group of teenage ravers getting stalked and killed by a masked killer while trying to set up a rave.If you like 70's and 80's slasher flicks this film is perfect for you,its almost like someone found a lost slasher from the early 70's and its just know getting released.this film has everything you could ask for in a slasher film.over the top gory kills,tons of nudity and plenty of drug use.this film is destined for cult status in a few years and i feel sorry for any fan of slasher films who miss it.also their is not a single scene of crappy cgi everyone of the kills is completely practical and looks super gory and graphic,especially the ending!

Brutal Horror at it's finest

[andyrose_tx · 9/10 · 27 November 2009]

SWEATSHOP is the story of a group of entrepreneurs, headed up by Charlie – portrayed beautifully by Ashley Kay, who crash an old abandoned warehouse to set up a rave to make a few quick bucks. They quickly find that the warehouse is not abandoned and is home to something that enjoys murdering intruders with a large and very brutal hammer made from sewer pipe and an anvil.

Joining Ashley Kay in this endeavor are Melanie Donihoo, Peyton Wetzel, Brent Himes, Naika Malveaux, Julin, Danielle Jones, Krystal Freeman, Vincent Guerrero. The film featured a cameo appearance by Fangoria's Michael Gingold too. And living every horror fan's dream – Jeremy Sumrall stalks, smashes, and brutalizes the characters as the Beast.

The special effects crew of Kristi Bouls, Marcus Koch, and Mike Oliver were challenged by director and co-writer Stacy Davidson to create some of the most brutal but realistic kills you'll find anywhere in low- budget indie horror and they rose to the challenge. This film features more smashed heads than any film I've ever seen. The Beast wields a mighty hammer as his signature weapon but is found improvising with barbed wire, needle nose pliers, garden shears, machetes, and other nasty little implements he keeps around for odd jobs. The Beast even creates a new ball gag that is disturbing enough to make the average horror fan sick.

The technical merits of this low-budget "smasher" flick are incredible. Stacy Davidson not only co-wrote and directed but also shot and edited the film. The film is paced beautifully. Everything from location to lighting to score to effects to makeup pull together to create a visual and auditory stunning cinematic experience. I do not know the budget on this film but it looks like it cost a million or more pretty easy.

There really was very little I found to dislike about Sweatshop. The story works. There's no backstory to explain why The Beast is there and why he kills all who enter his domain and it's just not needed. This film is about the here and now. Charlie and her friends are hoping to make a small fortune but they picked the wrong place and they pay with their lives. The acting works – each of the cast delivers a performance that complements the story, their character, and each other's performance.

Extraordinary

[nogodnomasters · 8/10 · 9 September 2018]

A group of punk/goth/industrial young adults plan to prepare a warehouse for a dance/Rave. A large man wearing a welder's mask (latest killer fad) goes after the group one by one with an anvil attached to a pipe that he uses for a head crushing hammer.

There is no character introduction, so the "final girl" was tough to pick out. My first pick got her head cut off at 37 minutes...except in the next scene, she is being dragged by the head and it is not cut off and she is still alive...not even a sore throat. My next pick for final girl gets killed at 54 minutes.

Except for a few dance and sex scenes, the film is a complete gore-fest with cannibal females and gruesome special effects. A very 80ish formula adapted to modern times. Apparently, this is the group that doesn't have cell phones.

Guide: F-word, sex, nudity (Krystal Freeman. ViVi Sterling)

Twisted and Crazy!

[hotaru-86075 · 9/10 · 14 August 2020]

Sweatshop is a piece of underrated throwback to 80's slashers. I see so many comments here saying that oversexed characters and dumb dialogue lines makes it worthless. The characters are cheesy, might even say that they are unlikable but their craziness and cartoon-like non existent personalities adds that little enjoyment to it if you think about it. Especially Miko(played by Julin) and Scotty(Peyton Wetzel) whose performance is highly satisfying. Other cast did overly okay, although it wasn't flawless and they could have done it better.

The movie starts off in abandoned factory where naked goth girl wakes up, being stalked by a massive guy with mask, and wielding a mammoth sledgehammer made of an anvil and a pipe. The killer looks gorgeous but he isn't the only villain. His two followers are mutant-like girls that looks like zombie mixed with harpy. Original killers are one thing, but lack of backstory removes a few crucial substance things. Well, it also adds a little mystery element and opens it's way to a sequel which will probably never see the daylight. Pity, because the main characters created a small universe and if they would all get magically resurrected come back in some TV show that continues Sweatshop story i'd watch it immediately.

The most enjoyable element in the whole film was outstandingly matched soundtrack and kills. Special effects during death scenes (at least some of them) made me say... What?!!! Originally made and ravishing deaths like jaw getting ripped off, legs getting crushed with big sledgehammer etc. No a lot of movies can do gore as good as it is here.

Without hesitation I can say that Sweatshop is one of my fav slashers ever. If you dislike the characters, try to imagine you're one of them. You'll feel pity for yourself when YOU die :-).

I totally recommend Sweatshop to every slasher fan out there!

heroin printing vs. hard work and grace

[djdnewbern · 10/10 · 11 May 2023]

I loved when the man with the hammer made from an anvil clobbered that woman's face through the metal screen and all of the blood splashed through to the other side. That was hilarious. That wins my wet T-Shirt contest humor award. Also the fact that a black guy isn't the very first victim in the movie makes it original. The soundtrack at the very end in the club was great too. I didn't think it would be much different from any other horror film until a few minutes into it. I was surprised. When the drunk guy tried to have sex with the already mangled, barely alive woman i couldn't stop laughing.