PopHorror Let's Get Scared
James Balsamo is a Jack of All Trades in the indie horror scene.He’s a director/writer/producer/actor/makeup FX artist/cinematographer/editor. I’m known about James’ work for years now but somehow never got around to checking it out. That changed when James asked me if I want to check out and review Bite School 2: Bite Squad and let me check out the prior Bite School to prep.
So what did I think of Bite School 2: Bite Squad? Read on to find out.
Bite School 2: Bite Squad was directed by James Balsamo from a script he wrote with Michael J. Epstein and Sophia Cacciola. The film stars James Balsamo, Michael J. Epstein, Sophia Cacciola, Erin Tantro, Bill Chott, Joe Castro, and more celebrity cameos than I can even list. The film follows Tony Canoni from the first film trying to eliminate all vampires by taking out vampire lords all over the world before culminating in a final battle with Robot Dracula.
Take A Bite
Bite School 2: Bite Squad is absolutely wild. So many monsters, so many celebrities cameos, lots of blood and gore and some nudity.
The film feels like a bunch of vignettes with a loosely connected plot. We get to meet the members of Bite Squad as they are interviewed for a documentary and see them going on missions. This intercuts back and forth between footage of Tony killing vampire lords all over the world and trying to find the secret to killing Robot Dracula. We see Tony fight a Mimemula, a vampire mime. We see Tony fight Krampus. We see Tony fight a giant bat creature. We see Tony get vampire killing advice from multiple celebrities including Richard Brake, H.R. from Bad Brains, one of the members of The Plasmatics, and more.
We get cameos from John Landis and Don Coscarelli and several notable horror directors. We see Stephen Pearcy from Ratt killing giant rat monsters. We see Randy Blythe from Lamb of God get turned into a skeleton. We get hilarious parodies of Dave Grohl and Rob Zombie. We have cameos from Linnea Quigley and Robert Mukes. Bite School 2: Bite Squad is absolutely batshit crazy.
I really enjoyed the random insanity of Bite School 2:Bite Squad. I love having Tony back killing vampire while spouting cheesy one liners. I loved the the endless pop culture references and cameos. I love that there’s a cyborg vampire called Robo-Cock. I loved the lighting, with everything getting a blue or purple hue. I loved Michael J Epstein in multiple roles. He’s great as Reynolds, who is constantly referred to as Renfield. I loved Robot Dracula killing people in ridiculously brutal ways. I love Spat, Tony’s vampire bat sidekick who loves weed and pizza.
Final Thoughts
Bite School 2: Bite Squad is one of the wildest movies I’ve ever seen. It’s so batshit crazy. I loved the jokes, the randomness, the pop culture references and the gore. Highly recommended.
