Sleazy Pete (2017) Short Film Review

I dig films that are weird and outside the box… bonus points if they are heavy on splatter. Recently, I was given the chance to check out the proof of concept short Sleazy Pete from director Frank Appache and Glockbuster Films. The short, which was all that and more, was based on their fake trailer Shepherd of Death. Check out the Shepherd of Death trailer then read on for my review of Sleazy Pete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZtR5ryPCMw

Sleazy Pete is a proof of concept short written and directed by Frank Appache based on his fake trailer for Shepherd of Death. It stars Jayy Ferst, Noah Coderre, Yannick Lemos, Buck Delaney, Robert Verret, Sean Bexton, David Arbec, Sergio Dos Santos, Gabriel St-Amant, Patricia Bacchus, Vanessa Kheale, Sebastien Crete, Julien Sayegh, Dwayne Peterkin, Camille Monette, and Vincent Houde. It follows a group of drug dealing priests in a apocalyptic world where mutants roam the streets.

Sleazy Pete was an absolute blast to watch. It reminded me of a dystopian version of Street Trash. There was a ton of gore and over the top kills, including an exploding head, a curb stomping, a throat slashing and a head getting slammed back until it almost popped off. There are mutants that look like monstrous, melting people, and they can do some serious damage in no time at all. The story isn’t explained clearly and I was left with a ton of questions: Why are the priest dealing drugs, killing people and pimping hookers? Is this a means to an end to save what little bit of the world they can? Or did they just say fuck it, might as well make some fucking money? Either way, like Wu-Tang, they ain’t nothing to fuck with. Don’t get in their way or you will wind up dead. Where did the mutants come from and what caused them? Why is most of the homeless population covered in nasty sores? Who were the mutant-killing badasses that showed up at the end? Why does Sleazy Pete hate menthols?

Final Thoughts

As an average short, Sleazy Pete is 10 minutes of  gory and gooey fun. As a proof of concept, it’s amazing. It sets up an interesting world which doesn’t always make sense but it left me wanting to know more about it and the characters, as well as their motivations and the cause behind everything. Best of luck to Frank Appache to get a feature of Sleazy Pete made. I would fucking love to see it!