Although I laughed a lot while watching Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers Story, I cannot recommend it outright.
No, first you have to instinctively know the meaning of the acronym “SOV” — without Googling, without pausing to think. For those whose gifted with a synapse that instantly retrieves “shot on video,” then yes, unequivocally I recommend this inspired mockumentary. Viewers familiar with those negative-budget, positive-enthusiasm DIY horror shows of the VHS era will recognize certain patent components — the awkward pacing, the amateurish performances, the kitchen-conjured gore effects — and smile in respect. Grins give way to guffaws.
And if you don’t know your “SOV” from “SUV”? Go experience David A. Prior’s Sledgehammer and Christopher Lewis’ Blood Cult — because “watch” is not a strong enough word for it — and get back to me.
The subtitular stepsiblings of Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers Story are the slobby Michael and uptight Richard (respectively played by co-writers and Faces of Schlock co-stars Zane Crosby and Josh Lively), being profiled on a public-access cable station in West Virginia. With Chris LaMartina (director of the equally faux and fabulous WNUF Halloween Special) acting as Henry, their No. 1 fan, the newsmagazine reunites the boys, who reminisce about their pioneering ways in the 1980s. In a nutshell, it was inevitable they take a stab at shooting their own slasher movies after renting so many of them in their formative years. Particularly influential was I Piss on Your Guts: “Wanna know what the best part of that movie was? When he pisses on his guts.”
Their big-box career may have been brief, but their efforts live immortal, as we witness via prodigious clips of both Michael’s directorial debut, The Curse of Stabberman, and its sophomore slump of a follow-up, Cannibal Swim Club. Unsurprisingly, these bits combine for much of Winners’ 67 minutes of running time and nearly as many earned laughs. It is more difficult to make authentic “bad” footage than it looks, but director/co-writer Justin Channell (Die and Let Live) possesses just the right touch to have his characters convey earnestness and delusion. In love with its own losers, Winners Tape All starts and finishes as a winner itself. —Rod Lott