James L. Edwards and Brad Twigg's Brimstone Incorporated

Cody takes a look at the newly released horror anthology Brimstone Incorporated.

A couple years ago, indie horror veteran James L. Edwards made his feature directorial debut with the fascinating and disturbing love story Her Name Was Christa, and now his second feature has already been released. Available through Makeflix.com is the anthology Brimstone Incorporated, which consists of three stories and a wraparound - and three-fourths of those were directed by Edwards. One of the stories was directed by Her Name Was Christa associate producer Brad Twigg, an indie horror filmmaker who already has over twenty directing credits to his name.

They say you go through the pearly gates when you arrive at Heaven, but Brimstone Incorporated imagines that you find yourself in an office building when you're on the brink of entering Hell. The film's wraparound story takes place in that building, where Gregory Asmodeus (Drew Fortier) interviews the recently deceased to evaluate their hellish sentences. When I reviewed Her Name Was Christa, I mentioned Fortier as one of the standout elements of that film, so I was glad to see him return for Brimstone Incorporated. He plays the Asmodeus role perfectly, making the character amusingly sleazy.

Edwards plays a major role in the first segment of the film, which reunites him with Her Name Was Christa lead actress Shianne Daye. Titled First Date, this segment takes place entirely within a small mom and pop diner and centers on Edwards and Daye exchanging dialogue, which was great as far as I was concerned, because I have been a fan of Edwards' dialogue ever since I watched Polymorph (which he wrote and starred in) for the first time in 1996. Here, he and Daye play characters who are meeting in person for the first time after talking online for a couple weeks, and this turns out to be a nightmare of a meet-up even before people start dying.

Daye made her screen acting debut on Her Name Was Christa and proved to be an incredible discovery there. She delivers another great performance in First Date, and it was captivating to see her and Edwards, who is also great in his role, interact again. So far this and Christa are Daye's only credits, so either more filmmakers need to put her in their movies or Edwards needs to keep making movies with her, because I'm hoping to see a lot more Shianne Daye performances in the future.

After taking a break from acting that lasted nearly twenty years, Polymorph cast member Sasha Graham returned to the screen for Her Name Was Christa, and she has a prominent role in the second segment of this film. Co-written by Jonathan Moody, the segment is called Mama's Boy, and Graham plays the mama in question, Priscilla Parker. When Priscilla's son Justin (Tim Hale) brings his girlfriend Brittany (Kaylee Williams) home to meet mama, it leads to the revelation of troubling Parker family secrets. Mama's Boy goes in some unexpected directions.

Graham and Williams carry most of this segment, and both of them play their characters quite well. As Graham's character becomes more intimidating toward the younger woman, this really turns into a showcase for Graham's acting skills. It's awesome to see her back in movies after such a long absence, and Priscilla Parker was a terrific role for her to play. 

Something that makes Brimstone Incorporated especially interesting is the fact that the characters being interviewed by Asmodeus are never the most obvious people from the segments. Each time, you're made to wonder why it's this person meeting with him instead of someone else from the story. That's especially true for the final one, Skunk Weed (directed by Twigg from a script by Edwards). The person whose interview with Asmodeus leads into Skunk Weed doesn't even appear on screen during the segment.

First Date and Mama's Boy both put a major focus on dialogue, but there's less of that in Skunk Weed because it only shows one person in one location. That's Rick Jermain as Bennie Simmons, an agoraphobic jingle writer who hasn't left his apartment in twelve years. As the title of the segment implies, Bennie gets his hands on a bad strain of marijuana, and things go terribly wrong for him after that. This segment was sort of like The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill from Creepshow; not in tone, but in concept, since it's about one person gradually falling apart in their home. 

Twigg and Edwards throw a lot of strange things Bennie's way, and Jermain does a good job of handling it all. There are some great gore effects and a nice twist in Skunk Weed, and when it wraps up the film segues to the end of the wraparound story.

Brimstone Incorporated is an interesting, well-written and well-made anthology that is definitely worth checking out. All of the segments are solid, there's no major fluctuation in quality like you often see in anthologies, so if any these stories sound interesting you - or if you're a fan of anyone involved with the film - I would recommend picking up a copy on DVD or Blu-ray from Makeflix.