Simply Perfect

Great Film overall

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A redneck con artist (Jeffrey Allen) sets himself up as a preacher in a small Deep South town to run his moonshine distillery and clashes with a number of locals and a federal agent bent on shutting his operation down.Although H. G. Lewis is known for his gore films, he also made some "southern" films and some "moonshine" films. This one is not gore, but it is certainly the other two. And it combined alcohol and religion in a very strange way... this cult seems more interested in drinking the "blood of Christ" than worshiping God.This is definitely not the worst film Lewis ever made, but it is far from the best. Apparently he had access to a spare room in a radio station in Oklahoma and filmed most of this picture in there. The writing is good, the acting is actually decent, but it still falls flat. Outside of Lewis fans or those who want to see Larry Drake in his debut role, I am not sure exactly what the appeal might be.

This is a lesser Herschell Gordon Lewis picture that just isn't as much fun as his more celebrated features. It's a rednecks 'n' booze exploitation drama about a con artist named Roscoe Boone (Jeffrey Allen of "Two Thousand Maniacs!"), who fronts as a flamboyant preacher. He and his congregation actually take their liquor more seriously than their faith. The Feds (led by a glum looking Tim Holt of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", in his final feature film appearance) mean to shut his operation down, but he's not the kind of man to go down quietly. Meanwhile, in a minor plot thread, a few citizens are bloodily murdered (one by stoning, two by crucifixion).This viewer would admit that he more readily enjoys the gore flicks of Mr. HGL. At least they have a better pace, and a more glorious go-for-broke attitude, as crude as they may be. This one simply goes on much too long, with too many scenes that drag. Allen gives it 100% as the loud talking Boone, but after a while the character loses a great deal of his charm. Even the killings are pretty restrained, compared to what we saw in the "Blood Trilogy". The main exception is the hilariously grisly denouement. The bad sound quality doesn't help any; coupled with the accents, it renders a fair bit of dialogue unintelligible. Fortunately, HGL composed a few songs for the occasion that are pretty catchy, especially "One More Swig of Moonshine".It's a little dispiriting to see Mr. Holt having closed out his career like this, but the other performers do like they're having a good time. Giving "This Stuff'll Kill Ya!" great curiosity value is the presence of future Hollywood character actor Larry Drake, making his film debut as stuttering rube Bubba. Longtime HGL associate Ray Sager doesn't have a lot to do as the character Grady.This is not something that this viewer would readily recommend, unless one is a real HGL completist.Five out of 10.

Yay!! a sleep-inducing version of Moonshine Mountain, just what I always wanted.Alright, fine, maybe that was a bit harsh, but Herechell Gordon Lewis's original Hixploitation epic was totally entertaining, but this one... it just gives me no reason to stay awake. Why I care enough to actually take the time to write a review of this movie doesn't really make much sense, now that I think about it, but I have come this far...While this film may seem similar to Moonshine Mountain, This Stuff'll Kill Ya, besides being a good sleep aid, is lacking that special something that made the first one special. Maybe it's the fact that Moonshine Mountain was filmed in South Carolina, and this one is from Oklahoma. Nothing against Oklahoma (atleast nothing off the top of my head) but if you want to create some worthwhile Hixploitation, shooting it in the South would be a good start, I mean the real South, South Carolina would have done just fine, or why not Tennessee? Oh well, I highly doubt a better location would have somehow magically made this movie not boring, but it wouldn't have hurt. Even the legendary Jeffery Allen couldn't save this one.Meet Reverend Boone (Jeffery Allen). Loud-mouth hypocrite, who may or may not have been the inspiration for Foghorn Leghorn. When this guy isn't ranting at the congregation, he's running his illegal moonshine business. This guy even has the nerve to visit liquor stores, only to preach the good word while smashing product. Really, the nerve of this man!!. But when the FBI start cracking down, and one of the ladies in the Church gets stoned to death, things really get...well, nothing really. This Hixploitation under-achievement stumbles along with a car chase/crash, complete with airplane sound effects, a peculiar funeral scene, and another murder or two... like I said, a whole lotta nothing.Truth be told, I don't feel great about speaking so ill of any Lewis movie because Herschell is a bigger icon that Romero and Raimi put together and he's one of my all-time favorites. They can't all be the masterpiece (Two Thousand Maniacs) and yeah, some may be slightly unwatchable (How To Make A Doll) but Herschell should be proud of all his movies, because these drive-in obscurities are a whole lot more than most of us have done. Great news gang, good ol' H.G. will be coming out with some new gore, hopefully, this year called The Uh-Oh Show, starring the legendary Joel D. Wynkoop. How awesome is that? If you're one of those who have seen Blood Feast or Two Thousand Maniacs just because it's one of those you've always heard about, and if you consider them kind of slow compared to your beloved Sixth Sense (or whatever normal people are in to), then you're wasting you time here, because This Stuff'll Kill Ya will not convert you, and that goes triple for the other half of this double-feature, Year Of The Yahoo. Although, if you're a Lewis completist, then this double feature is a must.Since Lewis is doin' his thing again , it ain't too late to go to somewheres decent like Tennessee and make one more Hixploitation masterpiece. For 70's Hixploitation worth your time, check out Scum Of The Earth, or if you're not into the old stuff then maybe Inbred Rednecks might do it for ya. So, ultimately, my advice to anyone who's curious about Lewis's non-gore, would be to seek out Moonshine Mountain instead, unless you're like me and must own all that is Lewis, in that case, have at it, hoss. 5/10

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD**H.G. Lewis fans weren't disappointed when they saw that this, his second moonshine movie, was every bit as corny, over-blown and downright bad as MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN (1964). Rotund Jeffrey Allen dominates the picture as Reverend Roscoe Boone; more than one writer has noticed similarities between Boone and Foghorn Leghorn. This backwoods man of the cloth has no problem with folks taking a drink, as long as it's provided by his own illegal corn likker racket. FBI agents and city slickers invade his territory which leads to enforced drunkenness, blackmail, death by stoning and a double crucifixion. The passage between the crucifixion and the final death by shotgun is real long and boring. Tim Holt, who once co-starred in TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE and other good movies, makes his final screen appearance as a G-man. He was reportedly fed up with Hollywood at this point, and THIS STUFF is about as far from Hollywood as one could get. Fans of DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW and DARKMAN will have no trouble spotting big Larry Drake in one of his earliest roles. After appearing in this flick, he couldn't help but go on to bigger and better things.