American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon (2017)- Unearthed Films Gruesome Entry to the Exorcism Genre- Fitz of Horror Review

Written by Bryan Fitzgerald (Fitz of Horror) June 25, 2018

“Exorcisms are one on one, the loser goes to Hell”-Father Powell

Synopsis-Mary witnesses the brutal suicide of her Father. His death unleashes the savage forces of demonic possession in his daughter. The End of Days is upon the world, famine, drought, looting and chaos is ripping the world apart and the Catholic Church is trying to save an innocent soul from the ravages of satanic possession. Wave after wave of holy men are sent to confront the possessed but what is the Holy Church actually doing? The City on Seven Hills is working on the Second Coming of Christ but before He comes back – the Antichrist must rule for seven years. The Song of Solomon’s true nature is to unleash an evil the world has been waiting for since the beginning of time.

Stephen Biro and Unearthed Films have done an amazing job promoting and hyping the latest entry to the ultra violent and gory American Guinea Pig series, The Song of Solomon, but was there too much hype involved? The answer is a resounding “NO”!

Writer/director/Unearthed Films CEO Stephen Biro describes Solomon as The Exorcist meets (the original) Evil Dead and as far as an exorcism movie filled with insane amounts of gore, he is correct but I feel that Solomon creates its very own niche within the horror world by bringing his trademark gore and dismemberment to the mainstream audiences by creating an intriguing and multi layered exorcism story to go with it. There are several exorcism movies out there, with The Exorcist obviously being top of the class but Biro has created a start to finish top notch horror film that WILL be mentioned in the same breath as the undisputed king of exorcism movies and given how times have changed and people view religion, Solomon has a real shot to claim the crown from the long reining “Scariest movie of all time”.

As the film begins we see a clearly distraught father (Played brilliantly by an unrecognizable Stephen Biro) pacing and pleading with his unseen daughter in a claustrophobic bedroom. The scene is intense and culminates in an act of gruesome suicide that sets the possession of his daughter into high gear.

After this intense scene Mary, the daughter, is introduced. Mary is played by Jessica Cameron who turns in a performance very reminiscent of Charlize Theron’s role in “Monster” as Aileen Wuornos, whereas she is a beautiful woman in real life but plays the role of a somewhat ugly character to near perfection in a role that clearly she was born for. It will be interesting to see how many awards and future roles she racks up after this.

As a family counselor tries to talk to Mary it becomes very clear that something beyond this world is wrong with her and that this isn’t a job for him so he puts the mother in touch with the clergy. This begins the  wave of priests to do battle with the very powerful demon that possesses Mary.

Each priest (played to troubled perfection by David E. McMahon, Gene Palubicki, Jim Van Bebber and Scott Gabbey) comes with their own back story and goes in to battle with a sacred object given to them by “The Ordinary”, a priest that seems to have ulterior motives behind sending these troubled priests in with this demon. One by one the priests are toyed with by the demon and their pasts are brought to the forefront before meeting their ultimate gruesome ends at their own hands.

There is so much more to The Song of Solomon than just gore, although the practical gore FX are fantastic. There are several layers to the film and this is how Biro intended it to be. The script is filled with theological references that stay true to their historical roots and if you are familiar with them (which I am not) will add yet another creepy layer. The camera angles are intentionally shot to create an overall claustrophobic and trapped feeling as if you are in the room and bearing witness to the carnage in front of you.

I had to watch it twice because I was so blown away by  the realistic and very well done gore by Marcus Koch & Jerami Cruise, that I was more transfixed on it than the actual story. Upon a second viewing I caught more of the subtle nuances in the camera work and the dialogue. When all of these factors tackle your senses and psyche at the same time it makes for one hell of an unforgettable viewing experience.

As with the other American Guinea Pig films that have come before (Bouquet of Guts and Gore and Bloodshock) we become almost entranced by the world that is being shown to us on screen and shocked by the very realistic gore that is depicted. Each entry has its own “feel” and they seem to be getting better and better with each installment but Solomon has a very “Mass appeal” feel to it and I believe will put Unearthed Films on the radars of more than just us “Gore Hounds”.

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