Review — VFW 2019

This movie is SO much fun! It’s tough and gritty, funny, gory, packed with action, and it even brought me to tears a couple times. With an ensemble cast of true veteran actors, …and one young guy to provide a little more energy/vitality, this movie is pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be and it’s awesome.
“VFW” is set in a grim future, a new drug known as “Hype” has rendered most of its habitual users half dead and desperate for more. When the gang of dealers (including “Gutter”, a bloodthirsty woman who wields a machete) catch a girl stealing their whole supply, they chase her into what just happens to be the local VFW bar where a grizzly group of veterans were planning a good old fashioned birthday celebration for Fred at the “titty bar”! Well so much for their night… what follows is a bloody battle for survival as the men barricade themselves in and begin fashioning brutal weapons and traps from anything they can find and prepare for little reminder of their war days.
Aside from the character of “Lizard”, the girl who starts the whole mess by stealing the drugs for a pretty dumb reason, I loved everything about this film. Lizard definitely annoys me, I can’t really find much logic in her choices, but I think she’s there to show us each man’s integrity. Whether they feel the need to protect her, or turn her over to the bad guys, or somewhere in between, we learn a little more about each of them through their interactions with her. For example, I kept wishing they’d keep the drugs and chuck her out to the dealers! Probably tells you a little something about my character hmm?
Anyway, enough about the one thing I didn’t love about this otherwise awesome film. “VFW” is a hardened throwback and undeniable tribute to the great John Carpenter, a must-see for any seasoned horror fan!