Whilst perusing YouTube, I stumbled upon a short, ten minute video entitled, Attack of the Killer Zucchini From Hell. The title alone was enough to entice me in to a viewing, so I put aside some time to watch it. I found it to be quite well done, if a bit on the campy side, and the actors seemed to be having a genuinely good time.
Out of curiosity, I checked out the uploader's channel, Orlando Rotundo, and found he had several, shot on video short films that he and his brother made back in the early 1990s. This article will focus on three of them. Most of the films feature Rotundo's brother, Robert, in the main role, many of the actors appear in other Rotundo productions, and were filmed in southeastern New York State.
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Attack of the Killer Zucchini From Hell, filmed in early September of 1990, concerns four friends who are invited to dine with their much younger compatriot at his home. One by one, the friends are viciously murdered and it is up to the young man to find the source of the slaughters. As the title implies, the culprit is discovered to be a massive zucchini bush located in the young man's backyard. Through a series of attempts to defeat the killer crops, our hero discovers it to be a much more difficult task.
As an introduction to the cinema of Cancuna Productions, the name of Rotundo's production outfit, I was not only thoroughly entertained but also very impressed. The editing was well done, with the possible exception of the ADR work in the beginning that peaks a bit too much in to the red, and as stated above, the actors seem to be enjoying themselves. Aside from Robert Rotundo, the other actors include Andy Jensen, Shane Lambert and Mike D'Afflitto. I also have to remark on the excellent choice of wardrobe, especially for Lambert's character, his Bart Simpson tank top is the epitome of the early 90's. The horror effects, for a small scale production such as this, are inventive, clever and executed very well. Not to give too much away, but I liked Robert Rotundo's transformation in to Rambo towards the end of the picture. This is as good place as any to start your journey in to the irreverent and inventive world of Cancuna Productions.
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Terror in the Basement, filmed in 1991, is about three friends, led once again by Robert Rotundo, who have a sleepover to watch some slasher movies in Rotundo's basement. The kids soon discover they are not alone and are pursued by a masked killer who uses everything from darts to car battery jumpers to carry out his heinous crimes.
This film is considerably weaker by comparison, but still a fun watch nonetheless. The film is worth watching purely for Rotundo's dual role as both himself and the killer. The only element of the film that brings it down are the two actresses playing Rotundo's friends, sisters Bettina and Maria Triscari, they are obviously uncomfortable with being on camera and are visibly seen smiling and laughing during the course of the film. The weapons are very inventive and the use, early on in the film, of something called, "Doyle's Instant Breakfast," must be seen to be believed. Overall, there isn't much to say about this one, and is the weakest film of the three I will be concerning myself with.
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Bite Me, shot in the summer of 1992, was Cancuna's final production and they went out with a bang or should I say, fang. The film starts on a crisp summer day where a young man, played by a much older Robert Rotundo, is fishing off a dock. A slovenly, drunken hillbilly emerges from his outhouse to warn him about the presence of the undead. Seeing the hillbilly as nothing more than a reclusive nutcase, the man ignores the warnings only to be killed by a vampire bat. The young man is resurrected in the form of Dracula and proceeds to haunt the citizens of Dutchess County, New York. Dracula enslaves two beautiful female pedestrians and goes on a rampage, leaving death and destruction in his wake. The hillbilly decides that enough is enough and enlists the help of the local, donut loving sheriff to put a stop to the chaos. Once again Rotundo uses jumpers as a weapon and Dracula kills the hillbilly in the cruelest way imaginable [to the tune of the "Imperial March" from Star Wars, no less.] The sheriff is then surrounded by hordes of the walking dead and must think fast or endure a ghastly death.
As the swan song for Cancuna Productions, Bite Me is a marvelous topper to the fun, but short lived film careers of the Rotundo brothers. Once again Robert Rotundo plays two parts and is great in both and performs the film's finest stunt, on the top of a speeding car. Andy Jensen's portrayal of the hillbilly was a bit too much to take at times but was hilariously unhinged. Mike D'Afflitto was great as the laid back, careless sheriff. As noted in the description, Orlando Rotundo states that the use of the holy water gun in this film was done years before Tarantino did it in From Dusk Till Dawn, seeing as I haven't seen the Tarantino film I cannot substantiate his claims, you'll just have to take his word for it. I enjoyed the post production effects and the blooper reel at the end was fun, and you clearly saw that these were people who just loved to make movies.
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So ends the story of Cancuna Productions, there is a trailer for a more recent film they have done called Dead Float, but I am unsure if it was ever completed. I am not sure what the Rotundo brothers are up to these days, perhaps they just threw in the towel on the film industry, however I feel a return in this current climate would be most welcome. I think these fellows had potential and I would have loved to have seen what they could have done using today's technology and equipment. I do hope for the return of Cancuna Productions one day, but until then let us remember two brothers in southeastern New York and their group of friends who loved making movies back in the early 1990s. Hopefully some young filmmaker will be inspired by their work to go out and create some movie magic of their own. Here's to you, Rotundo brothers, wherever you are.
~ Geno Cuddy
LINKS:
Attack of the Killer Zucchini From Hell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2LT_vskEzw
Terror in the Basement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcPiShqXCAs
Bite Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61PF2tM0Swc
Orlando Rotundo YouTube Channel
