How can one not love Brett Piper? The guy's been around for ages, making fun, low budget movies that rarely disappoint. Yes, the world of straight to DVD low budget flicks is full of "how did this get released?" types of films, but Piper's have always been among the few that are really worth your time.

I've followed his career since I was pleasantly surprised -back in the day- by THE SCREAMING DEAD, and subsequently, I decided to get more of his stuff. BITE ME! Was also an original, fun and well made piece of no budget entertainment and SHOCK O RAMA was one of the best straight to DVD movies ever. Period. Easily Pop Cinema's (back then, Shock O Rama Cinema) best movie. Then, I found out he was the mastermind behind the cult classic A NYMPHOID BARBARIAN IN DINOSAUR HELL, and my devotion for him was absolute.

I have to be honest, though: his latest effort, BACTERIUM, didn't exactly move me, as it was too ambitious for its own good. Who can blame him for trying, though? He's been around for 20 years and is definitely one of the good guys! Now, all of this leads to my review of DRAINIAC!, an old Piper movie -shot on 16mm.- that got re-released on DVD by Pop Cinema this month.

If you've never heard of it, I'll make it short; this is basically THE EVIL DEAD, but with more humor, some naked chicks and a funnier monster. Now, it doesn't have the visual flair of Raimi's debut film, but it does feature some cool set pieces, it's never boring and it gives you everything it promises to give (if what you want is chicks and gore, of course). Here, the "menace" is a creature that dwells in an old house's water system.

Of course, a group of friends go to the house for a fun vacation, and everything turns into a nightmare. OK, so the story's not really original. However, Piper manages to make the film entertaining by never taking it too seriously, just enough to make it work. While THE EVIL DEAD's strength lied in Raimi's visual tour de force (specially in the last third of the movie) and in Bruce Campbell's charisma, DRAINIAC! works thanks to its director's "nice guy" status. From the first scene on, we know this is not a serious movie, but we thank Piper by not thinking we're a stupid audience for watching it. He knows he has to entertain us and is completely honest about it. Watching it, you get the feeling he knew he had a low budget and tried to make the best of it, by taking advantage of his limitations instead of trying to make a bigger movie.

It's unfair that Piper has never had a really big budget to work with, but t the same time, it's what makes him a unique director in this industry: he can make it work with what he has. While other people complain in their filmmaker's commentaries that "budget was small and we couldn't do this or that", Piper is on his element here.

While DRAINIAC! cannot be recommended to straight horror movie fans, anyone who's into low budget horror will find it truly worthwhile, and, if not familiar with Brett's oeuvre, they'll be discovering a whole new world. One that's exciting and full of small movies with big ideas and a sense of humor. I hope more of Brett's older films get released soon. Keep' em coming, Pop Cinema!