I’m pretty sure Brett Kelly isn’t the best auteur from Ottawa, Ontario, but he’s certainly the most prolific. As of this writing, Kelly has directed thirty-nine features, with a smattering of shorts thrown in for good measure. Alas, this profligacy has not equalled quality, but that’s never been a concern at Shitty Movie Sundays.
Three Kelly-helmed pictures were released in the year 2014. According to IMDb, Homicycle is the best of them, with a 2.7 rating out of 10. Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t even have a rating. Yikes. So, what gives?
Homicycle is bottom feeding filmmaking. It’s the kind of flick that regional filmmakers crank out for a few thousand bucks and hopefully, maybe, find distribution with some garage-based company. In this case, Camp Motion Pictures here in the States. These films won’t make anyone involved rich, but they just might cover the mortgage until the next financial quarter, when it becomes time to make another.
It’s the kind of movie that depends on local talent for the main cast, and what always looks to be friends, drinking buddies, and the local alt scene for extras. There is rarely much to say for the cast. They are either uniformly bad, or just competent enough to not be a distraction.
Homicycle is a supernatural revenge horror black comedy action flick that is also an homage to old grindhouse and drive-in fare. Kelly tinted the movie yellowish, took down the saturation a bit, and added a filter that imitates the pops and crackles common in well used theatrical prints. The filter wasn’t necessary. We get the point. He also hammers 
it home by adding a full intermission in the middle, repurposing actual reels used by drive-ins back in the past. It’s a little much, as this flick clocks in at only 75 minutes. That, and a long title sequence, merely served to pad the running time.
The movie, from a screenplay by David A. Lloyd and Trevor Payer, follows Candice Lidstone as Julia, a plainclothes cop in a crime ridden city. The bad guy is Brock (Peter Whittaker), a gangster who controls the local prostitution, drug, and protection rackets. In flashback, it’s shown that Brock and his gang invaded Julia’s home and killed her cop husband, Eddie (Mac Dale), right in front of her. Brock’s connections in the city are enough that he faces no punishment for this crime, despite leaving Julia as witness. Anyway, this movie isn’t good enough to fret about that.
Julia wants revenge, and does so by wandering into Brock’s hideout to be taken hostage. Meanwhile, a mysterious, black leather-clad motorcycle rider (maybe played by someone named Anthony Quinn, the credits aren’t clear on this) has been appearing out of nowhere and killing members of Brock’s gang. This is Eddie’s spirit, returned to take revenge on his killers, just like in The Wraith, only without the alter ego characterization. This is the Homicycle of the title. Not the motorcycle, mind you, but the man. In fact, viewers never see the bike being ridden.
Homicycle tears a bloody swath through the gang, ripping off heads, mangling limbs, dual-wielding submachine guns, etc. It’s an impressive amount of violence, made hilarious by the bad CGI. No blanks or squibs in this one. That costs money.
In short order (75 minutes, remember) the film reaches its climax, and the bad guys get theirs. No surprises.
Homicycle is a movie made for a particular audience. It’s low grade camp and kitsch, one step above messing around with a camera and some friends on the weekend. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Just know going in that this flick has no redeemable qualities other than its appeal to the mutant shitty movie fans of the world. It’s not so bad it’s good. It’s just bad, bad, bad. I can’t wait to see more of Kelly’s movies. Homicycle takes over the #490 spot in the Watchability Index from Project Moonbase.