This is a lesser Herschell Gordon Lewis picture that just isn't as much fun as his more celebrated features. It's a rednecks 'n' booze exploitation drama about a con artist named Roscoe Boone (Jeffrey Allen of "Two Thousand Maniacs!"), who fronts as a flamboyant preacher. He and his congregation actually take their liquor more seriously than their faith. The Feds (led by a glum looking Tim Holt of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", in his final feature film appearance) mean to shut his operation down, but he's not the kind of man to go down quietly. Meanwhile, in a minor plot thread, a few citizens are bloodily murdered (one by stoning, two by crucifixion).
This viewer would admit that he more readily enjoys the gore flicks of Mr. HGL. At least they have a better pace, and a more glorious go-for-broke attitude, as crude as they may be. This one simply goes on much too long, with too many scenes that drag. Allen gives it 100% as the loud talking Boone, but after a while the character loses a great deal of his charm. Even the killings are pretty restrained, compared to what we saw in the "Blood Trilogy". The main exception is the hilariously grisly denouement. The bad sound quality doesn't help any; coupled with the accents, it renders a fair bit of dialogue unintelligible. Fortunately, HGL composed a few songs for the occasion that are pretty catchy, especially "One More Swig of Moonshine".
It's a little dispiriting to see Mr. Holt having closed out his career like this, but the other performers do like they're having a good time. Giving "This Stuff'll Kill Ya!" great curiosity value is the presence of future Hollywood character actor Larry Drake, making his film debut as stuttering rube Bubba. Longtime HGL associate Ray Sager doesn't have a lot to do as the character Grady.
This is not something that this viewer would readily recommend, unless one is a real HGL completist.
Five out of 10.
This viewer would admit that he more readily enjoys the gore flicks of Mr. HGL. At least they have a better pace, and a more glorious go-for-broke attitude, as crude as they may be. This one simply goes on much too long, with too many scenes that drag. Allen gives it 100% as the loud talking Boone, but after a while the character loses a great deal of his charm. Even the killings are pretty restrained, compared to what we saw in the "Blood Trilogy". The main exception is the hilariously grisly denouement. The bad sound quality doesn't help any; coupled with the accents, it renders a fair bit of dialogue unintelligible. Fortunately, HGL composed a few songs for the occasion that are pretty catchy, especially "One More Swig of Moonshine".
It's a little dispiriting to see Mr. Holt having closed out his career like this, but the other performers do like they're having a good time. Giving "This Stuff'll Kill Ya!" great curiosity value is the presence of future Hollywood character actor Larry Drake, making his film debut as stuttering rube Bubba. Longtime HGL associate Ray Sager doesn't have a lot to do as the character Grady.
This is not something that this viewer would readily recommend, unless one is a real HGL completist.
Five out of 10.