Poor scarred Melissa. Apparently, watching an undead preacher pop out her dad's eyes has had a negative effect on the poor thing's psyche. She's constantly attending therapy, where her shrink is understandably skeptical of her childhood memories. Unfortunately for Melissa, her past comes back to haunt her when her preacher-man starts paying her visits again, and slaughtering those that get in his way. Toss in a heavily tattooed private detective cousin, tons of juicy murders, a
bastard of an evangelist (is there any other kind?), and a boyfriend who may or may not be a killer, and you've got a big bowl of party mix.

While the synopsis may make the movie sound trite and cliched, Hellinger was a fun and well-done flick. Cerchi's use of light-dark contrast is badass, and Hellinger himself is a very visually creepy character with his alabaster skin and black eyes. True, Wayne Petrocelli's vocal stylings make Hellinger sound like he's getting perpetually kicked in the kiwis, but the overall effect is slick. Cerchi also uses his video camera like a true film camera, which helps its style immensely. The direction style, a mishmash of countless directors (mostly Fulci with a splash of Clive Barker...dig those chains!) thrown into one big stew pot, works very well. Also helping the feature is the assistance of executive producers Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz. Having these b-movie noblemen helping out certainly helped elevate this movie to something more than it should normally have been. Combine that with some nice gore effects, the aforementioned kickass lighting, and one of the most disturbing rape-murder scenes committed to film, and you've got a religious horror slam-dunk.

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