'VFW' Featurette Focuses On The Practical Bloody Effects Of This Brutal Splatterfest [Exclusive]

It's not often that you see extremely bloody, gory practical effects utilized in movies at the level that director Joe Begos does in his grindhouse-inspired splatterfest VFW. The movie focuses on a battle royale that breaks out in the local VFW after a teen girl runs into the bar with a load of stolen drugs, looking for protection from a group of punks who are all hopped up on a drug called "Hype." Leave it to veterans played by Stephen Lang, William Sadler, and more to use whatever they can to tear those bad guys apart.

VFW is an all-out war between the two sides that does not shy away from brutal deaths and endless amounts of blood. With the movie coming out on Blu-ray and DVD next week, /Film has an exclusive VFW featurette on the creation of the practical blood and make-up effects used in the movie. But beware, some of the effects are extremely gnarly and gross, so this one might be NSFW if you're somehow still working in an office.

VFW played at Fantastic Fest last year, and our own Matt Donato was mostly pleased with the bloody battle he saw on the big screen. In his review of the movie that's full of "head-exploding, arm-chopping, stake-skewering kills" that feels like "a combination of John Carpenter and William Lustig," Donato wrote:

"If you're into "Splatterhouse Cinema" that respects its elders and tenderizes human bodies without remorse, Joe Begos has a pile of discarded corpses waiting for you. It's vile, slick with repugnance, and appropriately inhumane. A canon full of guts blasted straight into your face – the Fangoria way."

It certainly looks over-the-top when it comes to the violence, as you can see in the clips above, and maybe even moreso when it comes to the practical effects. Donato also noted, "Effects overplay 'fun' factors in that prosthetic corpses are obvious when thrown from balconies to burst like fleshy water balloons."

Here are all the special features you'll find on the home video release next week:

It's that last one where this little sneak preview comes from, and you can check out the rest of it by picking up the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. VFW has been available for rental and purchase on VOD and digital since February, but it's only just now coming to Blu-ray and DVD on March 31.

A typical night for a group of war veterans at the local VFW turns into an all-out battle for survival when a teenage girl runs into the bar with a bag of stolen drugs. Suddenly under attack from a gang of punk mutants looking to get back what's theirs – at any cost – the vets use every weapon they can put together to protect the girl, and their VFW, in the biggest fight of their lives.