New England director Joe Begos is a curiosity. He’s one of the handful of independent genre cinema directors that keeps getting solid reviews for his movies. And yet he’s still not well known outside of horror film aficionados. With ALMOST HUMAN (2014), THE MIND’S EYE (2016), and BLISS (2019), critics have continued to give Joe Begos’ positive feedback, and his latest VFW (2020), he’s finally getting more notice.

In a not-too-distant future, where a new drug has turned many people into addicted automatons, across the street from a gang lords lair, the local VFW opens up where a group of old and clever veterans come together for companionship. When a young punk woman named Lizard enters their lounge with a bunch of the gang leaders drugs, a “war” breaks out between the army of punks and the former soldiers.

Getting some of the highest number of reviews for any VOD release, including from major publications, the movie also has received a lot of buzz through social media. Though somewhat of a “bottle” film (one location shoot), the movie shows that Joe Begos can stage an action film. Dark Discussions takes a look at this latest release and gives their thoughts.