VFW is a 2020 American Action Horror film starring Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Martin Kove, Sierra McCormick, Fred Williamson, George Wendt, David Patrick Kelly, and Tom Williamson.
At a rundown Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, a bunch of grizzled veterans are celebrating bartender Fred Parras (Lang) when a desperate young woman named Lizard (McCormick) runs in after stealing a massive shipment of a new, highly addictive drug named Hype from local drug dealer Boz (Travis Hammer). Boz and his gang of punks pursue her, and the veterans must defend her and themselves with every weapon and tactic at their disposal.
This film includes examples of the following tropes:
- The Alcoholic: All of the vets appear to be heavy drinkers, and they drink throughout the hyper invasion. Fred is apparently the worst. He starts drinking in the morning and drinks the equivalent of around 10 to 12 shots of liquor through the hyper invasion alone.
- Ax-Crazy: The Hypers. They're so hooked on the drug that they'll kill anyone or even themselves in the hopes of getting their fix.
- Big Bad: Boz, the drug dealer and leader of the gang of punks.
- Blade Enthusiast: Gutter carries a massive machete on her back rather than a gun.
- Big Guy Rodeo: Lizard jumps on Tanks back and stabs him.
- The Brute: Tank, who breaks open the VFW door by smashing a hyper's head against it.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Boz engages in pointless and cruel actions, like murdering Lizard's sister for no reason, and he gleefully admits that he's a violent and cruel sadist.
- Chekhov's Gun: Abe glances at at the machete he brought back from the war and hung on the wall of the VFW. Before the film's end, he arms himself with it.
- Cool Old Guy: The vets have no problem fending off an onslaught of thugs and psychotic addicts.
- Crapsack World: The film takes place in an America that has been overrun by drugs and gangs.
- Dark Action Girl: Gutter is Boz's right-hand woman and mixes it up with a giant machete.
- Death by Irony: Tank is introduced killing a hyper by smashing his knee into the man's face. He dies by getting his own face smashed by knees.
- Dirty Coward: Subverted. Lou tries to convince the others to let the punks have Lizard and spends a good portion of the film panicking, but he never acts on it, and even after going crazy, the worst thing he does is try to negotiate with Boz to get him to spare his friends.
- Doomed Hurt Guy: Doug, who is severely injured during the punks' first attack, dies from a lack of medical treatment for his wounds.
- The Dragon: Gutter is Boz's right-hand woman and quickly establishes herself as his most dangerous minion. She's killed before the final confrontation with Boz.
- Drowning My Sorrows: When all seems lost, Fred retires to the closet with a bottle of liquor.
- Drugs Are Bad: Hype induces a simultaneous euphoric and aggressive stat in its users, turning them into deranged, bloodthirsty mutants who seem more like zombies than they do human beings.
- Extremely Short Time Span: The film takes place over 24 hours, beginning in the morning and ending at dawn.
- Genre Throwback: To Exploitation Films of The '80s.
- Gorn: The VFW is pretty much drenched in blood and littered in body parts by the end.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Boz wears a studded leather jacket over a bare chest.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Gutter gets impaled through the back, then through her mouth, leaving her pinned to the floor in a sitting position.
- Improvised Weapon: The vets are largely armed with weapons they made or scavenged from the bar, such as a hockey stick and a barstool leg with nails hammered into it.
- It's Personal: The first person the vets kill is Boz's brother. Lizard points out that he won't let any of them live even if they give back the drugs.
- Kick the Dog: Gutter hacks into the head of a hyper who crawls into Boz's lair just for kicks. Then Boz tricks Lizard's sister into killing herself also out of pure malice.
- Made of Plasticine: People are dismembered, mutilated and beheaded with the greatest of ease.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: In contrast to the vets, whose full first and last names are all given, the villains are only known by nicknames like Boz, Gutter, Tank, and Roadie.
- Protect This House: The main characters are barricaded in their VFW bar against wave after wave of lunatics.
- Retired Badass: All of the vets are former badass soldiers who can still kick butt in their golden years.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Thomas, who dies during the first attack on the VFW before getting any real characterization.
- Tough Spikes and Studs: Boz wears a leather jacket covered in spikes. Gutter wears a bikini top with studs on it.
- We Have Reserves: Boz is unconcerned with the waves of hypers he lets get slaughtered in the VFW.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Both Boz and the vets pass up on several opportunities to simply shoot at each other, most noticeably during the pre-climax faceoff, when Deadeye could have easily killed Boz and decapitated the gang.
- Zerg Rush: The hypers attack in large waves
