The movie itself is set in a porno store on Christmas Eve and obviously being a low-budget indie movie based in a store environment a lot of similarities with Clerks can easily be made. In fact the co-writer & director, Paul Yates, mentions in the DVD featurette that they knew people would pick up on the similarities which is why they reference it themselves several times (they draw the connections so you don’t have to!)…

These references include the store owner talking about making a movie in the store, a bearded overcoat-wearing customer shoplifting (who is chased by the store owner shouting “Kevin, Mallrats is my favorite movie!), a Chasing Amy reference in a list of porno titles (”Chasing Anal” if memory serves!), white text on black background chapter intermissions and a guy actually buying a copy of Chicks With Dicks!

That would all be very cool but there is one more reference that makes this film a definite contender for all View Askew fan’s collections – namely the scene when the shop assistant Tina and her ex-boyfriend Adam go out to the store… which just so happens to be our very own Quick Stop Groceries! The scene starts with an external shot of the actual Quick Stop which then flicks over to black & white (as the whole rest of the movie is in color) then we go inside (which then unfortunately is another convenience store made up to look like the Quick Stop) and they have a discussion about The Phantom Menace with a customer (played by Brian O’Halloran’s partner, Diana Devlin – who also appeared in Clerks: The Cartoon and Vulgar) and then they get served by Dante himself! Okay in the credits Brian is simply listed as “Clerk”… but it’s Dante in full black & white glory!
And if the doesn’t float your boat you get a porn star singing Silent Night, Moby with two dildos strapped to his head (yes, that Moby!) and a KY Jelly obsessed alien!
The movie (which was originally entitled Porno – but the name had to be changed for the DVD because Target wouldn’t carry anything with Porno in the title!) was filmed back in 1998 and I’m surprised that Brian has never mentioned it before! Who knows how many other low-budget indie movies that have gone unreleased have Dante in them!