Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2017
Images from the Internet
The Acid Sorcerer
Written, produced, directed and edited
by Dakota Bailey
R.A.
Productions
50
minutes, 2017
www.facebook.com/The-Acid-Sorcerer-221727484901962
They say (whoever
they are) that when you find
something you’re good at, stick with it. With this being Dakota Bailey’s third
feature, he’s doing just that. He has found a pretty unique (at this point)
niche of reality that can scare the
viewer, but not because of the supernatural but more because of a vision of life.
If the past year has shown anything, Americans are capable of doing just about
anything, even if it’s against their own self-interest. Bailey’s view is that
to the extreme, at what most would probably consider the lower rungs of the
social contract ladder.
Bailey has
his formula, with title card introductions for characters or “stories” (all of
which intermingle in a porous way) about drug dealers, prostitutes, hired
killers, serial killers, and essentially the kind of people that fascinate when
reading about on the paper or seeing on the big (or small) screen, but not
necessarily someone whom you would want to share breathing space.
Mostly filmed
in black and white, there is the occasional smattering of psychedelic color tones
thrown in to represent alternative realities due to illicit substances. The
atmosphere is stabbed by the soundtrack by metal band Ramesses. As this all
unfolds, we are introduced to the characters one by one, and shudder.
 |
| Dakota Bailey as Smoke |
There is
no real past tense in this film, there is only whatever is happening in the
moment, and the people act accordingly and usually impulsively. Also, there is
no real need for character exposition to know that you cross the other side of
the street when you see them. Bailey touches that instinctual, repulsed side of
the average viewer: you don’t need to learn, just intuitively know.
There is also an unexpected, philosophical touch to
the film, as it acknowledges its own inner darkness, as well as those as the
characters. It’s a chilling and nihilistic view of a nearly claustrophobic
group of people whose lives are revolving around the seven deadlies, and it’s
hard to see past that, even when one character, a drug user named Crawdad
(Darien Fawkes, who is also AD on the film), mentions a glimmer of hope at one
point. Religion tries to open some light, but that door quickly slams shut.
The weird thing – and what makes Bailey a force on
the rise – is that despite (or perhaps because of) the despicableness of those
who infest the film, the viewer kinda wants to know what happens to them. For
some of them, that feeling goes beyond the time length of the actual story. I
promise, I won’t give away much.
While there isn’t any central character because the
story is so episodic and scene driven, our introduction is with Smoke (played
by Bailey). Not only is he a drug using… okay, I’m gonna stop there for a sec…
let me suffice it to say that just about everyone in the story is a drug user.
Okay, getting back, Smoke is a bit of a schizophrenic, or perhaps one via
shooting up or through acid flashbacks. His “other” is the cloaked and
appropriately named Leach, urging Smoke to be a serial killer, ridding anyone
who is perceived in his way. Leach is the demon on his shoulder urging him on,
without the aid of the angel on the other side. Of course, this is merely a
reflection of his own drug-induced id taken shape… or is it something more
sinister?
 |
| Nick Benning is Nikki |
Other major characters include Crawdad and his
pregnant meth-addicted girlfriend Vermina (Natasha Morgan), a cross-dressing
sadistic snuff filmmaker Nikki (Nick Benning), a truly nasty drug dealer who
likes to see his clients suffer named Eyevin (Brian Knapp), and an HIV-positive
prostitute named Ecstasy (Selene Velveteen). Most are not going to fare very
well in this lifestyle.
The film is literally littered with death, as we
watch the characters interact with each other behind a wall of ego, masculinist
posturing (in most cases), the urge of desire and need, and trying to figure
out how to survive the present moment.
Part of what makes it all so compelling is that it
feels like the dialog is ad libbed, as if it were actual people talking to (or
at) each other. Mostly they’re lost in their own altered minds, awash in whatever
substance is available, especially ego. Since most of the characters fumble
through their lives in the realities that exist in their own heads, Bailey
wisely has them verbalize their thoughts, to let us wussy straight-edgers know
what is happening to them, such as (as this is not a direct quote), “Ha! Look
at that guy! Can you believe it!?”
The film is visually dark, as are Bailey’s previous
works, but thanks to it not being as grainy, it is a bit easier to see,
especially since most of the action happens at night. Yeah, the acting is
occasionally either stiff or over the top, but if you think about it, we all
tend to do that; we’re just not used to seeing it on the screen.
This does for Denver, what Taxi Driver (1976) did for New York City: it focuses on the seedy,
the dirty and the back alleys, where the denizens of the story would likely
live, rather than the posh side of the city most people know from previous
cinema. If you have walked down the central street in downtown Denver, with its
book stores, its restaurants and watering holes and the sudden proliferation of
weed shops, you would not recognize the city from these perspectives, both
literally and figuratively.
There is a mention on IMDB about Bailey that
states, “he does not think of himself as a director or an actor just a film fan
who is making the kind of movies he wants to see and he never went to film
school.” Yeah, you can tell. And I’m grateful for it because he has his own
voice that I don’t see elsewhere, and would not want to see it “directed”
through someone else’s vision of what cinema is supposed to be. The fact that none of the actors in this film are
professionals but actually friends tells a lot. Sure, I’d like to see a larger
female presence in this films (two out of eight here), but hopefully that will
come over time.
If I could make any suggestions of help it would be
twofold: first, to get some more practice in tone corrections to make the films
a bit lighter and easier to see considering the many night scenes. The second
would be in sound as sometimes the voices are a bit hard to hear over the
ambient street noise. I fully acknowledge that it makes it more real (better
than overdubbing the voices, that’s for certain), it’s just that a couple of
times I had to back the film up to be able to make out what is being said.
These are both minor bits, and it’s pretty obvious that on many levels, Bailey
is a natural. And I’m not just saying that because I’m mentioned in the Thanks section at the end.
There is an interesting interview short on YouTube
of some of the actors in the piece that’s also worth seeking out.
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