Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2018
Images from the Internet
American Antichrist
Written, cinematography, directed and edited by
Dakota Ray
RA Productions
50
minutes, 2018
It’s
always interesting to get a view into the creepy, nihilistic underworld vision
of Dakota Ray. None of his characters are likeable; they are all human monsters in their own way, and
it presents a Denver perspective of street trash that most people will (hopefully)
never truly encounter in this intimate detail. But again, that’s also what
makes Ray’s work also so compelling.
 |
| Dakota Ray |
In this,
his most moody piece to date, we meet a delusional serial killer named “Smoke”
(Ray) who thinks he’s god; however, through an accidental drug overdose, dies
and is buried. But as the narration by him states, “Evil never dies, it just
grows stronger.” Needless to say he returns from the dead (after three days, I’m
assuming) as The Antichrist, of the film’s title. There is a lot of mixing of
good/evil – God/Devil, which I find interesting.
It’s
always easy to tell a Ray film because he has developed his own style, which is
rare these days. He uses monochrome filters in primary colors, title cards to
separate segments that overlap in the stories anyway, non-populist religious
symbolisms, highway underpass walkways, and blasts of death metal. But with
each passing film, he has honed his camera’s eye to be a bit more artistic
without losing the grip of presenting human suffering, either by their own
hands or to others. His editing is worth noting as well; for what I am assuming
is a single-camera shoot, he manages to use the footage to show motion and even
more important, agitation, aggression, and transgression.
Another auteurism of Ray’s that I have come to
appreciate is that there is more audio commentary to show the inner thoughts of
the characters than actual dialog, which shows an even darker side of the skel
mentality. Mostly it’s Smoke at the beginning, but then we get introduced to
other characters, each one like someone we pass on the street every day, yet
their inner thoughts are exposed to us, and we hear what we cannot see: the
dark side of human nature, and that’s part of what makes Ray’s films so
fascinating, story-wise.
There is
very little when it comes to back stories; we just meet these people as they
are, and it’s scary for me because if you’re as straight as I am (a no smoking,
no drugs, no hard booze nerd), it’s an exposure to a world that, well, as I’ve
said in an earlier review of a Ray film, I’d rather be a fly on the wall, as it
were, than actually present in the company of any of these characters.
 |
| Meg Lacie Brown |
As usual,
it’s not a huge cast, but the characters are quite defined, and each shares
their own thoughts with the viewer. There’s Crystal, a desperate drug addict
who is willing to do nearly anything (Meg Lacie Brown), a drug dealer/addict named
Chris who is into rough sex and snuff films (Nick Benning), Sid (Damien Rimmon)
who makes said films, and Benjamin (a for once clean-shaven L.B., aka Larry
Bay, one of my fave Ray regulars), a hooded religiousnik who stands on corners
preaching against sins and is getting messages from…God? Satan? He takes his
crusade to a whole ‘nother level.
One of the
odd things about this film is that characters rarely interact with each other,
with the exception of Crystal. Most seem to be in their own world of decay and
despair, not to mention delusion. There were two that I was hoping would cross
paths as they are both so opposite, yet alike in their fashion. Perhaps a
sequel? I would be up for that.
As for the
cast, it is filled with non-professional actors who are friends of the
director, and rather than being stilted and wooden, in most cases Ray manages
to get them to be more natural, sort of playing to themselves – though I
honestly hope that the characters don’t represent the personalities of the actors
in real life; that would be… sad? scary? As a person who hung out at CBGBs and
Max’s Kansas City in the second half of the ‘70s, I’ve seen some strong
addictive personalities, and while I admire the musicianship of some, the
lifestyle is one of desperation, looking for that next hit of…anything.
 |
| Nick Benning |
Ray has
stated (on IMDB) that he considers himself an artist more than a filmmaker, and
I can understand why. With each film, he gets stronger. What I would like to
see is more of the background story to some of Ray’s characters to understand
further motivation of how and why, for example, Smoke became a serial
killer other than being drug induced, even if it’s as thoughts narrations
overlaid on the soundtrack.
If you’re
tired of seeing the same old kinds of films, and want to stick your toes into
something that’s avant-garde enough to be artistic and open ended, but not so
opaque that you get lost in the miasma of arty masturbation, it may be time to
try one of Ray’s films.
And Ray,
thanks for the shout out in the “Thank you” section at the end!
Thanks again for this awesome review!
ReplyDelete