Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
All the Wrong Friends
Directed by Ryan Hawkins; Mark Kerins
Picture Movers; SMU Summer Films Productions; Terror
Films
78 minutes, 2016 / 2020
They say that there’s
no friends like old friends. Of course, relationships change over the years,
but what could possibly be different one year after graduating from high school?
We find out how it is for a near-gaggle of once grads at this unofficial grueling,
gruesome, and gory reunion. What, from the poster, you didn’t think it would be
all sweet and cuddly, did ya? Hunh?
Title cards nicely situate
the viewer by letting us know that this takes place in 1998 (i.e., pre-cell phone), the day before
the second Terrastock Music Festival, held in San Francisco. Lots of flannel
shirts are bound to be a wearin’. Well, our gang is heading to there, anyway, from
about nine hours out. Odds of them getting there? Well… you know the genre,
right?
 |
| Krishna Smitha, Ricco Fajardo |
Before the
credits, we get introduced the group that looks to be in their mid-to-late 20s
at the youngest, rather than at the 20 mark: there’s the main couple, Drew (Ricco
Fajardo) and his girlfriend, Nani (Krishna Smitha), hipster Simon (Dexter
Hostetter) who has a beard and wears a stocking hat, macho bully – always gotta
be one in these films, apparently – Logan (Sean O’Connor) with he “wife-beater”
white tee and his girlfriend Ericka (Alexandra Chaudoin), and mandatory nerdy Adam
(Tom Gelo), who is trying to toady up to Logan.
You can tell
this is going to be a bumpy road trip when Logan throws the map out the window before
they even start out. But this group of six is larger than the usually mandatory
five for this kind of film, so a higher body count is possible. That’s a positive.
But you know you’re gonna want Logan out of the way fast; I’m writing this at 4
minutes in, during the credits, so no spoilers here. I will say, though, if it
were my ‘mobile, I would have taken the rest of the troupe and just left Logan behind
with whoever wanted to stay, but that’s me.
Logan commanders
and redirects the troupe to his friend Mondo’s (Nick Commella) isolated house
(at first I thought he said “Mongo,” and thought perhaps the crew were Mel
Brooks fans, but no…), where the action takes place. The multiple Katana stands
and swords in a bedroom gives you preview of the kind of guy Mondo is, well before
a drop of blood is seen. Oddly, none of them get used here. Hmmm.
Respect to the real homeowner! Here is where I drop back from story description,
as we’re 10 minutes in.
Thing is, in the real
world, I cannot imagine all of these people being in the same social group. Some
yeah, but it’s not a smooth arrangement. It’s pretty obvious there are some hostilities
to begin with, and the odds of this sextet being a clique, are slim. For example,
when I was in high school, in my outcast group, I would not have been around a
Logan type except while he was bullying us, or possibly even Simon; Drew and
Nani, perhaps. Adam is as weird a fit as Logan, and oddly he is Logan’s connection
to the tribe. I found this to be socially confusing. Drew tries to explain it
in the story, but the map doesn’t match the territory for me. Anyways…
Logan, of course, has
his own plans for what to do with the situation everyone finds themselves into,
and with the arrival of two hikers – Allison (Brina Palencia, who has been having a
dynamic Anime voice career) and her brother Brian (Andrew Milbourn)
– things begin to go weirder. Is there more to their presence than they are letting
on?
While the story’s
premise is been done, there are some interesting twists and turns here and
there. Let me put it this way, there are so many people that are metaphorically
“thrown under the bus” through deceit, lies and double-dealings, that this could
have been titled “Port Authority.” That’s a good thing.
 |
| Dexter Hostetter, Alexandra Chaudoin |
One point that
drives me crazy about this and similar stories, is there tends to be one character
(usually a female, as in this case) who is smarter than the rest and gives
great advice (such as, oh, I don’t know, “Let’s get outta here!!”), and
nobody (especially the boyfriend) will pay credence. In these genre releases, It’s
more common a motif than running up the stairs instead of out the door.
That being
said, one of the cool things about the film is that while obviously Nami and
Drew are the central protagonists, every character has a strong part in the framework
of it (no cast member storyline left behind!) which is both nice to see
and a bit confusing here and there for motivation. But by the end, there is
satisfaction.
With 13 credited to
the creation of this tale (one for writing, and twelve for story), this was produced
through the Division of Film and Media Arts at Southern Methodist University as
a pilot program for what became its recurring summer feature production,
according to IMDB.
Considering
this was produced by a Methodist university, it’s surprising that there
is any cursing whatsoever (though it’s minimal) and there certainly isn’t any
nudity (sex is implied, however); as for the gooey stuff, there is some blood here
and there, such as splatter, but it’s not what I call a wincing film (you know,
fingers in bullet holes or spilled viscera). Also, there is no supernatural
elements here, just a bunch of human dickheads acting like murderous human dickheads.
While it has
some issues and a slow spot here and there (especially in the first 20
minutes), ultimately this was, quite honestly, better than I expected. And it’s
free on Tubi, so why not?
No comments:
Post a Comment