Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Review: Awesomely Righteous & Radical


Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet


Awesomely Righteous & Radical
Directed by Luc Bernier, Michael D’Ambrosio, Jason Ewert, Dustin Ferguson, Dean Houlihan, Oliver Jolliffe, Shane Ryan, Matti Soikkelli, Aaron Stielstra, Jim Townes
Mad Sin Cinema; Vestra Pictures; Social Cinema Studios
101 minutes, 2020

It is a bonus when an anthology film is not only just a bunch of random cobbled together shorts (which I also like, I should add), but has a theme that runs through them. Bookends are always welcome, to help tie things in, but here there is an overarching theme of all the stories taking place in the relatively Internet- and cell phone-free 1980s. You know, the dark ages, when you needed pay phones. Back in those days, you played films on this grainy image thing called a VHS (which could stand for Very Hard to See). And like so many of those films, nearly all of these presented here have a heavily synth score of repeating, dissonant rounds.

All the films are pretty short, which is nice, so if there is one you don’t like, there’s another one just a few minutes away. On the other hand, if you like it, it’s time well spent.

The film starts off swinging with Jason Ewert’s “Swamp Buck” (2015; Media Storm Home Movie Ent.; Cinema Gold! Production Classics). It’s a tale told by an old feller around a campfire with some high-school aged (I’m assuming) young’uns of a hunting trip when he was just a wee teen with his dad. Rather than getting game, they attract the scent of a were-stag in the woods. It’s a bit cliché, but this is an ‘80s homage, so it’s a fitting story to start, with some major tropes including said-creature’s POV shots and the shock ending. One of the interesting aspects of this is that the “newer” parts of the story is VHS-ish fuzzy and full of video “noise,” but the flashbacks are clear as a bell. Despite the clichés, or perhaps because of them, it is smile inducing.

Shane Ryan, who put this collection together, contributes with “Guerrilla” (2018), a film I reviewed previously HERE

Luc Bernie’s “Wallet” (2019), again, is a basic idea: a young woman finds a wallet with some ducats in it, and decides to keep the kash. This turns into more than she expected: a free dinner with a friend paid for by the stolen shekels. I suppose the sepia-toned filter is a nice touch to give it a throwback feel (perhaps too far back for the period? Never mind, it truly doesn’t matter, does it?). In typical short horror fashion, there isn’t anything too deep here, just some electronic back score, a basic theme, and a fun twist end. What more can one ask, I suppose?

As the name of Dustin Ferguson’s “Los Angeles Connection” (Social Cinema) hints at, this is more crime drama and a revenge genre, rather than horror or terror. After some gang members or mobsters attack his girlfriend, a man (Raymond V. Williams) trains to become a version of (but not costumed like) the Punisher. Getting back is his motive. The acting is pretty wooden and the story a bit cliché, but I like the VHS filter giving it a low rez and spotty video noise…and then there are the numerous sleeveless white tees. Interspersed to place it in its proper time frame is 1980s stock footage. My favorite was the Rocky-ish electronic music during the mandatory training montage. The style of the action scenes were definitely more like Dolemite than Rocky, though, which is more ideal.

From the UK is Oliver Jolliffe’s “Party Like It’s 1984” (2020). Between the accents and the echoing sound, my ears were having trouble making out the dialog. In this loose comedy, Bob (Tom Jolliffe) wakes up in the woods after a coke bender with no memory of how he got there, soon joined by the singer he manages, Cyndi (Sarah Dyas) and her bodyguard Harry (the director). Cyndi has a gig to get to, and Bob and Harry are trying to get the reluctant Cyndi to get to it, if they can find their way. To be honest, this one had me baffled as to just what was happening, including the ending.

Not to be confused with the XTC non-LP B-side song, Jim Townes “The Somnambulist” (2020; Shadow Kamera Film and Entertainment) is a short piece about three scientists trying to gain access to another dimension through the use of a woman who has been in a coma for a couple of months. It plays slow, but the fun bits happen fast, so pay heed. It’s a simple story with an equally simple set. Kept me interested, but that does not surprise me from its director, who gave us the incredibly enjoyable slow burn of House of Bad (2013; reviewed HERE). 

In a very quick short of about a minute called “Tank Soon Do,” director Michael D’Ambrosio uses a Super 8 filter to show a martial artist practicing his moves in the woods. There is no plot, no narrative, just the form. Okay…

I actually sat through Dean Houlihan’s “Odyssey of the Disturbed” (2019) twice, because the first time I wasn’t sure what was going on. After the second, I’m just as confused. Each edited piece lasts about 5 seconds and folds into the next through a fade-out/fade-in. We are introduced to a couple in which the male is being bullied, a second couple where the guy is bullying the first with the help of his enforcer, and a goth girl (witch?) sits in a room and writes kaons really large in a date book while smoke bellows around her. Okay, I get there’s the bullying and revenge motif, possibly within a dream, but what the hell? The lack of dialog adds to the mystery, in my opinion. Looks good but it annoyed me that it needed to be so cryptic. Or maybe I’m just a fool and am missing something blaring.

Also without dialog is Matti Soikkelli “Luna di morte” (2019), about a murder-suicide, I believe. Again, artistic licence gets a bit in the way of the narrative, but there is a lot of blood shot-for-shot, with guns and knives and masks. Oh, and nearly every scene is in a varied, dark monochrome, usually blood red, giving it a nearly European feel (I get the impression that was the goal, considering the title, and that the director is Finnish). It’s quite short, but also jarring, so in that way it was effective. The last shot of the film left me uncomfortable and stuck with me, so I guess that worked, as well.

The final short is Aaron Stielstra’s “Tumor Hunter” (2020; Depth Charge Pictures). It’s also a bit shallow in the narrative department, but has lots of emotion in the way it is presented. We meet a young alcoholic man in a wheelchair who I assume is homeless, and a bunch of his friends. Between ripping off liquor stores of brew and getting chased by other street thugs, his life is directionless and certainly filled with harm of self or others. Then there appears, I believe, the titular anti-hero defender. There is no real ending, just a glimpse into a violent life. This feels like a scene that was lifted out of a longer film, and it looks like it was shot on 16mm, then videoed off the projection screen. Both the image and the sound is muddled, much like the character’s life.

As the bookends at the beginning and end, there is a period piece looking-back-in-amusement PSA with Clint Eastwood (as Dirty Harry, it looks like), warning about the dangers of crack cocaine. At the end, is a trailer for the film, Samurai Cop (which is actually from 1991, not the 1980s). The only spacing between films is a b-roll of a VHS starting.

As anthologies go, it’s a bit hit and miss, as nearly all culled collections are, but if you’re similar to me and like genre shorts, it’s worth the watch. There is a decent variety of genres and styles, so lots of the audience should be pleased. There is so much filmmaking talent here, even if the occasional story left me bewildered. But make sure you sit through everything, as I did. The artists deserve the view.

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