Review: The Hostage

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

The Hostage
Directed by Gino Alfonso
Ginome Films; Javelina 98 Productions
87 minutes, 2022

With the popularity of 8mm and occasionally 16mm if your parents had some cash, there was the inevitable rise of the “anyone can make a movie” genre. Interestingly, mostly this was horror and sci-fi. Then came the camcorder, and this mentality exploded with the amount of home-made filmmaking as the technology progressed. Now anyone with a camera has a decent one (even on cell phones), and the momentum continues.

A lot of viewers despair of this amateur level of filmmaking, but then there are those of us who encourage it. How else would we get films like Johnny Dickie’s Slaughter Tales (released 2012), or the films in the Henderson Brothers’ WinnersTape All (released 2016)? Occasionally, the director will manage to snare a name actor to help along with the project; in this case it is Robert LaSardo (I think this is the third film with him I have reviewed in the last month).

In the opening sequence, a guy with hair like the poster of Eraserhead (1977) summons the cloaked demon Arooka (LaSardo), bringing him into the world, though it does not end well for him, and now Arooka is free to cause some human damage.

This film is being called an “urban horror,” meaning that ,it takes place in the city (filmed in central Colorado, such as the films of Dakota Ray) rather than a cabin-in-a-remote-area motif which seems to dominate the field recently (possibly only second to zombies), that there will be people of color and others swearing non-stop, and probably there will be drugs involved. All are present here.

Amanda Rabinowitz, Sam Delossantos

We meet loser drug dealer wannabe and lead protagonist Jeremy (Sam Delossantos), a white guy who you know is cool because of his sleeveless white tee and the backwards baseball cap. Does not come across as well educated (the kinda guy who wears the backward cap and shields the sun with his hand). He and his pal Will (Arnold King), who is far advanced mentally to Jeremy despite his religious bent, try to buy some weed to sell, but…

Seeking revenge on the drug dealer, Ericson (Brian McGee), they hire a cousin-in-law, Derek (Rion Evans), to fix the sitch, but he is a bit unpredictable. All this is mixed up in “urban” language that often went over this milquetoast white bread reviewer who is more comfortable in the punk world than hip-hop. Meanwhile, except for the prologue, every scene so far 25 minutes in has been in a room, but mostly in cars, parked and dialogue-enriched.

Enter the two females of the story: there is Jeremy’s hyper-aggressive girlfriend, Katie (Amanda Rabinowitz) who stumbles onto some really bad planning by Jeremy and crew, and Ericson’s titular junkie girlfriend who is kidnapped by this group of knuckleheads as leverage for cash, Melissa (Sonja Cimone). The problem with this  – perhaps not the only one – is that she is possessed by Arooka. So, not only are they having to deal with a deadly drug king, but a titular demon host, predicting everyone’s short demise, of course. This includes Jeremy and Will’s stoner friend, Grady (Tamir Nemekhbayar), in whose house – well, garage – where the hostaging [sic] is taking place.

Most of the action is arguments between the main characters, even with a bunch of possessions, which helps crank it up a notch. Arooka is keeping busy taking people to his CGI world and bringing most of them back with a bit of alterations, which help move the story and the conflict along.

There are some other flaws I have found, particularly the sound quality, which is weak (so weak the auto-captioning does not always work and certainly mis-translates). The slang is also a hindrance. There is way more dialogue than there is violence, and certainly little blood other than in the prologue (or nudity).

Robert LaSardo

Okay, on the good side, this is the director’s full feature premiere, after a few shorts. The shorts brought him to the level of where the editing and framing are well done, the storyline has some glimmers, and there is the indication of what is possible as he keeps up the work, which I hope he does and gets even better over time. As I have said before, a lot of horror directors’ early films have been questionable in terms of writing and acting, such as Cronenberg’s Shivers/They Came From Within (1975) or the really early works of Peter Jackson. As the band Sparks sang, “You cannot start off and be Yehudi Menuhin.”

There is quite a bit of imaginative chances, specifically in the second half and especially in the third act. I see this film as a stepping stone on the career path of the director, and I will enjoy watching his progress.

IMDB listing HERE

Review: Post Mortem

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

Post Mortem
Directed by Péter Bergendy
Szupermodern Studios; Smartdog Productions
115 minutes, 2020 / 2022
www.facebook.com/postmortemmozi
www.condor-films.fr/film/post-mortem/

In the early years of photography, there was a weird subgenre of post mortem modeling. It was common to hire a photographer to take pictures of the recently deceased, propped up sitting in chairs, either by themselves, or most likely the corpse is surrounded by the entire family. From infants to grannies, it was the final memento to remember those who had passed on. You can actually see a lot of them with the search engine of your choice.

This Hungarian film takes place in, well, rural Hungary (but dubbed into English) in 1918, at the end of the Great War and in the midst of the Spanish Flu. People were dropping like flies around the world, and Europe was hit hard. It was also an extremely cold winter, and it was hard to get bodies buried (remember, no embalming back then), so they were piling up.

Viktor Klem

Into this situation comes photographer Tomás (Viktor Klem), whose near-death experience during a battlefield explosion gave him a vision of a face. Now recovered (physically), he travels around and photographs the dead. In this capacity, in some village where dead bodies are ever present due to the frost, he meets ten-year-old orphan, Anna (Fruzsina Hais), with whom he strikes up a platonic (yet still pretty cringeworthy to me) friendship, convinced she was the vision he saw after the explosion. She is being raised (or is actually taking care of) her invalid Auntie (Andrea Ladányi).

But in this village, which could pass for the shtetl in Hungary where my paternal grandparents originated, things just ain’t right. Noises in the attic and shadows on the wall hovering over Tomás’ bed on his first night have him unsurprisingly rattled. Amid the noise and such, he befriends the owner of the local Inn, Marcsa (Judit Schell).

Fruzsina Hais

As Tomás photographs his subjects, again solo or in family groups, in every picture there is a grey shadow behind them that is only seem in the image. Many times, we, the audience, get to follow their inky movements, which vary in speed.

Over the course of the film, the presence of the ghosts increase dramatically, as does their anger and their violence. They throw furniture, reanimate the dead, sometimes frozen in odd positions like a game of “Red Light Green Light,” or almost like the photos Tomás takes, throw people around like rag dolls, and do not seem to hesitate to make others join them through ferocious means.

Judit Schell

It is an interesting touch that these ghosts are previous inhabitants and relatives of the village, and yet their anger and viciousness does not stop with family members. Everyone is a potential victim. And Tomás is determined to get to the bottom of it, with the aid of Anna, of course.

They set up alarms in the form of strings and bells, and manage to record their voices on a cylinder phonograph, though all that comes through is rage. Tomás and Anna also feel the effects of the ghosts as they are dragged by the feet through town, held in place unable to move, or levitated. In fact, a lot of people are dragged by the feet through the streets. I kept thinking of that line from Blazing Saddles (1974), “Well, that’s the end of this suit.”

 

Andrea Ladányi

The SFX, both practical and digital, is so basic and at the same time incredibly stunning throughout. While the ghosts are nearly always seen as shadows, and occasionally crawling on all fours, their effects on the town was fascinating to me, especially the wire work as numerous people are tossed about, both solo and in groups. This includes the prologue battlefield scenarios.

This film has won numerous awards through Europe and in Canada (27 as of this writing), and that is hardly surprising. The image is washed out (remember, this takes place during the days of sepia, previous to black and white), and while it is not monochrome, it has a dark tone. One might say it was arty, but it does not make it harder to see. It has a nearly gothic undertone.

My one issue is that even though it is dubbed into English, I found the accents and low talking moments hard to make out. But still, this is one of the better ghost stories I have seen in a while, and I happily found much of it unpredictable. It also takes some risks in the plot that improve the story.

I can easily see why this has won so many awards, in both tone and plot, and the acting is perfect for the film. There are a lot of nice jump scares, but it is the malevolence of the spirits that make the story. Usually, I balk at films that are nearing two hours, but with the way the story and images twist and turn, my interest was easily kept throughout. It is streaming or available to own starting on Halloween, and if you get the chance to check it out, I say do just that.

IMDB listing HERE

Review: The Mare

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

The Mare (aka Mare)
Directed by René Bjerregaard
Broadstone;
74 minutes, 2020 / 2022

This Norwegian film (with subtitles), shot in Sogn og Fjordane, nearly 230 miles northeast of Oslo, is moody and gloomy, as is often the case of releases from Scandinavia in general, where summers are beautiful and bright, but the winters are long and dark. And like many others from this part of the world, it is a touch on the arty side, but I will get into that later.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to the protagonist, a dimply young man named Liam (Alv Fossum). He is quite troubled. He has violent images in the form of nightmares (hence the film’s title). His father (Jonny Bjørkhaug) is naturally worried about the dude: waking up screaming and in a cold sweat. Of course, we get to share in Liam’s night landscape dominated by a black handed demon (Kim Kvamme), family members, and his own fears. Trying to help, he takes Liam to his grandparent’s house in a small town in the remote fjord-infjused east coast.

Alv Fossum

Liam’s Grandma (Grethe Mikaelsen) is sharp. She is taking care of Grampa Tom (Tom Larsen), who is an invalid, except when he roams the tiny and dusty house. Liam’s room is miniscule and threadbare, but finds a diary from this late mother, (Karoline Stemre), which also contain some photos of her.

In his delusional state due to lack of sleep and whatever else his past has brought to him, Liam is suspicious of Grannie, as her eyes dart around and she almost seems to keep Tom in his place. Or is it all in Liam’s mind? The haunting music leads us towards his perspective.

A nice touch is when Liam is watching a small black and white television in the remote location, and the image is of somnambulist Cesare (Conrad Veidt) in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) is on the screen. Which bring me to the style of the film. As I said, the story is dark and dreary, and the visuals reflect it, often in shadow or extremely muted colors, especially within the musty abode, where much of this was filmed.

Grethe Mikaelsen

Like any good story based on night-terrors, such as the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, the main character has dreams within dreams, and he has trouble distinguishing between his sleep world and his reality. I have always liked this premise, and this does a good job of it. And thanks to the deep shadows of the house, there is the opportunity for a number of effective jump scares.

Is this a family curse? Is it all in his head (well his sleeping one)? Or is there something more sinister abound? Liam (and the viewer) tries to figure it all out, fighting through fear, insecurity, and isolation in his cell of a room.

The acting here is excellent, with Fossum clearly being the star, but as far as I am concerned, this is clearly Mikaelsen’s film, stealing every scene in which Grandma occurs.

Tom Larsen

It is also worth noting the scenery. Man, the fjord districts of Norway are beautiful. I had the chance to see it myself a few years ago (around Bodǿ and drive through a bit north of the city) and it is stunning territory. The use of drones gives a better perspective of territory and catches its exquisiteness well.

I have been informed by the director that this was self-produced and shot in four weeks. I find that  it looks so good. The house interior sets the perfect mood. It proves that so much can be done with a microbudget ($12,000), dedication, and a good story.

So pull out some lefsa and krumkake (avoid the lutefisk, in my opinion), and crank this up.

IMDB listing HERE

Review: Bridge of the Doomed

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

Bridge of the Doomed
Directed by Michael Su
Mahal Empire; FilmCore; Spicy Ramen Productions; Blaen-Y-Maes Bootleg Films; Wicked Monkey Pictures; Gravitas Ventures
82 minutes, 2022
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With four films out this year, director Michael Su is proving to be quite prolific. And the level of carnage he displayed in his recent Death Count  (2022) shows that he is not afraid to step up to the blood and gore. So. it makes sense that he would jump on the popularity of the zombie genre, especially after Army of the Dead (2021), and put his toe in the evisceration.

A group of soldiers are given orders to hold a bridge (A Bridge Too Close?) to make sure no one or any thing crosses it, especially since they are trying to curtail the zombie apocalypse. The film does not waste any time giving us what we are waiting for, full on splatter. There is a lovely mix of practical SFX and digital (including the erasure of star Robert LaSardo’s infamous neck tattoos).

Kate Watson

Most the soldier at the bridge range from a couple of interesting characters to some expendables. The lead in the film is one of them, Sgt. Hernandez (Kate Watson). Su likes to pick strong women characters and he does well here with Hernandez’s tough as nails yet likeable sergeant.

The zombies are not slow nor fast: they stumble along, but they are quick at the grab, and consistently overwhelm their prey with numbers as they seem to always travel in groups. This middle tone of fast vs. slow is a nice touch and gives the chance to be viewer-friendly to both sides of the debate.

The film is essentially broken into two parts which are intermingled. First, there is the HQ, which is run by General Vazquez (LaSardo), with some cameo work by Michael Paré as Colonel Charon (great choice of name: Charon was the ferryman of mythology who brought your soul across the River Styx). Nice to see Paré work, as always, even in cameo form, though there was a time he walked Streets of Fire. Just because it is the headquarters, however, does not mean it is immune from the occasional zombie horde attack.

Robert LaSardo

The second is at the titular bridge, which looks like at one time it was a railroad crossing. Either way, it is over a very treacherous and fierce river, but not as much as the munchers on the other side. Also on the wrong side of the river are a bunch of survivalists living in a commune without much brains among them. Political commentary about the right wing? Among this group is Susan (Sarah French; she was the lead in Dead Count,). A third of the way in, I am going to assume that at some point, the two groups of antagonists (soldiers and survivors), will work together.

And as if a multitude of teethers were not bad enough, there is some kind of growling troll under the very bridge that the army is to defend. Just keeps getting better when it strikes. The SFX good nice and gooey, and as I said earlier, there is a lot of it.

There is no reason given that I could tell (or missed) about why the zombie romp started, but honestly, does it really matter? Radioactive satellites from space? Chemicals? We pick up the story well into the effects, and that is what matters.

There is a very slight overtone of religiosity here, as talk among the survivors discuss the “End of Times” and “judgment.” However, it is not preachy or annoying, even for this atheist. It is more questioning what is going on in a wider scheme, than pointing a finger.

Michael Paré

The main cast handles the roles extremely well, and some of the tertiary ones not so much, but they are the equivalent of “Star Trek’s” “red shirts” and are really only there to, in the words of the original Willard (1971), “tear ‘em apart!”

One of the aspects I like about director Su is that he does not follow the formula of Act 1 to introduce the characters, Act 2 to present the situation, and Act 3 to contain the main brunt of the violence. No, he picks it up right from the beginning and keeps it cropping up throughout the film, actually making it more suspenseful than less because it could come at any time. There is a bit of exposition here and there, but it certainly does not get in the way of the “yum-yum-eat-‘em-ups.” Filmed in Nevada with a nicely diverse cast. I am quickly becoming a Su fan.

IMDB listing HERE  

Review: Dead Bride

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

Dead Bride
Directed by Francesco Picone
Metrovideo; Breaking Glass Pictures
83 minutes, 2022
www.facebook.com/deadbridemovie/

Who doesn’t love a ghost story. That is not a question. Yeah, let’s just get that out of the way. Right from the prologue, this film makes itself known for what is the backbone of the story. But, of course, there is so much more, like revenge, jealousy, sleep paralysis, and generational terror.

Jennifer Mischiati

Filmed in Italy but spoken in somewhat accented English, the prologue is short and sweet, and spooky. After, we meet the main cast, which is a family of three: Alyson (Jennifer Mischiati), her hubby Richard (Christoph Hülsen), and their infant son, Seth. They move into the house of her biological father (David White) after his suicide. Her mom (Duné Medros), a seamstress, had become deranged, so her father put her up for adoption in the United States at a pre-teen age.

The dynamics between Alyson and Richard are interesting from the start, but not uncommon for these kinds of film: they move into the house due to financial constraints, and there is definitely tension between the two thanks to his past. Richard does not come across as a decent human, again, which is pretty common as he goes away on a business trip (alone or with a work “friend”?), which gives the house a chance to have its influence on Alyson. I can see where this may be going, but I hope I am wrong, as it is too cliché. But, hell, I am only 15 minutes in and we are still in exposition mode.

One of the things I find relatively consistent in these films is someone will live in the haunted abode for years and nothing much happens except for little things here and there, and then the main story family moves in and bam it is poltergeist city with mysterious and/or dangerous events occurring nearly right from the beginning.

Sean James Sutton

Because this was filmed in Italia, you know the priests and exorcisms are going to be involved, even though the story is about a vengeful ghost, Mary (Francesca Albanese; the name Mary means “bitter”), seeking revenge on the family through a few generations. The main priest, Father Elbert (Sean James Sutton) looks eerily like Rod Steiger in The Amityville Horror (1979), albeit without Steiger’s massive scenery chewing.

But the film picks up quite a few notches with the arrival of a questionable psychic, Dave (Douglas Dean), who sends Alyson searching into a dreamworld. This starts a sequence that is fun and interesting, and gives this a whole different mood as it transgresses time and space.

Mischiati and Douglas Dean

The acting in this film is actually quite good, which helps move it along. Mischiati more than holds her own, as does Dean and especially Sutton, who seems very natural. I can easily see him as a British gangster.

There are a number of “borrows” from other films, such as an infamous moments from The Conjuring (2013), [*REC] (2007), The Exorcist (1973), Poltergeist (1982), etc. The SFX is decent, and there are a couple of nicely done quick gore shots. There are also a number of enjoyable jump scares scattered throughout.

Some of the story is quite predictable considering we have seen bits of it before, but the plot moves along quite well and one may just consider the influences of other films as a drinking game. A shout-out should also be mentioned for the cinematography by Marzio Mirabella who makes every shot look amazing and giving it a nearly gothic texture in the modern age, and also the director for the editing, especially the whole dream sequence.

Oh, and I was not wrong.

IMDB listing HERE

Review: The Things We Cannot Change

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

The Things We Cannot Change
Directed by Joshua Nelson
LAS Productions
94 minutes, 2022

It is impressive when a film takes a topic down to basics. For most vampire tales, as soon as one is bit and joins the “team,” it is all bets off and they instantly become a villain (e.g., 1985’s Fright Night), with rare exceptions (such as 1987’s Near Dark or 2007’s 30 Days of Night). A vampire with a conscious is always interesting.

The film is like a series of vignettes, approaching the topic of vampirism as an addiction closer to narcotics than, say, alcohol. A large part of the story deals with a 12-step program (from which the title is derived) for neck biters who are highly compelled to – er – bite necks, led by Dr. Abraham (Richard Rampolla). Some are in total distress with their lives since they were “turned,” and others just accept it as part of nature. As one, Veronica (Laurie Lemire) states, natural, like a wild animal; she wants the vampires to go out and kill as she believes vampires are the superior race, like Stephen Dorff’s character in Blade (1998).

There is a playing around with the vampire mythos to fit the story, with which I have never had an issue. For example, a vampire can bite to the point of killing, or let the person live, which will turn them into one of their own. We get to hear a number of stories of how and why our cast has become what they are, such as Zoey (Jennifer Torres), a bullied teen who found solace with the “strange” group at school. As I said, some were sorry they made the choice, others not so much. They also live a long time, but whether they are “immortal” or longevity-enhanced is not clear. Also, they do not appear to be the Undead, just readjusted, and can still eat plain food, though the need for blood is insatiable. Another deference to the lore is they are not bothered by daylight and can be photographed. All of these work in the context of the story, and the film’s budget.

Through this community and vignettes, we meet people who are trying to live a relatively normal life, like housewife Kristen (Jenn Nobile), whose husband just found out about her addiction, and others who just accept it for what it is, like sharp tongued as well as toothed office worker Lucy (Katie Raulerson), who had a unique way to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace, or Victoria (Debra Holtzman), who is still human but wants desperately to be turned because she believes it has to be better than the life she has now. It is this different characters as well as their situations that keep the story going and interesting.

As much as this is a horror film, per se, it is more of a psychological thriller. In fact, the word “vampire” does not appear in film even once, because it deals with the symptoms of addiction, rather than the preconceived notions of it. As the old expression posits, the territory is not the map. That being said, Kitty Hecker’s SFX is well done. It is also interspersed rather than a gorefest, to maximize the effects. And when it does show up, most of the time it is quite effective. Also, as one can see by the photos with this review, the vampires’ look is quite striking and cool.

The cast is part of the director’s circle of actors (as he is one himself, though he is not in this film) who appear in many of his releases, both features and shorts (he has released over 70 of them, to date). For an indie with this low a budget, he makes the most of it, and his cast is actually quite good. While there are a few beauties in there, most of the cast is quite everyperson looking, like someone from next door, which makes the overall focus of the film, which comes to light at the end, more harrowing.

Another fine point I really enjoyed was how the red sunsets are made to look like blood, with floating blood cell corpuscles imposed over the image, appearing to be sunspots on the camera.

 As I mentioned below, and the director made sure I understood, this is an extremely low budget film, but it looks good, the acting is better than usual, and the story is textured and layered. It many not be suitable for gorehounds as there is way more dialogue than viscera (though there is some of that as well), but I found it well worth the time, and it kept me interested all the way through.

IMDB listing HERE

Trailer can be found HERE