Review: Her Name Was Christa

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

Her Name Was Christa
Directed by James L. Edwards
Buffalora Entertainment Group; RoseRed Lane Films; Flowtac Entertainment
120 minutes; 2020
www.facebook.com/HERNAMEWASCHRISTA/

In our lives, we have all met people like Steven (director James L. Edwards), who are lonely and middle aged, building a wall around themselves and acquiesces at work while living a shallow life. If I hadn’t met my wife, that could have been me. Bald headed with a “janitor’s” moustache and a bit of pudge, Steven is a telemarketer, making sales in a room full of others doing the same. He takes pride in his work, but is abused by his unappreciative boss. Mainly, Steven is lonelier than he will let on, perhaps more than he realizes, even joining an online dating service.

Steven meets the new guy at work, fast-talking Nick (Drew Fortier), a narcissistic and crude dude who is there for the moment because it was the only job at the time that would hire him. He’s young, attractive, and has latched on to Steven, convinced it is his job to get Steven laid. I have known guys like this at work, too, especially in the 1980s, but I digress…

Following Nick’s suggestion, Steven visits a girl of the night, Raven (Kaylee Williams) in a both humorous and cringingly unhappy experience with which I can sympathize. This leads to another idea by Nick: “the girlfriend experience,” where the paid party pretends to be a girlfriend to loosen things up a bit.

By a coincidence and a moment of kismet, he meets the future Christa, a corner hooker named Candy (Shianne Daye), whose favorite band is “The Velvet Underground with Nico.” Good start I would say. They set up the ground rules, and they start hanging out together. As the relationship progresses, they are sort of in a yin and yang situation. For Steven, he’s happy just to have someone to cuddle with, not necessarily looking for more, but for Candy, this confuses her since her entire life revolves around men using her for sex, and here is someone who is into something a bit emotionally deeper though he is aware of its parameters, and that is an experience she has never dealt with before, that someone would be interested in her as a companion rather than an object.

Over time, their bond becomes stronger until a series of tragic events unfold, taking the film into another level that might classify it into a horror (perhaps a psychological one). By this point, it comes out as a study of a mental breakdown that is reminiscent of a more romanticized version thematically of Decay (2015) or, if you want to stretch it a bit, Nekromantic (1987), without the “real-life” intensity, thanks of Steven’s mindset (such as it is). Oh, those crazy Akronites.

The film’s gore level picks up a notch or five, as we see the differences between what’s going on in the mind, flipping back and forth with the reality of the situation, most effectively displayed when a split screen is used. Another interesting way to approach the film, especially on a second viewing, is to realize that some conversations between two people are actually happening in one head, and the talk and motives reflect that. And this film is particularly dialogue-heavy, and while it keeps the interest in its long two hours (more on that after), it is important to remember that this is the director’s first feature, and he would show some of his humor more in upcoming releases.

The only two real complaints I have, as it were, is that it really didn’t need to be a full two hours, and could easily have about 20-30 minutes honed from it (just add it to the Deleted Scenes folder on the Blu-ray). The other is the main musical synth theme on the soundtrack, which sounds like he was trying to emulate Goblin in the 1980s, but I found it quite irritating. Loved the film, but not this aspect of it.

I am really looking forward to future films by James L. Edwards. Perhaps a nice text editorial work by a second party might be good, but he is so incredibly on the right path. His stories themselves are great, and he always seems to manage to throw in some nice twists and turns. That all makes it fun.

IMBD Listing HERE 

 

 

 

 

Review: Brimstone Incorporated

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

Brimstone Incorporated
Directed by James L. Edwards; Brad Twigg
Buffalora Entertainment Group; Fuzzy Monkey Films; Panic Button Films
97 minutes; 2021
www.facebook.com/Brimstone-Incorporated-100935518481130

As I have often postulated on this blog, I am a fan of anthology films, especially ones that were put together by few directors, thereby giving a more consistent feel to the films. The one exception here is a story by Brad Twigg, but we’ll get to that when we get to that.

What is interesting to me is that not counting the wraparound, there are only three stories spread across the time span, which means there is more of an opportunity to build suspense. This is a rare way to present an anthology film, but it is quite effective. Each of the stories lasts about half an hour.

The set-up wraparound tale, “Tempter and Associates,” is the titular Brimstone Incorporated, which is a law firm  that serves as the gateway to Hell, so the “cases” involved is good vs. evil/natural vs. supernatural matters. They are, one might say, fulfilling the St. Peter role, for those going in the opposite direction. The receptionist/assistant, Lilith (Tharasa DiMeo), serves the same purpose as Cerebos, guarding the sanctuary, but the three-headed dog is much tamer. Each person is interviewed by Gregory Asmodeus (Drew Fortier) to see whether they are worthy to be in Hell or not. Gregory is appropriately smarmy, but also a hoot.

James L. Edwards

The opening story, “First Date,” concerns a man named Richard (director James L. Edwards) and his first date with Renee (Shianne Daye), two-weeks after they met on a dating site. This takes place in a busy diner (because isn’t that where you would bring all your first dates, rather than a restaurant?).Things unravel quickly as we learn the truth about just how psychotic is Renee. As a sidenote, when I worked in the World Trade Center in the mid-1980s, there was a co-worker who was hyper Christian, as Renee claims to be, who was one of the most vicious human beings I have ever met, because she was sure Jesus was on her side no matter what horrible way she treated anyone (she tried to get me fired on a number of occasions because I was a non-believer). She was quite attractive, and the longer I got to know her personality, the uglier she became to me. I digress, but this is true of Renee and her devotion to Jeebus. The story ends with not one, but two twists that I didn’t see coming. That’s nice.

Drew Fortier

The next tale, “Mama’s Boy,” sees the titular Justin Parker (Tim Hale) arriving at Gregory’s desk to defend his honor, or lack thereof. Justin seems like the shy type, but he’s actually quite a ladies man beyond his level, considering he’s a bit of a dullard. The reasons are explained by the end. Anyway, mommy dearest, Priscilla (Sasha Graham), is overly protective of her son, and will do anything – and I mean anything – to keep him “safe” in her eyes. This includes donning a mask and cape and going on deadly adventures. We see a large body count in this story, dealt with in many gruesome fashions (e.g., fun). For our edification, we meet his latest flame, Brittany (Kaylee Williams, who stood out in The Horrific Evil Monsters in 2021; reviewed HERE) whom he brings home to dinner with has darling matriarch. Will Brittany be up to the task and win over murderous mom? While there are some, again, nice twists and turns, it’s not quite to the O. Henry-esque level of the first story, but is significantly satisfying.

Shianne Daye

The last story is “Skunk Weed,” and is directed by Twigg (see I told you we would get there!). It concerns John Simmons (Tim Novotny), a salesman whose job it is to sell jingles written by his agoraphobic brother, Bennie (Rick Jermain). While we meet John in the “Tempter” wraparound, in the main story, the only person you see in the tale proper is Bennie, who isa bit of a slovenly guy in an Oscar Madison kind of way. John has sent him some “special” skunk weed; I’d be shocked if you didn’t know that was another name for pot. But this blend is different, giving Bennie odd and gory hallucinations, such as some cooking eggs turning into a bloody brain. This could easily have been one of those late ‘60s “Dragnet” kind of “Don’t use drugs, kids” propaganda, but the twist at the end explains all and is, again, unexpected. I thought they were going to twist it in a different way, which would have been a bit cliché, but they avoided using old motifs. 

Kaylee Williams

The acting is quite well done, especially considering the impressive volume of the cast overall. That being said, Fortier really does steal his scenes, seeming quite natural in the role (well, after all, he is the guitarist of bands like Bang Tango and Zen from Mars). The SFX make-up is quite the joy. Yeah, it tends to be a sloppy mess rather than “surgical,” but honestly, I like it like that.

I don’t know if this is going to be a franchise, but I would look forward to seeing more of these stories.

IMBD listing HERE