Review: Love Crime

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

 

Love Crime
Directed by Nicole D’Angelo
CineRidge Entertainment; Cinema Epoch; MSC Productions
67 minutes, 2022
www.facebook.com/cineridge/
I have been really been impressed by this local collective of multi-pronged actors/directors/writers/filmmakers. They all support each other both in front and behind the camera, and still manage to be prolific on a meager financial means.

One consistency is that their films tend to be minimalist, taut, and more often than not psychological. I have reviewed a number of them, such as Quarantine Girl (2020; also directed by D'Angelo), Choke (2020), and Heartbeat (2020). 

Nicole D'Angelo

Our fare for today is a crime drama, founded somewhat on Arizonas-based Jodi Aria (director Nicole D’Angelo), who murdered her lover of a tempestuous relationship in 2008, Travis Alexander (Shane Ryan-Reid). I don’t obviously know what their real relationship was like, so when I refer to the actors’ role, I will use the first name, and for the real person, their last in this review to slow down the confusion.

Time is very fluid in this story, as the chronology is bounced around, yet the timeline of where we are at any scene is clear, thanks to some good direction and editing (more on that later). For the prologue, Jodi is already arrested and in holding as she interacts with grizzled police officer Ross (Sam Dobbins). He is stern, yet sympathetic to Jodi, unlike his boss, Detective Mace (Lisa London), who sees this as a case to be a publicity slam dunk (the real trial was heavily mediated).

Deeply religious, Jodi projects the same onto Travis, as the devout tend to do. She is way more committed to this relationship than Travis, yet she is still a believer. As I said, the real relationship was tumultuous, and this is expressed between break-ups and rejoinings. This is smartly symbolized in the editing, as some B-roll scenes are shown both going forward and backwards.

The personalities of the two main characters are also back and forth, in that they often complement each other, and yet they are quite different. Jodi is what I call god-delusional, grasping on to the weights of faith to keep herself steady. Travis, on the other hand, is a motivational speaker who is quite glib and sometimes impatient with Jodi’s questions about remaining “pure” in some ways; he is constantly using his experience with words and charm to console her, but you know he is being dishonest and it is almost as uncomfortable to watch as her divinity focus. As they swirl around each other, Mace makes like a bulldog trying to break Jodi’s façade, which may be her truth or her self-imposed wall to protect herself from what she has done.

Shane Ryan-Reid

It is easy to see the cracks in both Jodi’s armor of love of Travis and god, as much as it is to see through the weakness of Travis in both. Her overwhelming needs outweigh his lack of them, and in the film, there is no black and white personalities nor actions, as they both have their issues that they bring to the relationship. The fact is that this was a long-distance relationship, with him on the road a lot (Arias and Alexander actually lived in different states).

With multiple events happening over the overlapping timelines, I was quite impressed with the video editing by Michael Tang, which highlights the minimalist and stark (there’s those words again) cinematography by Gregory Hatanaka and Caleb Tou. For example, there can be two opposite events happening, such as an argument and a sex scene interwoven together, and it works. Occasionally, the writing by Jamie Grefe shows some nice flairs as well, such as when Mace states to Ross, “If truth is bitter, my coffee should be, too.”

D'Angelo’s double duty as both lead actor and director proves she is capable for the task. I was truly impressed with the artful directorial skill in which she handles the story. The film may be on the short side, but it was the perfect length to tell it.

The film is available to watch for free on Tubi, and on demand by Amazon and Vimeo.

IMDB listing HERE 

Review: The Wrong Sarah

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

The Wrong Sarah
Directed by Jason Toler
Sunrayz International Films; Cinema Epoch; Cineridge Entertainment
64 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/cinemaepoch/

This release is part of a prolific film collective (including Cineridge Entertainment and Mad Sinema) that I really respect, which includes the likes of Shane Ryan, Lisa London, Christina Lo, Sarah Brine, and Chris Spinelli, among others, who appear here. I have reviewed a number of their products, including Choke, Quarantine Girl, Heartbeat, and Sinful (all 2020). They promote new actors and directors as well, such as Jason Toler, who writes, directs, and stars in this one as FBI Agent Lance. The quality of the films may vary widely, but the effort is appreciated.

The most basic premise of the story is that a serial killer is, one by one, traveling around the ,country and killing off women whose name is Sarah, in search of a specific one. Of course, as with many others, my first thought was of the opening of The Terminator (1984), where the titular cyborg is killing off all the Sarah Connors, and wondered if that’s where Toler got the idea for the name character here. Doesn’t change anything, just curiosity.

I used the word “basic” because this is a minimalist, stripped down storyline of a police procedural, as well as following the antics of the serial killer as he burns and stabs his way through his victims. As all the murder victims shown are named Sarah, the violence tends being towards women. I will leave that for what it is, you can make up your own opinion. I will say, however, how 1980s.

The title of the film comes from the aftermath of the killings, where the masked murderer leaves a spray-painted message near the body, “Wrong Sarah,” as he plows through them. Question is, if he knows they are the wrong Sarah, why kill them? He is on a mission, so this is not just random mayhem. Well, at least there is a decent amount of slaughter, but more on that later.

Jason Toller

There are three main points of focus to the characters in various degrees. The first is the lead, the aforementioned FBI agent (Toler) who is trying to suss what is happening and to capture the fiend. Of course, the murderer does have a cool name, “The Black Rose Killer” due to the black rose he leaves by the corpses. FBI Agent Lance and occasionally his team, including FBI Agents Linda (Lo) and Will (Spinelli), hunt him down, though the killer is seemingly, depending on whose perspective, as Roberts states more than once, either two steps ahead or the FBI is two steps behind.

The second spotlight is on the killer himself. He wears a really cool digital mask in a grid formation that produces a digital fire image. It looks so much better than the more common cowl or clown façade. He is silent but deadly, and incredibly prolific so there is a nice body count. Most of the kills, however, are off-screen, or use CGI; the digital fire for the first victim we see (Brine) is actually a bit comical due to it keeping between the lines. But for the budget, it is what it is, and I’m okay with that.

The third and final highlight is the final Sarah (model Elliott Woods), the only one of the attackees that we see in any depth, though it’s still wading pool deep. What I am trying to say with that last comment is that there isn’t much character development, other than Lance being contemplative while he works out at the gym and when jogging, and a secret from the final Sarah’s past involving her mother. While this is essentially a three-character play, we get to know pretty little about anyone of them, and forget about any of the secondary ones, such as Lance’s team or friends of the trio.

It is worth noting that in real life, calling 911 for a car break-in is a sure-fire way to get a summons as it is not considered a life and death emergency. Also, a fun textural error, Roberts first introduces himself as having been working on the case for 6 months, and later on says it was 2 months. Man, I truly love indie cinema just for reasons like this. On major films, this would be a continuity error that would be bounced back and forth among cinephiles with smug contempt, but here, it’s “cool, that was funny.”

In a similar vein of cinema easter eggs that are intentional and more allowable in indie films is a shot of the killer standing on a street corner with back to camera that is a dead (pun intended) reminder of the opening of the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008).

As for the masked killer? Well, if you haven’t guessed who it is by the time of the reveal, you just haven’t watched enough police procedurals, or slasher films. It took me all of a second of the introduction of the character in his real persona to know who’s who, and while not as obvious, you may even guess on some level why’s why. But again, honestly, it doesn’t matter because I really don’t believe the film was trying that hard to confuse or hide anything. Like I said, this is pretty basic and is obviously – and rightfully so – unembarrassed about it. I will say, however, I am hoping at some point Toler collaborates with someone rather than writing on his own, because I think that could give him a boost. This is the third film for the director, including Crack House of the Dead (2021), another police-based film, but involving zombies. And a crack house, but this is the first of his productions I have seen.

Elliott Woods

Here, there is the inevitable showdown between Toler’s FBI agent and the masked killer, after the obligatory sex scene; Woods is definitely attractive, more so than her acting chops at this stage of her career which will hopefully continue and improve. But to be fair, much of the acting here is on the deer-in-headlights range, but short of wooden. Toler definitely needs to push his cast (and himself) a bit more to emote.

I realize that this has nothing directly to do with the quality of the film, but its odd that the names of the characters on IMDB are listed different than in the film itself. For example, Toler’s agent is called Jack on IMDB and in the story it is Lance. Was this just a joke to see if anyone was paying attention (which I would respect), or was the page filled in before the actual shooting and they didn’t bother to change it (which would annoy me)? This is also true for the occasional plot hole (e.g., the reason for the black rose is never explained).

This is a pretty short film coming in at just over an hour, yet it feels padded at times, such as Lance’s workout scenes. On the other hand, I understand it from what I am assuming is from the director’s perspective in that he could film the scenes with minimal crew, as it is just him onscreen, and he can shoot these on his own schedule with whatever crew he can arrange at the moment.

This production crew seems intent on putting out as much content as it can, as quickly as it can. Personally, I would love for them to slow down a little, and pay more focus on each picture, instead of double- or possibly triple-filming at the same time. This would increase the quality of the product, and keep the plot holes to a minimum. That being said, I also am impressed how they all work together to showcase and promote their skills. In the words of Monk, their output is “a blessing…and a curse.”

The film is available on Amazon, Vimeo, and free on TubiTV.com (with commercials, which is where I viewed it).

IMBD Listing HERE