Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2016
Images from the Internet
Halloween Spookies
Directed and edited by Dave Parker and Dustin Wayde Mills
65 minutes, 2016
Dave Parker, aka MrParker, has earned
a reputation as a film collector / vlogging reviewer, and now he’s moving well
into writing and directing for his second release, under the tutelage of a
master of the micro-budget genre, filmmaker and puppet creator Dustin Wayde
Mills. They’ve been friends for years, along with stalwart actor / writer
Brandon Salkil, working and playing together into a cohesive unit.
First up is “The Babysitter,” a play
on the bad guy in the house theme, but also takes from the news of weird people
dressing like clowns to scare others. It’s kinda goofy, in a good way, and we
certainly get a result of what could probably happen in real life. The two kids
in the story are excellent, as is B.J. Colangelo in the titular role. She ain’t
no Mary Poppins, that’s as sure as the kids aren’t the Banks children, either.
For a story geared for the young’ns, there is an effective level of suspense
for everyone.
The second tale, like the first, is
directed by Mills, who happily goes back to what he built his early films on,
which is a peculiar level of ironic humor. Here, he takes on the
black-and-white tale of some schulb (Mills’ regular go-to actor, Salkil, the
writer of this piece) who is visited by “The Messenger,” a ‘50s leather
jacket-wearing Juvenile Delinquent spirit played with fervor by Parker. The
gross-out level is high here in a kid-friendly-yet-icky way. What stood out for
me is that both actors played against their own type. Salkil tends to play –
well, yes, schlubs (not counting Skinless)
or raving maniacs, but here he is more subtle, showing some more depth than
usual (knew he had it inim). Parker, who tends to play more constrained
characters, plays his role appropriately over the top in a way that is broader
than I’ve seen him before, showing he’s got some chops that go beyond his
online film reviews as MrParka. The story has a good youth message about not giving
up and persevering, no matter what comes knocking in the middle of the night.
The main piece, though, is the third
tale, “The Familiars,” is written and directed by Parker, who also plays a
pizza delivery guy. So, one of these two not-to-bright comic nerd guys (kind
that still live at home way past their due) decides he wants to join the local
gang, The Cruising Bruisers. But as one of the two notes, “They don’t even
ride!” Now, this gang is, well, beyond dunces. There’s the leader (Salkil in
full jagged-up mode), a metal-head who only says “Metal” and makes the
two-fingered sign named Devil Horns (Mills), and one who amusedly only speaks
in very poor Spanish, named Macho (Aaron Anthony). Calling these guys idiots
would be an insult to idiots.
The two doofus dweebs perform an
incantation from a book similar to the one in Evil Dead, except that this one looks like it has the image of the
demon from Mills’ Easter Casket (2013)
on it. Mills got his start making horror films dealing with puppets, and he
contributes his skill to Parker’s vision by creating three demons right out of Ghoulies (1984), one of which looks
really cool (the cat), and two others that are more leaning towards the Paper-Mache,
but hey, still good-if-not-better than the Ghoulies’
rubber models.
With a nod to the Three Stooges – or
as Macho might say, “La Tres Estupidos” – the tiny creatures go on a rampage of
killing, with a decent amount of a body count considering the age-level for the
film. At half an hour, this is the longest bit, and a good companion piece to
the other two (and witchy wraparound, of course). This particular story is a
bit more violent and raucous than the others, but nothing that can’t be shown
on television uncut (or hasn’t been of late), with possibly one exception,
which involves the mentioning of a succubus. Now, even Bugs Bunny used to have
a touch of adult humor it in (sexy cross-dressing Bugs or Elmer, as an
example), but those days are questionable now. I mean, violence has always been
more accepted by mainstream media than, well, (read as sotto voce) S-E-X, or in this case, being implied.
I would say the age level for this film
is arguably over 10, when one considers the gross-out level (albeit mild), the
demon killings, the use of the word “crap” throughout (the strongest cuss word here), and that one character
has a cigarette (always unlit) usually dangling from his lip; that being said,
I remember the media uproar on television in the 1980s when a child character
said something like “bite me” to her bothersome brother. It’s a new world,
folks, and thanks to streaming services, kids are more accustomed to things we
didn’t see as a youth (which makes me think of Neil Postman’s 1982 treatise, The Disappearance of Childhood, but I
won’t get all theoretical on ya).
This is an enjoyable release, and
I’ve seen lots of good words about it around the Interwebitivity, and rightfully so. It’s funny on many levels, from
goofy and slapstick to “oh, yeah” connections that you’ll get even if the kids
won’t. It’s fun, it’s free, and it’s worth a view for children of aaaaall ages. C’mon, whatcha gotta lose?
