Review: Sebastian’s Unholy Flesh

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

Sebastian’s Unholy Flesh
Directed by Dakota Ray
R.A. Productions
72 minutes, 2020
https://m.facebook.com/dakotarayfilmmaker/

In his seventh film, director/writer/editor Dakota Ray takes a leap forward and brings all that makes his signature stylings with him. He has a vision that is full of satanic overtones, indulging in absinthe, the darker side of Denver’s urban landscape, serial killing, and a purple haze… okay, a purple filter.

Without giving away much as this is in the first 30 seconds of the film, a cosmic shift has led to the death of Satan, and Sebastian (Dakota Ray), an evil extradimensional demonic being who has taken human form, means to fill the Dark Lord's place by getting his hands on a certain book that belonged to Beelzebub. With this he will gain Satan's powers and be able to destroy the world. And the quest for our end begins.

As with all quest sagas, there must be two sides, even if it is not good vs. evil, as in this case it is certainly evil (Sebastian as anti-protagonist) and a higher level of evil. Here, the latter is represented by two entities. The first, being human, is the White Spider (Fred Epstein), a serial killer that watches snuff films to get off, and who invokes the second demonic entity named Nezaah (Nick Benning) – the first born son of Satan – who is also after said tome, I am assuming for similar reasons. Nezaah uses the White Spider (WS) as his go-between to be rid of our boy Sebastian by cutting him into nine symbolic pieces. Will Nezaah and WS succeed in their malevolent deed and need for control?

With the exception of Nezaah, nearly all the dialogue is the internal thinking of the characters. This has always been a cornerstone of Ray’s filmmaking and it works for his oeuvre. When Nezaah actually orates, however, his words are simultaneously captioned on the screen in big letters, not as a scrawl on the bottom, for those who hate captioning; if you don’t want to read, you can still hear what he is saying pretty clearly through his growling vocals.

The big question of course is who will win this malignant battle to the death of, well, them and everything? Either way, it’s not looking good for the universe because both are out for a taste of destruction on our behalf. This is a nihilistic view, and yet, it feels like it matters in this dystopian pre-apocalypse. Is this perhaps a metaphor for the Trump regime’s plan to plummet us all to an early grave, be it through a pandemic or global change, or even geo-political shenanigans?

Speaking of pandemics, this was, of course, filmed during the height of the Summer of COVID, and it’s interesting to watch how Ray uses the cast in individual set pieces and splices them together to form a semi-coherent narrative (more on that later). The cast is actually quite small but work around each other in interesting ways to maintain cinematic social distancing.

There is very little subtly in this film when it comes to the acting. Sebastian is kind of cool and self-assured, with Ray’s trademark vocal growl almost snarling with smirking and hubristic glee. As for Epstein and Benning, they gear it up to, well, beyond 11 in their emoting, but we’re dealing with extreme characters, so it’s not so off-putting or even unexpected.

 

Ray has always relied heavily on the visual and tints to evoke moods, using urban landscapes, road kill, insects, and satanic and Christian imagery for atmosphere and ambience, or to push the story along; Satan is oft a secondary character in many of his releases, but since Satan is no more, he is absent (in the “flesh”) here. Using a purple tint throughout gives it an edgy, experimental feel that mostly works in making the imagery an almost dreamlike quality. The heavy fisted music also works exceedingly well for promoting the demonic and oppressive tone.

What is different in this film, however, is that imagery has moved up in importance and become parallel with the narrative, both of them in a dark, purple dance with each other. Ray has made it clear that he has become infatuated with the mildly psychedelic and green drink of absinthe, which may (I am assuming) be a strong influence on this heavier reliance on the visual.

Recently, I read someone positing that Ray’s works fit into the “transgressive” subgenre. That struck me as being quite accurate, especially with this release. I can easily see his work alongside of the likes of Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, and Beth and Scott B.; perhaps even a bit of Stan Brakhage in the sheer rawness of it all. Another reason this pairing may match is because transgressive cinema tends to be a bit poetic and esoteric, and arguably a bit poetically opaque at times, as this one tends to be due to it’s story arch and imagery, with each filmmaker having their own forte and style.

As a drinking game, take a sip of absinthe every time Nezaah says the word “Obtain.”

 

Review: The Dark Days of Demetrius

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019

Images from the Internet

The Dark Days of Demetrius

Directed by Dakota Ray

R.A. Productions

60 minutes, 2019

www.facebook.com/dakotaraysthedarkdaysofdemetrius/

Despite the title sounding like a 1960s Sword and Sorcery genre release from Italy (you know, like Demetrius and the Gladiators or something like that), rather this is the sixth film by Dakota Ray. His specialty is life at the lowest strata of crime in the street. And rather than being Italiano, he focuses in on his fictional city of Sunnydale, which is actually a stand-in for his home turf of Denver.

Dakota Ray

This Demetrius (Dakota Ray) is also known as the Live Stream Killer (aka LSK), as we learn from the narration in the first 10 seconds of the film past the prologue and credits. He kills random people and live streams it to millions of his fans who revel in the death and destruction in his wake.

Anyone who is familiar with Ray’s work knows it is immediately identifiable as his, as Ray has his own style of filmmaking, which is unique, something you don’t often see these days. While he manages to keep his “auteur” title, this film is actually way different (and similar) as his others.

First of all, his editing is tighter, and more importantly, his storytelling has grown. In previous releases, most of which have been reviewed on this blog, it usually involves a number of short stories all woven together into a tapestry of human horror, involving murder, drugs and Satan. Here, Ray takes a single story that runs throughout its length, though it is still broken up into chapters.

Fred Epstein

His iconic look of using colored filters remains, but mostly he uses a dark blue one here (and occasionally red), almost giving the film an India Ink manga feel, full of close-ups mixed into the action, and a voice-over to let you know what Demetrius is thinking. You rarely hear him speak, but you hear his thoughts in Ray’s unique, deep rumble of a voice.

Some odd things remain the same, such as occasionally focusing on bugs and roadkill, and Ray’s tendency to wear shorts. There is also a lot of traveling shots in a car through the city, especially underpasses and bridges, and the characters we meet tend to be creepy at best, and scary human monsters at their nastiest. Ray bring out the worst traits of people, and that’s kind of what makes his stories so interesting.

Demetrius, like many serial killers, is a self-professed sado-masochistic narcissist. He revels in the power of self, through the killings and his website, often looking at his own reflection through a mirror or his cell phone camera lens. These kinds of murderers are “hungry” for attention, and Demetrius is no different, as his crimes become more violent, and his need for notice grows. He starts to contact the victim’s families to taunt them, and even gets the press involved.

Lilith Frost

Here’s where the story twists into a Man Bites Dog (1992) situation in the “Media Manipulation: The Devil’s Work” chapter that occurs when a news reporter, Clive (Fred Epstein) becomes involved and begins to lose what’s left of his objectivity (not that there really is such a thing as everything is subjective). Clive’s background (again heard more through narration than vocalization) is a sharp commentary on today’s news, rightly stating that people are more interested in sensationalism than professional newscasting, and Clive is not beyond trying to save what’s left of his reputation by leading with blood and guts. This used to be called yellow journalism, but now it’s just common news commentary. But Clive’s a bit of a nutcase narcissist himself, and is actually closer aligned to Demetrius’s mindset.

The two other characters are yet another serial killer that gets involved with Clive and his website, Baphomet (S. Donatello, aka Sebastian Oake, who is also a producer of the film), who wears a goat-head mask, and Bunny (Lilith Frost), a victim of Demetrius. Frost gives a very brave performance as not only is she nude, she is bound spread-eagled with everything open and exposed.

S. Donatello

As one dips into the reality of situations, there are a couple of questionable actions  such as someone peeing on a body. No one would do this, because it would easily give the police a DNA sample. In theory it makes a point of motivation of a character, but the detective story watcher/reader in me saw this as a red flag; on a distraction scale of one to ten in the story though, it’s probably a three.

There are some funny moments here, and I’m not sure if they are intentional or not, such as Clive writing about the intersection of “6th and Vagina,” which amuses me for two reasons: the first is obvious, and the second is that it doesn’t say what 6th (Avenue? Street? Way? Boulevard?).

A couple of more things is that the SFX are practical (as opposed to digital) and pretty good, and most of the music is by death metal band Emperor ov Larvae [sic].

You just know there is a comeuppance coming for some characters, but which ones is not assured until the end, which is a strong point for the film.

Breaking down the plot from three intertwining stories into a single one benefits Ray’s release, and lets the focus on the four main characters interact in a way that is more narrative, yet retains the free-flowing form that one associates with a Ray release. This is definitely among my faves of his films to date.

Review: The Short Films of Dakota Bailey 2014-2015

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2017

Images from the Internet

The Short Films of Dakota Bailey 2014-2015

Written, produced, directed and edited by Dakota Bailey

R.A. Productions

About 30 minutes, 2017

https://Dakotabaileydirectorfilmmaker.wordpress.com

www.facebook.com/dakotabaileyactordirector

If you are familiar with any of the trilogies of filmmaker Dakota Bailey’s work, you know his subgenre of super gritty and grainy life of the denizens of the lowest of low, consisting of nothing but serial killers, drug sellers and addicts, prostitutes and generally people with whom you would not want to be on the same street as, never mind the same room.

Like most auteurs, Bailey started small with short films as he developed his style that remains pretty unique, as there is no one I can think of who presents characters and situations so socially corrupt with a fly on the wall creepy feeling, and yet makes them feel alive and fearsome. These three shorts have now been released in a collection as a companion to his features.

As the director explains: “While these short films are not masterpieces, they are important because this is where our filmmaking style originated, and these shorts provided us with a template to build off of. Without these shorts, films like The Acid Sorcerer [2017, reviewed HERE], American Scumbags [2016, reviewed HERE] or My Master Satan: 3 Tales of Drug Fueled Violence [2016, reviewed HERE] may not have existed."

As most of his features are three intertwining tales, it only makes sense that this release is comprised of three of his shorts. The consistency of his characters, even if he considers some of his films in the horror genre and others not, makes this for an enjoyable WTF viewing (in a good way). I’ve enjoyed all of the Bailey films I have watched, even though they could practically all run together and it would still work. I have watched the growth from his first film right to his latest. He also shows that if someone wants to just pick up a camera and start filming, it can be done, much in the way so many people heard the gritty guitar of Johnny Thunders and wanted to start a band.

Scumbags: A Day in the Life of a Drug Dealer

8:08 minutes, 2014

Despite it being Bailey’s first film, so many of the footprints that would appear in his features are already there, such as the insertion of character description and story bit title cards, and the travelog footage of drug dealer Marshall (Matt Marshall) driving around giving way too much information about his crimes away on a cell phone (hey, Marshall, that’s illegal!) which also works for passing along exposition to the viewer.  There is an inconsistent sound quality as most of it is recorded straight onto the camera as it is shot al(though the reliability of it will improve with time and future films). In this story, Marshall wants to do away with ex-high school friend and partner, and now rival dealer, the heroin addicted Johnny (Bailey, already sporting his trademark knee-length short pants). The film, which is in mostly black and white, is short, and yet covers some nice ground as bullets fly and vapes are vaped. The pace is a bit meandering at times, yet there is still quite a bit of action in this short amount of footage. It’s a bit on the rough side, as it is most first films, but it’s also easy to see the kernel of what is to come. I am certainly enjoying watching the progression of a style that Bailey has since made great use of over the past couple of years.

Satan’s Coming for You

19:37 minutes, 2015

The longest film on this set, it appears to be a collection of outtakes and additional footage from one of Bailey’s other films, My Master Satan. Then again, in a chicken and egg paradigm, perhaps this was filmed first, and it was used to make up one of the three stories from Master. Again, in black and white with some color, especially during an acid trip, this is a loose yet somewhat coherent story about the revenge for Bubba (again Matt Marshall) and Alister (Bailey) against the person who was having the affair with Bubba’s since-deceased wife. With body exhuming from a cemetery and a bit of blowtorch behavior, Bubba and Alister go on said acid trip and meet up with Satan. From there on in it’s the two friends working through the kinks of getting away with literal murder.

I Spread Hate Like Herpes

2:12 minutes, 2015

This is a short-yet-not-sweet uncompleted fictionalized documentary starring “BK” (Brian Knapp). In its two scenes, BK discusses his own psychopathic behavior (while driving of coruse, since this is a Dakota Bailey film, and it’s a given someone will do that). There is no direction, no point, just a camera pointed at BK as he riffs. What I’m not sure of and wonder about is whether this is going to be part of a whole film on this character, if the footage is going to be included into a future Bailey feature, or was this just some goofing around that was too good not to do something with it. Too short to be boring and just long enough for head scratching, it makes a nice coda to the rest of the shorts.  

Trailer for one short is HERE.