Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Awesomely Righteous & Radical
Directed by Luc Bernier, Michael D’Ambrosio,
Jason Ewert, Dustin Ferguson, Dean Houlihan, Oliver Jolliffe, Shane Ryan, Matti
Soikkelli, Aaron Stielstra, Jim Townes
Mad Sin Cinema; Vestra Pictures; Social Cinema Studios
101 minutes, 2020
It is a bonus when an anthology film
is not only just a bunch of random cobbled together shorts (which I also like,
I should add), but has a theme that runs through them. Bookends are always
welcome, to help tie things in, but here there is an overarching theme of all
the stories taking place in the relatively Internet- and cell phone-free 1980s.
You know, the dark ages, when you needed pay phones. Back in those days, you played
films on this grainy image thing called a VHS (which could stand for Very
Hard to See). And like so many of those films, nearly all of these presented
here have a heavily synth score of repeating, dissonant rounds.
All the films are pretty short, which
is nice, so if there is one you don’t like, there’s another one just a few
minutes away. On the other hand, if you like it, it’s time well spent.
The film starts off swinging with Jason
Ewert’s “Swamp Buck” (2015; Media Storm Home Movie Ent.; Cinema Gold! Production
Classics). It’s a tale told by an old feller around a campfire with some high-school
aged (I’m assuming) young’uns of a hunting trip when he was just a wee teen
with his dad. Rather than getting game, they attract the scent of a were-stag
in the woods. It’s a bit cliché, but this is an ‘80s homage, so it’s a fitting
story to start, with some major tropes including said-creature’s POV shots and
the shock ending. One of the interesting aspects of this is that the “newer”
parts of the story is VHS-ish fuzzy and full of video “noise,” but the flashbacks
are clear as a bell. Despite the clichés, or perhaps because of them, it is
smile inducing.
Shane Ryan, who put this collection
together, contributes with “Guerrilla” (2018), a film I reviewed previously HERE.
Luc Bernie’s “Wallet” (2019), again,
is a basic idea: a young woman finds a wallet with some ducats in it, and
decides to keep the kash. This turns into more than she expected: a free dinner
with a friend paid for by the stolen shekels. I suppose the sepia-toned filter
is a nice touch to give it a throwback feel (perhaps too far back for the
period? Never mind, it truly doesn’t matter, does it?). In typical short horror
fashion, there isn’t anything too deep here, just some electronic back score, a
basic theme, and a fun twist end. What more can one ask, I suppose?
As the name of Dustin Ferguson’s “Los
Angeles Connection” (Social Cinema) hints at, this is more crime drama and a
revenge genre, rather than horror or terror. After some gang members or mobsters
attack his girlfriend, a man (Raymond V. Williams) trains to become a version
of (but not costumed like) the Punisher. Getting back is his motive. The
acting is pretty wooden and the story a bit cliché, but I like the VHS filter
giving it a low rez and spotty video noise…and then there are the numerous sleeveless
white tees. Interspersed to place it in its proper time frame is 1980s stock
footage. My favorite was the Rocky-ish electronic music during the mandatory
training montage. The style of the action scenes were definitely more like Dolemite
than Rocky, though, which is more ideal.
From the UK is Oliver Jolliffe’s “Party
Like It’s 1984” (2020). Between the accents and the echoing sound, my ears were
having trouble making out the dialog. In this loose comedy, Bob (Tom Jolliffe)
wakes up in the woods after a coke bender with no memory of how he got there, soon
joined by the singer he manages, Cyndi (Sarah Dyas) and her bodyguard Harry
(the director). Cyndi has a gig to get to, and Bob and Harry are trying to get
the reluctant Cyndi to get to it, if they can find their way. To be honest,
this one had me baffled as to just what was happening, including the ending.
Not to be confused with the XTC non-LP
B-side song, Jim Townes “The Somnambulist” (2020; Shadow Kamera Film and
Entertainment) is a short piece about three scientists trying to gain access to
another dimension through the use of a woman who has been in a coma for a couple
of months. It plays slow, but the fun bits happen fast, so pay heed. It’s a
simple story with an equally simple set. Kept me interested, but that does not surprise
me from its director, who gave us the incredibly enjoyable slow burn of House
of Bad (2013; reviewed HERE).
In a very quick short of about a
minute called “Tank Soon Do,” director Michael D’Ambrosio uses a Super 8 filter
to show a martial artist practicing his moves in the woods. There is no plot,
no narrative, just the form. Okay…
I actually sat through Dean Houlihan’s
“Odyssey of the Disturbed” (2019) twice, because the first time I wasn’t sure
what was going on. After the second, I’m just as confused. Each edited piece lasts
about 5 seconds and folds into the next through a fade-out/fade-in. We are
introduced to a couple in which the male is being bullied, a second couple
where the guy is bullying the first with the help of his enforcer, and a goth
girl (witch?) sits in a room and writes kaons really large in a date book while
smoke bellows around her. Okay, I get there’s the bullying and revenge motif, possibly
within a dream, but what the hell? The lack of dialog adds to the mystery, in
my opinion. Looks good but it annoyed me that it needed to be so cryptic. Or
maybe I’m just a fool and am missing something blaring.
Also without dialog is Matti
Soikkelli “Luna di morte” (2019), about a murder-suicide, I believe. Again,
artistic licence gets a bit in the way of the narrative, but there is a lot of
blood shot-for-shot, with guns and knives and masks. Oh, and nearly every scene
is in a varied, dark monochrome, usually blood red, giving it a nearly European
feel (I get the impression that was the goal, considering the title, and that
the director is Finnish). It’s quite short, but also jarring, so in that way it
was effective. The last shot of the film left me uncomfortable and stuck with
me, so I guess that worked, as well.
The final short is Aaron Stielstra’s “Tumor
Hunter” (2020; Depth Charge Pictures). It’s also a bit shallow in the narrative
department, but has lots of emotion in the way it is presented. We meet a young
alcoholic man in a wheelchair who I assume is homeless, and a bunch of his
friends. Between ripping off liquor stores of brew and getting chased by other
street thugs, his life is directionless and certainly filled with harm of self
or others. Then there appears, I believe, the titular anti-hero defender. There
is no real ending, just a glimpse into a violent life. This feels like a scene
that was lifted out of a longer film, and it looks like it was shot on 16mm,
then videoed off the projection screen. Both the image and the sound is
muddled, much like the character’s life.
As the bookends at the beginning and
end, there is a period piece looking-back-in-amusement PSA with Clint Eastwood
(as Dirty Harry, it looks like), warning about the dangers of crack cocaine. At
the end, is a trailer for the film, Samurai Cop (which is actually from
1991, not the 1980s). The only spacing between films is a b-roll of a VHS
starting.
As anthologies go, it’s a bit hit and
miss, as nearly all culled collections are, but if you’re similar to me and
like genre shorts, it’s worth the watch. There is a decent variety of genres
and styles, so lots of the audience should be pleased. There is so much filmmaking
talent here, even if the occasional story left me bewildered. But make sure you
sit through everything, as I did. The artists deserve the view.
