All genres of suspense, terror, and horror will be reviewed by Richard Gary. His address to send preview copies supplied upon request to rbf55@msn.com.
Showing posts with label Wild Eye Releasing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wild Eye Releasing. Show all posts
This film has been a back burner
project of love for star, co-writer, and co-director Paul Chomicki for
literally decades. With the help of his buddies Christian Voss and Long Island
director Dave Campfield, his dream has become a reality.
Stories of fathers looking
for daughter who have become involved with serious situations is not new, including
Hardcore (1979) starring George C. Scott. But Chomicki updates it and
adds in ritualistic elements to up the ante. While Chomicki is mainly known for
off the wall comedies, such as the Caesar and Otto franchise, he sets down some
serious roots here.
Paul Chomicki
In the prologue, Alyanna Blackwater
(Katie Otten) escapes from a violent religious cult in Nevada (around Hay Spring)
called the Church of Ascension (aka Ascend), run by spooky “Father” Lucien Reed
(Avi K. Garg). Her disappearance is discussed over the radio newscasts throughout
the first act. You know this will be expository information for what is to
follow.
Meanwhile, Harry (Chomicki,
with his thick Long Island accent) is down on his luck. He is an unemployed alcoholic
who lives alone, and separated from his wife, Krista (Rae Hartwell). He is also
estranged from his daughter, Robin (Jama Bourne), though the division between
the two is not really examined here; she wants the connection, he does not.
When she vanishes, leaving a cryptic message on Harry’s phone, he sets out to
find her.
Katie Otten
Harry heads north towards
a First Nations/American Indian reservation (Cheyenne), where he believes her to
be held by the (white) cult, in a desolate part of the state (not surprising,
as Aboriginals were screwed out of their lands and placed in places that tended
to be nearly inhospitable, both in the US and Canada). But more about that
later.
There is a large, mixed
and overlapping bag of goodies here, from a religious cult (non-Satanic for once)
to human traffickers, to scavengers, and each one more dangerous than the
other. Add Harry searching for Robin and a revenge-fueled Alyanna, and you have
violence, mayhem, and a bit of a time clock as Harry needs insulin, and soon.
Also searching for Robin in a separate-but-equal storyline is Sherriff Ritter (co-director
Christian Voss).
Christian Voss
The landscape is stark,
and we see numerous (and beautiful) abandoned buildings and ruins among the windy plains to its desolate and disparate
foothills. Voss’s cinematography brings the area to life, to symbolize a form
of near death.
The social commentary is
deep and widespread through the story. It explores the dangers of cults and how
they prey on the lonely and scared/scarred, and how it is easy to fall victim.
But more central to the story is the long history of the plains (and of Western
Canada, as well) as far as the incredibly substantial number of Indigenous
women who go missing every year. There is an organization dedicated to this occurrence
called Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MIWW). It is of overwhelming numbers. Currently, I am watching a television program based
on a series of novels by Louise Penny called “Three Pines,” which centers around this topic.
There are some decent gore
effects, though it is happily limited, as this is more about the story than a
splatterfest. Most of the body effects are SFX, while there is some CGI used
sparingly, such as a rainstorm.
I have always known Chomicki
as a comedy actor in slapstick films, so it is good to see him get serious. While
his acting remains in a certain range, he shows that he can manage the drama as
well as the goofiness, when needed. The rest of the cast also does well,
including Dave Campfield, who literally phones it in (Zoom on a computer and by
cell phones), in a role that’s key to the story, however.
While recognizing this is
a life dream for Chomicki as lead actor (rather than co-lead), he has done
himself proud. The film is a good B thriller with bit of violence and a social
conscious. I like that.
Be sure to stick around
after the credits. Perhaps a sequel, with Disney nurse Scott Aguilar? I am hoping.
L.A. AIDS Jabber (aka Jabber) Directed
by Drew Godderis
Visual Vengeance; Wild Eye Releasing; MVD Entertainment
78 minutes, 1994 / 2022 www.wildeyereleasing.com www.MVDEntertainment.com/ This relatively new imprint of Wild
Eye Releasing, called Visual Vengeance, is an interesting idea. They deal with
lowest of low budget archival films, usually shot on VHS or some other older
medium, without correction. The stories are goofy, but usually not as much as
the acting. And for all of that, I say ‘Woot Woot!!” It is great that these
films are getting to see the light of day again. There are so many VV films
that I have never heard of before, though I have read the name of this one before
in indie horror mags. I am looking forward to seeing it.
Jason Majik
The cheesy synth score by John
Martin Turner during the opening credits tells you exactly where you are in the
indie horror food chain. The main character, who is also the antagonist, is 19-year-old
Jeff Roberts (Jason Majik). He definitely has some borderline mental issues, especially
with anger. And now he has been diagnosed with AIDS; wouldn’t he have HIV first,
especially since he believes he contracted it from a particular prostitute six
months previous? Saywhat?
His anger is having an
effect on his world, including getting fired by his boss (Fred Nugent); his physician,
Dr. White (Craig Harris) and a social worker (Victoria Crane) are worried about
him, that he will hurt himself or someone else, including his girlfriend (Mitzy
Tony), but they will not call the police. Saywhat?
Meanwhile, Jeff is making
a list to take revenge upon, including the prostitute, by, yes, injecting them
with his blood. But wait, if the prostitute (Susan Para) already has AIDS to
his belief, what would be the purpose of injecting her with his blood? Saywhat?
Marcy Lynn, Tony Donangelo
Unstable Jeff starts going
around stabbing people on his list, as well as random pedestrians. The cops (Marcy
Lynn, Tony Donangelo, and then Justin Mack) almost catch him but he escapes. I
bring this up because in an alley chase scene you can clearly see the shadow of
the cameraperson, which made me smile. I love low-budget films just for reasons
like that.
When Jabby calls a feisty
female television reporter, Judith Campbell (Joy Yurada), to threaten her, she
has a co-worker include the police on the call to try and nab him. Yet when the
cops come a-callin’ to her house to see if she wants protection, she questions
how they know about it. Saywhat?
But, to be honest, I am
impressed by the sub-stories, like the cops who are trying to get him, and the
reporter who is in danger from needle-boy. The film actually has more depth
than I was expecting, despite some of the logical fallacies, such as the ones I
mentioned above. There are others as well, just not as glaring.
Despite being taken from
master SD tape, the film is grainy as all get out, especially the outside night
shots (the time capsule imagery of seedy L.A. is enjoyable), and towards the
end there is video noise that made me both grateful that it is uncommon with
current digital technology, and ironically a little bit nostalgic. The acting runs
from pretty flat to over-emoting, but that is to be expected.
The film ends exactly like
one might think it would be concerning our AIDS gent (well, I did, anyway), but
there is still a nice O. Henry-ish twist at the end that had me laughing and a
bit confused.
Majik, Joy Yurada
Now, the bonus features of
this Blu-ray are extensive, all done within the past two years. It starts with the
“Director’s Introduction to Movie” (1 min), a nothing burger of thanks to the
cast and distributor. The real meat starts with the full-length commentary with
Godderis, Wild Eye Releasing’s Rob Hauschild, and low-budget director Mark
Polonia (e.g., Camp Blood First Slaughter; Shark Encounters of the Third Kind;Virus Shark). Sometimes there is a bit of just describing what is happening on the screen,
but that is only a small part of it. Most of it is pretty interesting as there
is descriptions of what was going on with the scenes, talking about L.A. at
that time, and explains some of the Saywhat? moments, like the disappearance
of a particular character. It is a good schooling for indie, low-budget filming.
Amusingly, no one mentions the shadow in the alleyway.
And if that wasn’t enough,
next up is “Lethal Injection: The Making of L.A. AIDS Jabber,” with the
director (10 min). While I found the full commentary interesting, this covers mostly
new ground, and is just long enough to keep the interest going. It makes sense
the next interview is “Bleeding The Pack: An Interview with Lead Actor Jason
Majik” (29 min). It’s a bit rambling, but he discusses how he was chosen for
the role, what it was like shooting the film, and he fills in some gaps which
even Godderis is vague. He also talks about the post-filming in his life, including
seeing it for the first time while tripping. While it’s kind of unfocused, and
maybe because of it, it kept my interest.
The next featurette is “L.A.
AIDS Jabber - 2021 Locations Visit.” (16 min). I always find these before
and after location scenes fascinating. It is led by Godderis, and things are
almost indistinguishable from 30 years ago. Following is an “Interview with Blood
Diner Director Jackie Kong” (9 min). As an actor, Godderis co-started in Blood
Diner, which became legend. Honestly, I did not watch it. Nor did I watch
an interview with Godderis’ son who appeared briefly in the film when he was 3-years-old,
called “Growing Up On Set: Justin Godderis” (9 min). However, I was curious
about the next, “Actress Joy Yurada Interview” (7 min). She played the reporter.
Some of it is a bit rambling, but it was fun when she pulled out a binder with
the film’s notes and her lines.
The next talking head is
the “Through the Lens: An Interview with Cameraman Rick Bradach” (6 min). It’s
okay, but not very engaging to me. “Interview with Actor Gene Webber” (4 min)
follows. He was a secondary police character, and doesn’t really bring much to
the table. The last two digital extras are a photo gallery consisting of behind-the-scenes
shots of the first day of shooting, and the new version of the trailer.
On the physical side,
there are liner notes in a booklet titled “Rage in the Blood” by Tony Strauss
of Weng's Chop magazine, a collectible folded mini-poster, stick your
own VHS stickers, and a reversible BR sleeve featuring the original VHS art
This is Drew Godderis’only
directorial endeavor, though he’s acted in a number of well-known B horror
films. When it came out, Godderis personally distributed the film on VHS. I am
aware it has been decades since this was released, but I wonder if he will ever
direct more, please.
The Necro Files Directed
by Matt Jaissle
Visual Vengeance; Threat Theatre International Inc.; Wild Eye Releasing; MVD Entertainment
72 minutes, 1997 / 2022 www.facebook.com/thenecrofiles/ www.wildeyereleasing.com www.MVDEntertainment.com/ This film is a classic in the home
movie subgenre. Essentially, what that means it that it was shot on video.
Visual Vengeance is one of the few companies that are rereleasing the lowest
quality looking films imaginable, which is, well, fantastic. The reason?
Because of the imagination behind it. The execution? Well… Note that this film
has been cleaned up significantly, and the quality of the visuals are quite
good, unlike most of the VV fare which is seen in their trailers.
Named after “The X Files,”
you gotta love a film that starts with the obligatory shower scene with full
frontal nudity (Theresa Bestul). Serial killer and rapist Logan (Isaac Cooper)
is not far behind, chased by a couple of police detectives:the ultra-violent after a bomp on the noggin
Martin Manners (Steve Sheppard) and his partner, the mustachioed Orville Sloane
(Gary Browning), that latter of whom has a personal stake in the whole affair
as his sister was a previous victim.
Steve Sheppard and Gary Browning
Long story short, dead
killer, who is raised from his “slumber” by a group of Satan worshipers by
killing the baby of the rapist’s victim (yes, an obvious doll). Be careful what
you wish for because what arises is a flesh eating and extremely violent
zombie.
Two of the surviving
Satanists (who were in the group to hopefully get laid), the not-too-smart Barney
(Jason McGee), who wears a Smashing Pumpkins Mission to Mars tee which
is apparently quite rare these days and selling in the hundreds of dollars, and
Jack (Christian Curmudgeon; like others in the cast, such as Ann R. Key and
Drew Burymore, I am going to go out on a limb and say that’s not his real
name), who wears plaid flannel (remember, this is filmed in Olympia, WA, in the
‘90s), try to resurrect a demon that will take care of the zombie, but instead
raise the baby (again, it’s a doll) that flies around, also killing people
while it searches for its zombie daddy. You read that right. I am only
expressing this here because that is part of what makes this film so infamous
among the subgenre. Well, that and the extreme level of gore.
I will be honest, and
posit that I do not like scenes of rape, even if it is with a zombie and a 12”
prosthetic dong/dildo). Never did. If you will pardon this soapbox paragraph, I
once got into conversation with Frank Farel, the producer of Street Trash (1987)
at a private pre-release showing of the film about how I objected to the rape
scene in that film, and that it was gratuitous. I enjoyed the rest of the film,
but that part just seemed so unnecessary and sexist. Then again, it was the
1980s, and envelopes were purposely pushed. But I stand by my conviction.
Isaac Cooper
The gore level in this
film is over the top, and of course, that’s a good thing in this case. Piles of
offal more than blood fill the screen often. For a gorehound, it is a pleasure,
especially since it looks like they got it from a slaughterhouse; and yet, it
is so extreme, it is almost cartoonish at the same time. Good times.
The acting is horrendously
wooden, but I will chime the same tune I have been stating since the beginning
of this review, and that is, it is what is expected in this subgenre. If you
are looking for, say, Halloween (1978, 2007) quality, you are looking in
the wrong place and will not be satisfied. If, however, you are like me, and
marvel at how something this low budget and independent managed to do as much
as they did with the means they have, this film is actually better than
most.
Part of the relative
success of the release, in my opinion, is the camerawork and editing by the
director, Matt Jaissle, who works with the material (cameras, etc.) at his
disposal, and has made this to look, well (and I mean this as a compliment),
better than it should. Sure, the story itself (by first-time screenwriter Todd
Tjersland, who also plays the head of the Satanic cult) is kinda ridiculous; the
flying baby is priceless.
Speaking of fake names, it comes to the crew as well, such as “The X
Files” related Dana Duchovny and David Fox, but the one that caught my eye was
Gilles de Rias (if you are into serial killers, he’s worth looking up on
Wikipedia; I have known about him for decades).
The music is often a
varying hum, which actually works well for the film. There is some humor woven
into the story (especially around the flying baby and the sounds it makes),
though I would not necessarily call this a comedy.
Having heard of this film
for years, I was not sure exactly what to expect from this, but I was not
disappointed. In fact, it was much better than I was expecting, and again, I
give that credit to the director who took a really silly story and, on some
level, made it all work.
There is a whopping number
of extras on the region-free Blu-ray that took me quite the time to get
through. They include (but not all) a new, full-length audio commentary with the
director, Matt Jaissle, where he has lots of good
stories about the filming, and what’s going on in a particular scene you may
not have noticed. A second full-length audio commentary is with Matt Desiderio
of the VHS distribution label and podcast, “Horror Boobs,” and Billy Burgess of
the Druid Underground Film Festival. They are knowledgeable about the film, and
yet are not clinical, as I find some of the commentaries for, say, Fulci films.
They seem to be there to have a good time and share that. It’s also amusing how
they attach things that aren’t related to “show off” a bit (I would do the
same), such as calling the opening shower scene a nod to Psycho (1960),
and the Cassio soundtrack reminiscent of Blood Feast (1963). They are
there to do a job, but because they are having so much fun doing it, that is transferred
to the listener.
Next up is a brand-new video, “A Chat
with Director Matt Jaissle” (7 min), as he roams around
a cemetery with a handheld camera (with no stedi-cam) as he discusses other
films he’s made, his influences, and getting The Necro Files started. It’s
short and sweet. This is followed by a couple of Matt Jaissle’s Super 8 Short Films from when he was a teenager: “The
Paroxysm Plague”, a zombie flick, and “The Adventures of the Walla Monster”
(which includes a homage to Leatherface, Michael, and Jason). They are as
amateurish as you can get, but that’s part of what makes it so much fun. A
third 8mm short, “The Corpse” (1987; 9 min.) is a bit better realized along
storyline and execution.
The Chilean Talk Show Segment (4 min.)
is okay, except I do not speak Spanish. However, I am impressed they showed
some of the graphic details (including dildos) both sexual and violent, while
the group of hosts laugh it off. I wish this was captioned. More importantly is
the documentary, “Dong of the Dead: The Making of The Necro Files” (20 min.).
This is essentially a one-shot of Jaissle (with some brief clips) where he once
again talks about the beginning of the film, the shooting, and especially the
reaction afterwards (including a Chris Farley story!). It is engaging. Then there
are also some Visual Vengeance trailers, including two original ones for the
main film.
Included is a bonus Movie, the sequel Necro
Files 3000 (2017) and its trailer, the film of which is reviewed below.
Some of the physical extras include a Limited
Edition Slipcover for the first pressing, a retro VHS sticker set, the Necro
Files Official Condom (yes, you read that correctly), a Reversible Sleeve
featuring the original VHS art, a Collectible Mini Poster, and a 2-Sided Insert.
IMDB listing HERE The trailer is at the bottom of the reviews.
Necro
Files 3000 Directed
by Matt Jaissle
Superpuppetanimation; VidEvil Video Company; Carilliam Pictures; Gravehill
Production
62 minutes, 2017 / 2022
www.facebook.com/necrofiles3000/ This is actually the second sequel
for the film, the first of which was The Necro Files 2 (2003), which Jaissle
only had a limited contribution. It took 20 years for this second and official sequel
to be released.
In the beginning… is the prologue. It
shows a clip of the Satanists in the first film, raising up Logan, but in black
and white. Instead of Isaac Cooper, we get a rapacious and cannibalistic…
skeleton marionette. Yes, you read that right. In fact, from this point on,
which is in color, all the characters are either puppets or dolls; the women victims
are Barbie-esque, reminding me of Superstar: The Karen Carpenter
Story (1987), which also used dolls. The obvious question is, of course,
how does a skeleton (never mind a puppet) rape with no foot-long schlong as did
the original Logan, never mind a plastic one?
Professor Blackthorne and Phineas Hogweather
We are then introduced to the protagonists
of the film, Professor Blackthorne, an expert in the occults whose beard and
eyebrows are drawn on with a marker, and Logan is brought to his attention by
an investigative journalist, Phineas Hogweather (the latter is played by an elfin-eared
“yokel” puppet; is that a commentary on modern journalism? Neil Postman would
be proud).
Odd thing is, the gore level is high,
and actually looks decent next to the plastic “victims” which are torn asunder.
Not only that, but his plan is to resurrect “a death god to roam the planet,”
exclaims the professor. They chase skeleton Logan to different parts of the
globe, such as the Amazon Forest. Apparently, Logan travels to these
destinations via supernatural portals. Then again, I’m watching a film about
puppets. There are humans in the film, usually in the background or B-roll, shot
in Ann Arbor, MI, such as trick or treaters, or crowd shots. Being shot around
Halloween makes some nice costumes.
Victim and skeletal Logan
While the film tries to be funny, it
kinda doesn’t achieve it much, but is still fascinating to me to watch how far
they’ll go. For example, in a somewhat racist scene in the Amazon, there is an almost
direct reference to a particular Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs meets an
Aboriginal tribesman from Australia (“WhadIsay?” was Bugs’ response, rather
than the professors, “Oh, shit”).
And what happens when the prof and
Phineas hack into the Pentagon’s deadly Godzilla-sized Killbot 9000
(referencing Alex Jones conspiracies, of all people). This leads to the irony
of the story, that P&P are responsible for killing a multitude of more
people than Logan. While all that is happening, can you find Waldo? (I did.)
Stick around for the blooper
reel in the credits. Okay, so much of the film is just ridiculous, but I
certainly enjoyed particular aspects of it, like the bravery of the crew creating
this in the first place, and for $1000. Also, there are a lot of cool references
that pop up here and there (like the Waldo thing). Do I recommend it? For the
right frame of mind, certainly. If you have a low threshold of insanity, well…
Just going in,
merely by the title, I’m going to predict this is about a (green) formula that
turns people into werewolves. That’s what the combo title seems to imply, mashing
lycanthropy and the title of the 1985 Stuart Gordon (d. 2020, RIP) classic, The
Re-Animator.
First off, it
is important to know that this film is short. I mean, the story part clocks in
at just over 30 minutes, with almost eight minutes of slow crawl credits, stills with
the actor’s names, and a brief Marvel Universe-esque tag at the end. It probably
could have been cobbled together with three others to make it a feature-length
anthology. But y’know what, that’s okay, it’s the story that counts, and let’s
get on to it.
A bunch of
friends take a trip to stay at a secluded house. We don’t get to learn much
about the history of these two couples and the third wheel (classic trope), but
we sure get an idea of their personalities.
Jonathan E. Smith
First off,
there’s milquetoast Jeff (Jonathan E. Smith). I don’t know about this guy, as
he looks pretty young, wears a lot of eyeliner, and his hair is dyed black
while his scrabbly beard is either blond or red. Mostly, he is a buzzkill, seeming
always negative. His girlfriend is May (Cayt Feinics… wait, pronounced cat
phoenix? It's probably Kate). She is a tattooed gal who is mostly in control of the
relationship, but seems to put up with Jeff’s nonsense. The second couple is
Brian (Kii Hornick) and Nikki (Briana Wyman). Brian is a tall, thin and violent
bully and a total douche tough guy to everyone, especially Nikki. Oh yeah, you hope
from early on that he will be part of the body count. Nikki is a cute,
multi-pierced redhead who for some reason also puts up with her boyfriend.
The last is Allie, who organized the get-together; we never see her sober, so I
know nothing about her except, “Oo-hoo, par-taaay.”
Essentially
what this film does is it takes the usual first act, where we are introduced to
the characters, and truncates the standard first 20 minutes or so into about 5
minutes. In that time, we are also presented with the standard “warning older
man” character, Niven (Scream King and filmmaker Joel D. Wynkoop, who has been
in films like Clownado, Dreaming Purple Neon, $kumbags, and the
classic Creep, most of which were reviewed on this blog) who in this
case, is more of a key to the story than just an ignored sideman.
Joel D. Wynkoop
The secluded house
(as opposed to a cabin in the woods) that our jolly travelers have rented to
spend the weekend has a dark secret past concerning a Herbert West-ish scientist
who has invented the (yes, green, albeit not florescent) formula for, well, you
know, and has conveniently left some of it in a jar in the basement (rather
than a book that raises demons). When one of our intrepid quintet meets up with
the goo, we go to act two and body-count city.
The creature
looks both cool and silly at the same time. We’re definitely dealing with miniscule
budgets, and it’s so obviously a person in a mask with a costume cobbled
together, but because the filmmakers just accepted it for what it is, I believe
so should we in cases like this (one of the joys of non-$$ filmmaking, in my
opinion). I mean, the beastie is no An American Werewolf in London or Dog
Soldiers creature, but you get what you get, if you get what I mean. There
is a decent head-only version (for biting) that looks cool, designed by the
one-and-only puppet master, Dustin Mills.
Lots of cameos
abound in this short piece, most of them literally phoned in. In other words,
they appear merely as voices usually on the telephone, such as filmmaker James
Balsamo, actor Michael O’Hear, and 1980s Italian actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice
(who appeared in films by Argento and Fulci, among others).
There is some interesting
editing and visual FX thrown in, such as the gratuitous cameo scene with Niven
and truck driver Ben (cult director Todd Sheets) – despite terrible sound quality
– as Niven grabs hold of a Bowie knife. The gore, however, is all practical
SFX, rather than digital.
There is also
a bit of subtle humor that runs throughout, such as when the werewolf thingy is
chasing one of our campers, it stops to close the pocket door to the room.
Wait, what? My fave though, is a line from Officer Tony (Alberto Giovannelli):
“Sweet Christmas Jesus on toast!”
The extras are
few, but nice. There are selected trailers (though not for this film), a 4-minute
Making Of that focuses in on the director that is short and sweet, and the
inclusion of one of Godin’s 13-minute shorts, “Fleshflower.” In it, a young
woman is dying, I am assuming, as she is bleeding out her mouth profusely. She
eats from a mysterious flower with dire effects. It’s a nice piece with some
really artistic editing and minimalist sound.
Zombies are everywhere
these days. So are evil clowns and masked serial killers (both mortal and im-).
Things go in cycles, like the moon. Which brings us to werewolves. While there have
been some lycan films of late, like Bonehill Road (2017) and The
Snarling (2018) – sorry, I’m not counting mainstream crossover tripe like
the Twilight or Underworld franchises – this particular subgenre
is generally ill represented, in my opinion, so I’m happy to see a new indie
wolfie flick pop up.
Michael Taylor Pritt
Before even starting
on the film proper, I believe it’s important to note that this truly is a
family output, both in the story and behind and in front of the camera. So, let’s
start with the latter. Fun time Productions is truly clan cinema. In front,
there’s Michael Taylor Pritt, who stars in the film, wrote, edited and directed
it; his mom Tracy Pritt who plays his mom; and Shandi Rae Pritt, who plays a receptionist.
Between them they also handle multiple backstage tasks, including cinematography,
make-up and script supervision, among many others. All three are also Executive
Producers.
Right in the prologue,
we are introduced to the hairy beast, who is costume rather than CGI, I’m happy
to say. Considering the micro-budget this is built on, it looks surprisingly
good. Mama is mauled and the little kid grows up to be our hero, photographer Kaci
(the director), possibly suffering from PTSD, maybe lycanthropy, or is it all
in his head? It’s fun to guess throughout the film, as I am sure you/we all do.
The thing that is
consistent with werewolf films more than any other creature feature, is that
the monster is represented by the Id, described on Wikipedia as “the part of
the mind in which innate instinctive impulses and primary processes are
manifest." This is also known as the animal brain, the deepest and darkest
reaches that reacts with fear and violence, a refection of anger out of lack of
control.
It’s important to keep
in mind that this is a low budget, out-of-pocket kind of film, and not to
expect something that has studio backers. It’s a completely different mindset
to watch a film like this, and honestly, I had fun with it because of
that. If you check out the IMDB reviews, they tend to be either over-the-top glowing
(10/10) or completely dismal (1/10), with very little falling between. In the
past, as with here, I have found this to indicate that neither one is accurate.
Sure, this isn’t Kubrick, but it’s important to remember what early Cronenberg or
Craven was like, with wooden acting and scripts that sometimes make you scratch
your head in “what were they even thinking by doing that?” moments. But more
on that later.
Alana Mullins
Kaci is set to do a model
shoot with potential love interest, Ema (Alana Mullins), who generally seems
more intelligent and motivated by life than Kaci. She’s a strong, smart woman
and he is kind of roaming around in his own problems. When something needs to
be done, guess which one gets the situation going? Meanwhile, people close to
Kaci are turning up mutilated. There is not a huge body count, but it’s a nice
number to keep the viewer satisfied (reminds me of a Paul Simon song…). It’s
also not overly bloody (again, that pesky budget), but what physical SFX are
used look pretty good.
Throughout the film,
the camera tends to hug close, mostly showing chest and up of characters and
action, giving a feeling of claustrophobia. There is also the use of a slight
sepia tone here and there, to give it some umph of dread. The editing is
a bit rough on occasion, but so what? There are some odd choices for minor
moments, such as more than one character vaping, or having to watch Kaci brush
his teeth (something that grosses me out more than most violent scenes).
As I said earlier,
there is a bit of wooden acting, especially with secondary characters. Kaci, on
the other hand, tends to go from really quiet to rageaholic pretty fast which
made me think that perhaps he should switch to decaf (or is that a fate worse
than lycanthropy?). Mullins comes across best on the acting front.
Some of the holes in
consistency and plot are more distracting than tripping up the story, such as Kaci’s
hair style changing in the middle of a scene around mid-film, and I wonder why
they investigate an abandoned building during the night/in the dark, when the structure
has no electricity.
The extras are a nice Gag
Reel that is short and sweet at 2 minutes. Along with the Trailer and captions,
the main one is the short film “Smile” (7 minutes) from 2018. It’s in the scary
clown subgenre, but it has a decent jump scare in it.
While there are ways
to “pretty” up the film, my one negative – and again, this is more personal
choice on my part – is that the film could have used a bit of humor scattered throughout
(The Howling did this, for example); not make it a comedy per se, but
just a couple of things to juxtaposition the fear. In all though, a decent
film.
Complied by Tony Newton; directed by Matthew Joseph Adams; Gordon Bressack; James
Cullen Bressack; Dan Brownlie; Jarrett Furst; Keiron Hollett; Matt Twinski;
Benjamin James; Hunter Johnson; Christopher Jolley; Jason Lorah; John T.
Mickevich; Mark Alan Miller; Kiko Morah; Tony Newton; John Penney; Shawn C.
Phillips; Nick Principe; Timo Rose; Shane Ryan; Emir Skalonia; Steven S. Voorman
Vestra Pictures / Wild Eye Releasing / MVD
Entertainment
Tony Newton is a Brit
who loves to keep his hands in the horror field, including books, poetry, documentaries,
fiction films, and so on. For this anthology, he came up with a great idea: he
had people involved in the genre create their own little films ranging from
short, solo bits, to longer ones with some narrative to them. Then he strung
them together to create a worldwide epidemic, and generate the ultimate found
footage zombie collection.
The film starts with
the “headline” act, “American Virus,” starring and co-written by Katheryn
Eastwood. Rather than talking to an empty chair like her dad, she converses
with the camera with a snide “fuck you” attitude as she and her cronies are the
ones to start the outbreak via injections for… revolution? Disruption of the
status quo? I’m not sure, but whatever the reason, it’s bloody, quickly edited,
and with lots of motion of the camera. In fact, in some of the clips, there is
a risk of motion sickness worse than Cloverfield (2008) or The Blair
Witch Project (1999), other times completely steady, sometimes including
digital “noise.”
Most of the pieces are
filmed on cell phones and laptops, with the files uploaded to Newton. These
clips are international, so occasionally there’s another language (with translation),
which makes the varied perspectives additionally interesting. More often than
not the person on the other end is talking directly to the camera with swings
around to show what’s going on near by them, expressing different levels of desperation.
Which brings me to my next point.
Some of the pieces are
stand-alone, and others are serial. What I mean by that is there are sections
that come and go with a single filming. Some of the more interesting ones are
those that come back at different times as situations worsen. For example,
there is a series of segments with horror actor/vlogger Shawn C. Phillips: in
the first, he’s taking the whole thing pretty casually, locked down in his
basement with his film collection, figuring he’ll just wait it out. But each
time we come back, food and water is running low and eventually there’s no electricity;
it gets more and more dire. Another, “Face to Face,” has a couple who are Skyping
(FaceTime? We Chat?) while he is in the States and she is in Myanmar (“I panicked,”
for those who get the reference). Each time we come back to them – and this really
is one of my fave pieces, – the situation goes from “what the hell” to sheer
terror, bit by bit.
What comes out in the
long run is people trying to adjust into a “new normal” as the world eats
itself up, and trying desperately and literally not to be on the menu. This new
reality is actually what television shows like “The Walking Dead” and films
like ZOO (2019) are about, as much as the zombie apocalypse. Different
people react to the situation in various ways, the oddest one being a couple of
horror wannabe filmmakers who gleefully film killing zombies for their “epic.”
But who is going to watch it “with the world in a grave” as the P.F. Sloan song
“Eve of Destruction” posits?
At least the film occasionally
deals with camera batteries dying as electricity starts to begin waning, as would
happen. It’s a pet peeve of mine in found footage when people film for days on
one battery. I have to recharge my phone daily, and I don’t usually use the movie
features. And don’t get me started about the energy it takes to upload all
these videos that the dying world is posting to a server no one is watching
over.
There’s a couple of
things that I find interesting, one directly and one larger than the film itself.
First, even with a multitude (legion?) of different filmmakers and styles,
there generally is a similar pattern, either the characters running around with
the camera/cell phone, or with the camera mounted and pointing directly at the
person of focus. I’m sure with some, it’s actually taken directly from the
laptop camera on the top of the monitor, but no matter what the source, there
is a consistency in the pattern of how the film is done. Found footage has become
as much a staple of the horror genre as selfies, in general. This is a mixture of
both.
What I find most fascinating,
though, is the thought behind the need to film oneself, even as the world is dying.
As a culture, we have become so inundated by not just the selfie, but the
mentality behind it that has us believing we all matter and the world is going
to care what we have to say, even if it endangers oneself or those we love
(case in point the father who keeps filming his wife and his new spankin’ kid
even as the undead are metaphorically breathing down their necks).
If the world is
actually in the middle of the Z-Apoc, it’s just a very short matter of time
before society as we know it ends, and the means for anyone else to see what
you have filmed will be gone with it. That we would feel the need to keep on
shooting the video selfie to show everyone / anyone / no one we ever existed is
futile. Even if the footage remained beyond your body’s existence, who would have
the means to see it? As much as this is a fictional film about zombies, it is
also an exercise in just how vain and egocentric we are.
Just go to YouTube and
check out videos people make of themselves in confrontations with others in
parking lots, stores, fast food restaurants, etc., shouting, “I’m putting this
on YouTube!,” hoping for it to go viral. Well, when the Z-Apoc goes literally viral,
you and what happens to you is like dust in the wind. As I said, it is this
mentality that I find really fascinating about this film, whether purposeful as
a sociological study or just an exercise in anthology.
The gore is plentiful throughout,
with some pieces being more so than others, most of it looking quite spectacular
– my fave was a zombie ripping the skin off someone’s back. Most anthologies
are kind of hit and miss, but this one is actually quite good throughout, with
very few submissions that didn’t work, such as one where a guy is talking very
slowly with the camera just inches from his face; luckily, it’s pretty short.
This is a fine effort
that deserves to be added to the zombie canon, and I recommend it as everyone on
this film is obviously a fan of the genre, and have contributed their love for
it as a bigger body of work.
