Review: Ash and Bone

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

Ash and Bone
Directed by Harley Wallen
Auburn Moon Productions; Cama Productions; Painted Creek Productions; Deskpop Entertainment
97 minutes, 2022
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I am right in the mood for a snatch and hide rural serial killer(s) film, reminiscent of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), or The Collector (2009). The prologue, intermixed with the credits, gives us a sample of what is to come. They also delve into the home invasion subgenre.

Into this mess comes vacationing couple from Detroit, older Lucas (director Harley Wallen) – he wears a Rollings Stones Tour shirt from ’76 – and his younger, new wife, Sarah (Kaiti Wallen), and Lucas’s obnoxious and rebellious teen goth daughter, Cassie (Angelina Danielle Cama), for whom it is hard to like, really. We meet them, as is par for the course in these isolated homes subgenre, in the car ride to Lucas’s brother’s vacation house in Hadley Lake, MI (population under 300).

Angelina Danielle Cama, Mason Heidger, Jamie Bernadette

I am a bit confused early on, because in an act of rebellion, Cassie heads to the small town center, in which streets are long and built up, and goes into a crowded bar. This is more like a town of 1,000-2,500. I have relations in towns of about 300-400 people, and it is just a couple of streets long and is deserted at night. Even the hotel/bar run is scarce in denizens. But here, in a bar run by Louie (martial arts legend Mel Novak, aka Mi’lan Mrdjenovich), she meets the local couple Tucker (Mason Heidger) and Anna (Jamie Bernadette). They tell her about the town legend of a murder house, which Cassie insists they show her. Not a good move, of course.

Naturally, at Cassie’s hubris, they enter the Sawyer…I mean McKinley house through a window, and the second act starts with the shit hitting the pain. Getting in was easy. Getting out is another matter. From here on, it is chills and thrills that I will not go into detail. Speaking of which, the big question for me at this point is whether Tucker and Anna are in on it, or will they be fodder. When I do know further on, I will not say. Same with Sheriff Vincent (Shane Hagedorn).

Jimmy Doom

The man of the McKinley family is heavily tattooed, shirtless-and-overalls-wearin’ Clete (Jimmy Doom, vocalist of The Almighty Lumberjacks of Death, a punk band from Detroit). Then there is his equally insane sister, May (Erika Hoveland). Naturally, not only do they look like they should be below the Mason-Dixon line, but they are cannibals: what better way to hide the “evidence.” Yee-haw!

There is a bit of subtle social commentary on the ease of getting weaponry in rural areas. There is also a nod towards small town communities, so when Clete and May come searching, they know where to look as everybody knows nearly everybody. And if they are new, where it is likely to find them, even lone wolves, like the McKinleys. I understand the small-town mentality, such as if you see your worst enemy stuck in a blizzard, you give them a ride home, even if not a word is spoken of it again. But if I was in the position of Tucker and Anna, I would not have rode to the McKinley’s with Cassie. She would have been on her own. Perhaps it’s my Brooklyn upbringing, but screw that.

Erika Hoveland

Between flashbacks and the “present,” Cassie proves that she is not reliable, and consistently makes bad decisions that one can see as “rebellion,” but they are just inconsiderate and mean. I am really trying to see her as the protagonist, but for the first half of the film, she is an anti-hero, I guess. Not a nice person. But I am sure there will be a comeuppance that will either mellow her out to appreciate her life, or kill her. Again, I won’t say which way it goes.

It may be a small town, but there is a decent body count, as the film moves into body horror. Thing is, there are a couple of opportunities that were passed, where we see the end results without the process leading to it. Gorehounds are bound to feel slighted. But then, there is the third act. It’s usually the third act when all the tension of the first two explode into violence.

Speaking of which, I was actually surprised at how little the violence perpetrated was shown throughout. Most of it is just off camera, or we see the results of what happened in the past, as I have stated before. That’s not to say it is mild, no, but it is not very bloody. Though I have to say what SFX is shown looks good (e.g., the blood is the right color and consistency).

The acting is quite good, though Hoveland as May is the standout. Doom is also good as Clete, though his gravelly voice often sounds forced. As for the focus of this release, Cama, she does well, though she purses her lips way too often. Minor quibbles I know.

This is a welcome addition to the canon, and is okay for those who like the violence, and for those who are a bit squeamish, this film does well in having a foot in both camps. Like TCSM, more is implied than shown, but it is still powerful.

In the nothin’ to do with nothin’ department, since this was filmed near Detroit and Pontiac, MI, I am sorry they did not include Motor City’s own punk rockers, Choking Susan (who I saw play at CBGB), on the soundtrack. 

IMBD listing HERE

Review: The Forever Room

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

The Forever Room
Directed by Kevin Hicks
Chinimble Lore; Freestyle Digital Media
90 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/Chinimble-Lore-113167533387607

Yeah we're playing those mind games forever
Protecting our images in space and in time
– John Lennon

Much as director Kevin Hicks (and his partner, Vickie Hicks, who also wrote the screenplay and was Executive in Charge) updated the communicating through time via media (telephone in this case) with his previous feature, Dead Air (2021; reviewed HERE), they now update and mix the escape room and held captive genres with this, their new full length release.

Samantha Valletta

In this psychological thriller, it starts off with Claire (Samantha Valletta), a young woman who is chained by her ankle in a basement somewhere near Ithaca, NY, that has a cot, a chair, a table, some odd and rudimentary clown paintings, a mirror, and a bucket for, well, you know. However, there is naught to read, no music, and nothing but herself to spend the time. She is way angrier than she is scared of her captor, an older woman named Helen (Vickie Hicks). The latter accuses Claire of committing a heinous crime and states, “You have a lot of skeletons in your closet, dear,” which Claire vehemently denies. That’s just the opening (so nothing being given away).

As the film progresses, things are not always what they seem at first, and much of the story is the basis of the relationship between these two women. Claire is confused and angry, and Helen is (mostly) calm and calculating, many of their exchanges being when it is feeding time.

Each conversation builds on the previous one, with bits of information to the audience to fill them in, using small increments. Despite the claustrophobia of the small room in which Claire forcibly occupies, the story is interesting, and the viewer wants to know more and more of what put these two people in this dire situation. Claire doesn’t remember anything before being chained up, but parts of her past are telegraphed by both events that happen to Claire in the room, and the things she hears.

Meanwhile, people keep appearing when Claire is alone, such as Ethan (Kevin Hicks, this film’s director), Rebecca (Nicole Skelly), and a boy named Michael (Luca Iacovetti) who seems to be playing a game of hide and seek with Claire. Why these people are there seem obvious to me, but at 20 minutes in, I will hold off on my initial guesses. Rebecca explains how she is a figment of Claire’s imagination (“Haven’t you ever had an imaginary friend?”), but something dark brings out these three…and a couple of sock puppets. No, I’m not kidding. Possibly it is a bit like Gerald’s Game (2017) in that the imagination runs havoc, perhaps it is dreams, or is it something more sinister or supernatural than that?

Over time, the frequency of the pop-ins increases and become more intense. Sometimes it is incredibly creepy, especially with Ethan and Michael. Rebecca is sort of a Greek Chorus in that she helps with some self-questioning and pieces of exposition for the viewer. Or perhaps it is Claire’s own brain eating itself because she refuses to eat for days on end.

Despite the small, narrow space, the filming work is well staged, almost like a three-camera television shoot, keep the elbow room still tight, but not to the point of, say, an MRI-level or the sewer pipe escape of the main character in Richard Bachman’s (Stephen King) novel, The Running Man.

Vickie Hicks

As with Dead Air, Vickie proves herself to be a naturalistic actor who makes it look easy, with her cigarette smokey deep voice. Valletta manages to keep up with her, making her both empathetic and unhinged in a fearless performance.

The lighting is phenomenal, with shades of primary colors, but not to the Creepshow (1982) level, but more of a realistic tone, and with the editing gives some expansion to the space. Speaking of the basement, this could actually be a one-set play, using shadows and dark spots for characters to “pop” in and out quite easily. It almost seems Vickie wrote it that way.

Kevin Hicks

For a troupe of five (not counting the two puppets), the story stays engaging for the full run time, and even though the space is small, as is the cast, it remains compelling. The final act is full of unexpected moments and answers quite a few questions. A good watch.

The film is available On Demand from Chinimble Lore and Freestyle Digital Media.