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.
Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell Directed
by Shinichi Fukazawa
Dragodon Pictures; Visual Vengeance; Wild Eye Releasing; MVD Entertainment
62 minutes, 1995 / 2012 / 2022 www.wildeyereleasing.com www.MVDEntertainment.com/ Originally filmed in Japan (with
English subtitles) in 1995, this was not released until 2012. Presently, it has
finally been put out in a clearer print (from the master material) on Blu-ray.
And it retains its original amazing name. The first time I heard it, I knew I
had to see it from that alone. This is the director’s only film (other than one
unconnected acting gig), including lead actor, writer, editor, etc. It smacks
of a vanity project which means it can be cheesy fun or an ego trip. I am
looking forward to finding out.
After a prologue that
features a bloody murder regarding the protagonist’s father, who died young, we
are introduced to Naoto (the director). He’s the titular bodybuilder. Meeting
up with his ex-girl friend, Mika, they decide to check out his dad’s home,
where there is a secret buried under the floor. Joining them is psychic
Mizuguchi, as Mika is fascinated by ghosts and wants to photograph them.
Naturally, Naoto does not believe in the ethereal entities.
Once the trio get into the
house, all hell starts a poppin’ as they are locked in against an evil and vengeful
ghost. I have seen this compared to The Evil Dead (1981), and I can kind of see why: they are isolated in
a relatively small space of many rooms, but each at Manhattan single room
apartment sizes. The malevolent spirit wants to inhabit fresh bodies, and even
though there are only three of them, manages to do some damage. There is a
great amount of gore and also a large amount of humor, whether that is
intentional or not, I am not sure.
Is the body builder (the “Ash
Williams” of the story) strong enough to endure the “wonton” onslaught? (Note:
a year from now, that joke will probably be confusing.) He’s got the
wise-cracks near the end, the scared look at the beginning (though not to Ash
level…he’s a body builder), which builds some confidence in one’s own strength.
The film is just an hour
long, but the last 40 minutes is pretty non-stop, filled with guts, gore, and
some stop motion photography here and there. It is totally and beautifully
gruesome. Sure, the visuals are grainy as hell, being shot on VHS and all.
One thing that confuses
me, and this is true of many stuck-in-the-house films, if the windows are
locked, why not throw a chair through it? And if the front door is locked,
damn, they have both an ax and shotgun, so why not blast the lock? Nope, just grunge
against the window frame and try to kick in (out?) the door. This is the
equivalent nonsense of running upstairs rather than out the door that is quite
prevalent, and is a pet peeve of many a horror fan.
There are lots of bonus
material is included with the Blu-ray of course, being from Visual Vengeance, both
digital and physical. For example, there are two commentary tracks, one being
with directors and fans Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen) and Joe Lynch
(Shudder’s Creepshow), the other with Japanese film historian James
Harper. There is also a new interview with the director, Fukazawa. Then there
is a Special Effects featurette, Outtakes, Behind the Scenes and Archival image
galleries, the original Japanese Archival Trailers, and some Visual Vengeance
trailers, as well.
On the physical side, there is a first
pressing limited edition slipcase, a folded poster, a four-page liner notes
booklet by Matt Desiderio of the Internet’s “Horror Boobs,” a vintage-style
laminated Video Store Rental Card, a reversible sleeve with the original
Japanese home video art, and a sheet of stickers from olde tyme video stores.
That’s a lot.
The SFX, all of which is
practical, works really well, even when it looks ridiculous at times. It is
quite lovingly over the top, such as a knife in the back of the head popping
out an eye, and then pulled back in when the knife is pulled out. True there is
a limited amount of cast of 5, but there manages to be nearly non-stop action
once it truly begins. It does not rely on a whole bunch of exposition, like
most films today, but you get to know the relationships – at least what the
viewer needs to know in reference to this film – and how they interact and move
the plot forward.
For an only-time director
using earlier and less easily manageable technology, Fukazawa manages miracles
here. With some exceptions, the film is shot well, especially considering the
miniscule space in which they were filming, and the editing is incredibly
effective.
Whether or not it is “The Japanese Evil Dead” or not, it is a whole lot of fun.
Dr. Lamb (aka Goh yeung yee sang) Directed
by Danny Lee; Billy Hin-Shing Tang
Grand River Film Ltd.; Heroes United Films Ltd.; Unearthed Classics; MVD
Entertainment
89 minutes, 1992 / 2022 www.unearthedfilms.com www.MVDVisual.com/ Hong Kong is not well known for having
serial killers making headlines (there have been two as of this writing). This
story is somewhat loosely based on one of them. Released in Hong Kong in
Cantonese (also available on this Blu-ray in Mandarin or English subtitles), it
became one the highest grossing horror films in the city, gathering a Category III
Rating (adults only). This new 30 Anniversary Edition is completely uncut,
taken from the original negative in 2K, so it is nice and crip.
Simon Yam
The main characters here
are Lamb, Lam Gor-Yu (Simon Yam) as the InCel taxi-driver/photographer wannabe turned
serial killer, and the main police officer chasing him, Inspector Lee (co-director
Danny Lee). The change from Lam to Lamb (I will call him Lam going forward) was
most likely a mistake on the English translation, or to keep hidden somewhat
that it was a foreign film. At the time this was released, it was towards the
end of the great Chinese influx of films, that were mainly Kung Fu or police
dramas. With waning interest, and the closing of many Chinese-exclusive
theaters (I went to one in Chinatown in New York on occasion with Shaw Bros. aficionado
Mariah Aguiar that was torn down shortly after this film came out), and Blockbuster-type
superstores that did not show these Category III films very often and were
usually grainy or heavily edited, there was a reason to lean to the avoidance
of foreign releases. The original Cantonese title translates as “Hong Kong
Female Butcher.” But it was the start of a new resurgence of Extreme Asian
cinema from Hong Kong.
The film is nicely broken
up into consecutive sections. The first deals with Lam’s childhood in an overcrowded
city, living with his extended family, including parents, siblings, aunt, uncle
and cousins, all in the same small apartment. Even as a pre-teen, the sexual
component of his personality was already showing signs of, well, being weird.
Danny Lee
The second section is
post-murders, and he and his whole family are arrested, though they know it is
Lam who is the killer. He is abused by the police (something quite common in
that period, from what I know) and even his own kin.
In the third, when the
police focus on Lam, we get to see his crimes in quite shocking detail,
including butchery with a saw and scalpel (hence the title), as he keeps body
part “mementos.” Yes, this is a pretty gruesome third act that gives it the
Category III rating. Definitely not for the squeamish as there are close-ups of
his actions. This is a gorehound’s dream that is worth the wait.
And as malevolent as Lam
is, it actually doesn’t come close to what the real killer did in his crimes.
This would definitely be considered a “Video Nasty” in Britain at the time of
its initial release in 1992.
Comic relief cops
There is definitely a
level of social commentary mixed in with the story, especially with the abuse
Lam had suffered through most of his life, between the tight-quartered family
who were not nice people, and the police violence against him. But it is not
overt and does not hit the viewer over the head with it. It also does not make
any excuses for Lam’s extreme actions.
Yet, with all the violence
and body parts, the film is quite beautifully shot and edited, especially during
the murder sequences, with odd angles, cool red lights, and a focus on the
horrific action. I also enjoyed the scenes in the rain, which reminded me of Blade
Runner (1982). Speaking of Runner, as Lam drives around in his taxi,
we see some scenes of the city, full of bright neon lights. It is a bit overwhelming
and yet beautiful at the same time. Reminds me in some ways of the lights over
the bar at CBGB, times 10.
There are some really nice
extras added to the Blu-ray, including a full-length commentary by Art Ettinger,
editor of Ultra Violent magazine, and Bruce Holecheck, of Cinema
Arcana). Their commentary is a bit dry, but their history of the genre is
riveting, as they discuss the real case, the history of Category III films, and
the backgrounds of the directors, the cast and the crew. Then there are the
documentaries and interviews.
First up is “Lamb to the
Slaughter: An interview with filmmaker Gilbert Po, who initiated the Dr. Lamb
film project” (20 min). In English, Po explains with history and humor, how
the idea of the film originated, about the Category III rating, filming anecdotes,
and the placement of the film in the culture of both Hong Kong and the rest of
the world. Next up is “Three Times the Fear: Film Critic James Mudge on the Golden
Era of Category III” (21 min.). This could have been pretty mundane, but it is
kept interesting because rather just focusing on the overview of the genre, he
mainly discusses the film’s placement in the culture, and how the two leads of
this film also did many other Category III films, thereby subtly bringing up
multiple others.
Then there is “Cut and
Run: Film academic Sean Tierney aka The Silver Spleen remembers Dr. Lamb”
(16 min). I was a bit nervous about this one due to the term “academic” and I
thought it was going to be dry as dust, but Tierney is actually quite engaging,
and I totally respect that he does not just glorify the film, but also points
at some flaws (in his opinion), which is actually rare in these commentaries.
The last featurette is the “Atomic TV Interview with Simon Yam” (9 min), which
is the only one of the four documentary extras that is archival, from a 2000
Anime convention. Yam discusses his overall career.
The last two extras are a
bunch of trailers from Unearthed, all but one has been reviewed on this blog.
The other is a nice glossy color print collector’s booklet that comes in the clam
shell.
It is no surprise to me
that this had a Category III rating. There is a lot of nudity, and torture; typical
Unearthed fare, which is a strong compliment.
Premutos: The
Fallen Angel (aka Premutos: Der
gefallene Engel) Directed by Olaf
Ittenbach IMAS Filmproducktion; Unearthed
Classics; MVD Entertainment
106 minutes, 1997 / 2022 www.unearthedfilms.com www.MVDentertainment.com
As I said when I reviewed the only other film by
Bavarian writer/director Olaf Ittenback that I have seen in its entirety, NoReason (2010),his films are basically bat-shit crazy, and I wanted to see this one because
of that, rather than inspite of it. This is the “Director’s Cut”
of the film, which is longer and has never before been released in North
America. More bizarre for the buck.
For this story, the basis of which is told in
narrative form over the credits and lots of bloody violence throughout history
shown, the titular Premutos is a fallen angel older than Lucifer, who had power
over the dead, with instructions on how to raise the deceased. One man in 1943 uses
it to try and revive his dead wife and others who become flesh-gobbling
zombies, while villagers with torches search for the madman. This is all
presented in a 20-minute prologue before our actual story starts. There is
already more blood and gore than most slasher films put together.
The protagonist to start, in the modern era, is ne’er-do-well
man-child Matthias (the director, Ittenback), who lives with his
S&M-interested sister, Rosina (Heike Münstermann) his mom Inge (Ingrid
Fischer), and his military-obsessed, Nazi-era-loving father, Walter (Christopher
Stacey, who is arguably too young for the role, but what the Hölle). The
latter, while digging up his garden for a plant, finds the hidden potion for
raising Premutos. Meanwhile, Matthias is having flashbacks to previous lives
during the Plague-ridden 13th Century and in Russia for the Battle for Stalingrad
during World War II, among other periods, where he was reincarnated as the son
of the titular Fallen Angel, each time meeting a bloody and painful end.
As Matthias transforms into…well, is it the son of
Premutos or Premutos himself? – it could be both; given how much Christian myth
is also in the story, since Jeebus and “his father” are different but one in the
same according to some versions of the Biblical story – he becomes increasingly
violent and ugly (reminding me a bit of Rawhead Rex with less of a make-up
budget), and the dead rise up from the mortuary to attack the living, including
in pub (where someone is wearing a Ramones shirt with the circle design created
by Arturo Vega, d. 2013) and, ‘natch, Walter’s party. As a side note, when the
zombies attack, there is a sole Black guest, the amusingly named Christian (Fidelis
Atuma), who makes me think of Night of the Living Dead (1968)
There is an enormous cast here, and the director has
certainly stretched his budget to the max, with weaponry, explosions, a tank(!),
and just gallons upon gallons of fake blood, relying heavily on practical SFX.
Peter Jackson would, indeed, be proud. The zombies look cool, and on occasion,
so does Premutos/son. What was free and well spread was the sharp sense of humor
Christopher Stacey
There is a lot of Christian symbolism, including a back-story
scene of Jeebus and the crucifixion/resurrection (thanks to the “potion”
administered by Mary). No one in the film seems overly religious, but that
doesn’t keep it from getting knee-deep in the imagery. Even without the
religious iconography, the style of the film reminds me quite a bit of Michael
Armstrong’s classic Mark of the Devil(1970). But there is also a
strong influence by the Italian giallo films of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, especially
The Beyond (1981), with some George A. Romero thrown in for good measure.
There are some fun extras on this Special Edition,
including a “Making of Premutos” featurette (50 min.; available in
English and German, and also filmed in 1997). There are lots of interviews with
the core cast, and especially the director, discussing the motivation of the characters,
the philosophy of gore and free speech without getting preachy, and a large
focus on the practical SFX, both the good and bad of it, and discussion about
the wintery shooting in Prague. The English dubbed version seems to not
translate everything, but the gist is easily gotten and it is worth the watch,
even at this length.
“Olaf Ittenbach, ‘The Early Years’” (13 min.), is
essentially a “Making Of” of Ittenbach’s earliest films, including Deadly
Night (Todliche Nacht) from when he was still a teen, and he was
still learning and experimenting. With interview commentary by the director, we
see scenes that describe what he is discussing; the main focus is on developing
his skills as an SFX artist. If these gore effects interest you, this is both a
good primer, and it is interesting to see the limitations of the technology at
the time compared to now.
There is also the original cut of the film from its
initial release available in both German and an English dub international
release. Honestly, I did not watch this, but did see the Director’s Cut in its
entirely. There are also some Unearthed trailers, including of this one, and a
“Photo Gallery.” Also included is a second CD disc of the film’s soundtrack,
which is fun.
This certainly was an insane ride, from the beginning right
through to the ironic ending. It was more coherent than I was expecting, I’m
happy to say, and it certainly lived up to its reputation. It may be aging like
wine over time, because it is so worth the experience.
Versus (aka Down to Hell 2) Directed by Ryûhei
Kitamura Arrow Video;
WEVCO Produce Company; napalm FILMS; KSS; Suplex; MVD Entertainment 120 minutes, 2000
version 131 minutes,
2004 Ultimate edition www.arrowfilms.com www.facebook.com/ArrowVideo/ www.mvdb2b.com
To be clear, there are
actually three editions of this film on these discs, rather than two. The first
is the original 2000 cut at 120 minutes, then the Ultimate Versus, which
is the 130 minutes director’s cut from 2004, and last is VersusFF, which
is a 20 minute version, which I am assuming is for film festivals, given the
“FF” appendage. It does not, however, contain the 45-minute Down to Hell
(1997) which can be interpreted as the demo version of this film before the
real thing, though it is available on YouTube HERE. Still, this is gonna take a while to get
through this sumptuous package.
I am not gonna lie; I
watched the Ultimate cut from Disc 2 first, then for the shorter 2-hour
one, while I did see it, I paid more attention to the commentaries.
As the opening scrawl
tells us, there are 666 (of course) portals between our world and the “other
side,” and the 444th one is the “Forest of Resurrection” (shades of Pet Sematary)
in Japan, where the film takes place. I’m not sure what it is about Japan and
wooded areas, but there are at least two other stories about the mysterious arboreal
surroundings there, including The Sea of Trees and The Forest (both
released in 2016). This story is similar to Down to Hell, but it is quite
expanded and bloodier. The plot(s) also has a lot more depth to it.
Two escaped prisoners,
the star, Prisoner KSC2-303 (Tak Sakaguchi, who resembles a young Johnny Depp) and
the – er – non-star (Motonari Komiya) meet up with a car full of five yakuza
hitmen and a cute, kidnapped woman (Chieko Misaka) whose presence, naturally,
is more than it seems; her white dress never gets dirty, no matter how much
blood is sprayed or how often she is on the forest floor. No names for the characters
are given. Through a couple of double crossings and some killings, KSC2-303 (for
lack of a better name) and the woman escape into the spooky woods where the hit
men have buried dozens of their victims. Problem is, they are now zombies out
for revenge. Heck, they even have guns (though are terrible shots; the undead
need some practice).
The hit men are quite
colorful and give a nice flavor to the story rather than the typical Vincent
and Jules types, or any of a dozen hulking masses from mafia films. Here, they range
a bit on the hysterical side or are extremely stoic, giving a nice balance. Their
leader (Kenji Matsuda) is nuts and seems to act mostly with his eyes and mouth,
but he is so much fun to watch, strutting and subtly dressing like the Joker in
a green shirt and red tie; whether done on purpose or not, it works. The one I
liked the best is the most impassive (Kazuhito Ohba). Then there is the scared
and mentally unstable one (Minoru Matsumoto) and the bare-armed fighter (Yuichiro
Arai). Lest I forget, there is the one who is too quick on the draw (Ryosuke
Watabe).
Joining the mix are
two coppers from whom the prisoner escaped, the leader (Yukihito Tanikado,
doing his best “Twin Peaks” Dale Cooper) and the other with one hand (Shôichirô
Masumoto), thanks to the result of being handcuffed to KSC2-303. One of my
favorite lines is said by the cop leader who proudly brags that “I grew up at
Yellowstone National Park in Canada.” I am assuming this was an unintentional mistranslation
in the captions, but it amused me to no end.
There is a lot – and I
mean a lot – of action here, including fisticuffs, guns a-blazing and
samurai swords a-swishing. As much as the zombies are there for payback to the
hitmen, they will attack anyone. As a result of the fighting and violence, the
make-up special effects by Susumu Nakatani look great, in a Dead Alive (1992)
cartoony-way; it is easy to tell that this Peter Jackson’s film was an
influence as we get to look through holes in people, total dismemberments, and
there is blood sprayed everywhere (except, of course, on white-clad Misaka).
That the director studied film in Australia indicates that, as well.
Through it all, three
more assassins are added to the action (redhaired Takehiro Katayama, Hoshimi
Asai, and attractive gun-totin’ Ayumi Yoshihara), and to include at least two
more competent women to the cast. And this is all before the halfway point when
the film goes into a completely different and unexpected direction that is both
a WTF moment and a Hell yeah!” one, as we meet “the boss” of all the
hitmen (Hideo Sakaki), who you know from the start will lead to a final
showdown with the prisoner.
The film is insane –
in a good way – on so many different levels. While I would not dub this a
comedy, there are a lot of funny moments, often in a twisted way. Also, there
is a traditional fighting cinematic style that is occasionally used, but director
Kitamura also uses some wild editing, especially
near the end, that plays with the viewers’ expectations on the fights. With all
the wild angles, zooms, close-ups and zombies left and right, the action is
practically non-stop, and even at this length, went by pretty quickly. Even if
you don’t like captions, as this is obviously in Japanese, it won’t matter: the
actions speak louder than the words.
As always, Arrow Video
aims to please, so this Blu-ray is abounding with bonus materials. These appear
across the two discs.
The first extra I watched
on the second disc (there are only two here, most of the rest on the first
disc) was the audio commentary by Kitamura, and members of the cast and crew.
This is different that the one on the first disc, but I must say, watch it at
your own willingness to spend the time. There is about 20 minutes worth of
interesting info disbursed throughout, but most of it is utter nonsense about
their kids, kidding insults to each other, and is just plain blather. I watched
it in double time and read it faster that way (it is in Japanese, with
captions). For most of it I have no idea who said what as there was a large
group and they are not identified in the captions. The most interesting stuff
is comments on the new material. Speaking of which, the second 18-minute featurette,
“Sakigate! Otoko versus Juku,” about the new material shot four years later
than the original, with all the same actors regrouping. It’s a fun Making Of,
though it does not follow any narrative lines, but rather jumps around quite a
bit, which is fine. The action between Sakaguchi (who was the fight coordinator
for the reshoot) and Sakaki, which takes a large portion, is the most
interesting.
Back to the first
disc, I started with an audio commentary by Kitamura and producer Keishiro Shinei,
which is happily in English. While there is still a bit of whatever in
the conversation, this is focused on the film production, and is a lot more interesting.
In the yet-another commentary, this third one is the director, the lead actor,
and four of the crew (including, again, Shinei). Unlike for the Ultimate,
this one, which is in Japanese with captions, is quite a bit more informative
and my assumption is that they said most of what they needed to say, so by the
time the Ultimate one came around 4 years later, they had said their
piece. This one is also worth the listen, though it does get disjointed at
times; it’s like a film of the one for Versus Ultimate in that it is
about 80 percent decent and 20 percent fluff.
With “Body Slamming, Body Horror: Jasper Sharp on Ryûhei Kitamura” (16
min), the British expert of Japanese films frames the director in historical
context at the beginning of a new wave of Asian Extreme Cinema, such as those
by Takashi Miike. It’s a nice overview of Kitamura’s career. “First Contact: Versus Evolution” (10
min), a featurette exploring the film’s origins, is a bombastic telling with no
dialogue but Japanese title cards (and English subtitles) that just flashes images
in MTV editing style with no piece being more than 5 seconds over thunderous
music and language heavy in adjectives like “unprecedented.” Personally, I
found it a bit annoying. “Tak Sakaguchi’s One-Man Journey” (14 min), a mostly
self-shot featurette on the actor’s visit to the 2001 Japan Film Festival in
Hamburg. The first 10 minutes is just him leaving for the flight, his hotel room,
meeting his interpreter, food, and expressions of lonely feelings. When he
finally arrives at the fest, he signs autographs, looks cool in his Neo leather
jacket from the film, and destroys a screen. It was an okay watch, but I don’t
feel a need to see again.
“Team Versus” (1 min)
is a humorous look inside the napalm FILMS basement office; short and sweet. “Deep
in the Woods” (25 min) is a thoughtful featurette of interviews with Kitamura,
cast and crew, including Sakaguchi, Matsumoto, and Sakaki. “The Encounter” (13
min) is an interview with well-respected editor Shûichi Kakesu by Versus
producer Keishiro Shinei. While he discusses this film, he also talks about
different ways to approach editing, and the differences between action and
animation (he did 1995’s Ghost in the Shell).
Next up is a fun Deleted
Scenes (21 min) with audio commentary by Kitamura, cast and crew obviously done
when the main one was completed as it is the same group. As discussed above,
there is the Versus FF Version, a condensed, 20-minute recut of the film.
While the narrative is obviously in disarray, it’s pretty much a collection of
action scenes, mostly with Sakaguchi., and very little dialogue.
“Behind Versus,”
a two-part behind-the-scenes documentary exploring the film’s production, the first being “Birth
of a Dark Hero” (27 min) and the second “Versus the Legend” (46 min). Both
are very well made, one featuring a mix of interesting interviews, especially Sakaguchi
again, and filming some of the action; the other is more about the non-fighting
parts, like rehearsals, make-up, set-ups, steadi-cams, and the like, but
remains fascinating. These are well put-together Making Ofs.
There are two clips
from film festival screenings, one being the XXI Fantafestival in Genoa (2 min)
and the second is from various other fests where the film won awards (3 min).
Again, there is no dialogue, and each edit is less than 5 seconds, over blaring
music. This is more ego stroking than anything else, but considering the rightful
fanfare it got, who would be surprised. For “side stories,” which are
mini-movies featuring characters from Versus, there are “Nervous” (6.5
min) and “Nervous 2” (16 min), along with a featurette on the making of “Nervous
2” (1 min). The first one deals with the two police detectives and their
dislike of being called “officer” (is this a Japanese thing?). It’s confusing
because one detective has both hands while the other has the cuts on his face
from Versus. Either way, the image is a bit over-exposed, but I am
assuming that’s on purpose. For the second, directed by Yudai Yamaguchi, four
of the characters are in an asylum post-Versus, and can’t remember what
happened before, until… It’s quite humorous. The Making Of is a waste, don’t
bother.
There are five trailers,
each one quite different. I love coming attractions, but want to warn anyone
with epilepsy to avoid due to the flashing lights. Seriously. Also included are
5 different image galleries, including stills (both publicity and screen shots)
and posters. On the tactile side, there is a reversible sleeve for the box
featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon, and a glossy,
beautifully illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film
and a reprinted interview with Kitamura by Tom Mes, with notes on the making of
the film by Kitamura (this appears only in the first pressing of the Blu-ray).
Note that it took me three days to get through all the films and features. That's a nice package.
Kitamura would go on
to make 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, and most notably what has become an
underground classic, The Midnight Meat Train in 2008.
Many a
year ago, I remember seeing a bumper sticker that read, “Oh, Lord, protect me
from your believers.” While this is true, I also believe a more accurate way to
phrase it might be “Oh Lord, protect me from your interpreters.”
These days
there are a lot of strange readings of the Bible’s contents, including an “every
word is truth” fanatical faction: think Westboro. Well the main character of
this tale makes them look like wusses when it comes to raining God’s punishment
on mere mortals.
Gary Cairns
The main
focus for this story is Father Vincent (Gary Cairns), who believes in the
literal word and work of punishment as described in the Old Testament. Calling
himself a Roman Catholic priest, in fact he has been defrocked by the Church
for his fanatical beliefs, fostered by a tragic series of events from his
youth, which is shown in the prologue.
In other
words, Vinnie is a psychotic serial killer feeling justified in his ways, like
Dexter, as he delivers what he believes to be God’s punishment on the wicked:
salvation through death, via gun, knife, whatever. Helping him reluctantly on
his path is his younger brother (“family sticks together”), Michael (Luke
Albright). He is relentlessly picked on by Vincent as not being as supportive
as he would like, even as he aids in chopping up the multitude of bodies.
The two
travel around a region of Mississippi called Safehaven, in a beat up old
camper, which has been turned into a traveling “confessional”; and if the Padre
does not believe you are repentant, it becomes a bit of an abattoir. Of course,
Vincent does not recognize his own foibles, including that of lust.
Trista Robinson
Meanwhile,
a sweet and squeaky voiced young thang named Mary Francis (Trista Robinson) is
on a murder streak as she is also a psychotic serial killer in her own right.
She picks up on the brothers’ vibe and manages to widdle her way into their
lives and livelihood by joining the band of blood. She has no hesitation in
ending life. She and Vincent couldn’t be more similar, not counting the
religious differences (i.e., Mary has no problem diving head first into her own
lust). And you know at some point this trio is going to explode into violence
among itself through viciousness and double dealings. In that way, it does not
disappoint.
The moral
compass of nearly all the characters is askew, as they make their way through
the mire of sin, truth and forgiveness, and lack thereof. With wicked good
lighting and angles, this is solidly atmospheric and full of gothic horrors
that would make Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte
(1964) want to order a mint julip.
There is
no shying away from the violent nature of the characters, nor their actions. It’s
no surprise that it is released by Unearthed, because there are severed body
parts a plenty, but without the surgical precision of body torture. That being
said, there are some both physical and emotionally squeamish moments
throughout, all handled beautifully by the great Marcus Koch and Cat Bernier
Sowell (more on them later). To put it in another way, the film is sheer brutality
from beginning to end, but the story keeps up with it. Never having been a fan
of violence for violence sake, I like the story to bring the intensity, rather
than the other way around. This one has both feet on the ground in that way,
and it never lets up.
Luke Albright and Gary Cairns
The extras
start with a commentary by Mark Savage and screenwriter Tom Parnell. Not only
do they discuss shot by shot, but also go beyond into motivation of characters
(in case the viewers have any question), and how they came up with the ideas.
They also talk about what it was like to physically shoot the film.
Next is a 16-minute
featurette called “The Grisly Art of Marcus Koch and Cat Bernier Sowell” which
is a series of stills as make-up and special effects are applied. Cool stuff. After
that is the 29-minute “The
Actors Speak.” Essentially it’s the main three leads individually talking about
how they got involved with the film, how good the story is, what their personal
lives were like at the time, and so forth. The three are then edited into a precise
swirl of actors (Cairns, then Robinson, followed by Albright, then Cairns,
etc.). It’s a bit long, but most of them talk at a deeper emotional level than
these things tend to be, so it was pretty interesting.
In a talk
with the co-writer, “Tom
Parnell: Beyond the Day Job,” Tom discusses how he is a lawyer in real life, but has a passion for both
writing screenplays and acting (he plays a cameo role as a Sherriff here). He
brings up how he got into the arts, and what he wants to bring to it. Good
stuff at 9 minutes. Shot at a festival, the 20-minute “Purgatory Road Q & A” with the director and Cairns, then joined
by other cast and crew. As is common with these things, the sound quality is
not that great and it keeps going in and out. Of course, as the final extra,
there are four Unearthed trailers, including for this film.
This is a
top notch film that is full of thrills and terror that is palpable by the
characters. The acting is solid, as is the writing and cinematography. It’s a
perfect storm in a positive direction.
One of the better things some torture films
have brought into the sphere of genre films is a new neo-realism that harkens
back to the time of Rossolini, Passolini, and all the other –olinis (i.e.,
other filmmakers in the style). The Italian neo-realism of the 1960s and ‘70s
brought life situations to the audience, with all its blemishes and horrors in
a matter-of-fact way.
Recently, there have been a series of
gritty, realistic (relatively, hence
the “neo-“) stories that are there to disturb more than distress, such as the
ones by Dakota Bailey (e.g., 2017’s American
Scumbags). I mean, this isn’t really
new, as we’ve seen it before in films like Suburbia
(1984), Scorsese‘s Mean Streets (1973),
or even The Day of the Locust (1975;
where Donald Sutherland played Homer Simpson, but I digress…). The difference
is that of late, realism has faded away into the static camera of torture porn
which is less about story than effects; realism is just the opposite, even with
its level of gruesomeness.
Lucas Koch
I didn’t really have any expectation about
this film, so its level of initial low-key grittiness took me by surprise,
which doesn’t happen very often these days. Here, Zack’s (Lucas Koch) world is one
of dysfunction. The tall and lanky13-year-old stoic skater, whose school
nickname is Pig Pen, lives in a home where nothing gets cleaned and supper
consists of cold cereal mixed with water. His mother, Sandy (Nicolette Le Faye),
is zoned out on booze and pills, and her new, abusive “entrepreneur” boyfriend Wayne
(Vito Trigo, who sports a strange facial hair style) pimps her out and sells
drugs. Wayne is so narcissist that he has his own name tattooed on his neck. Things aren’t going too well for
Zack and the future looks as bleak as his present life. Between the occasional
huffing and probably PTSD, who wouldn’t
be stoic just to survive?
Insisting that Zack bring in some money,
such as by doing what the guys on the corner do for cash, the boy is thrown to
the streets, where we watch as he learns to survive amid desperation, stealing
and violence.
As a nice move, Koch edits in flashback
scenes throughout that lead up to the present, as we see how life has spiraled
out of control step by step. Of course, the past catches up in an explosion,
after he gets some dough through an act of violence, and is met by an even
larger one at home.
This film doesn’t pull any punches. It gives
a realistic feel of the dangers of living on the street, including gangs and
perverts; a much-muted version of this kind of life was presented in the Mel Brooks’
Life Stinks (1991). But Zack isn’t
like other boys his age. His moral compass has already been turned up this side
of Sunday, and he isn’t beyond thievery even before the Wayne hits the fan.
Nicolette Le Faye
In some ways, which I won’t go into in too
much detail, Zack and Wayne have some traits in common, just the extreme is
different, at least at the start. Perhaps it’s brain damage from the glue
sniffing or seeing his mother abused, or perhaps he’s just high-functioning
nuts, but he is both walking around like he’s in a state of constant shock while
he’s also waging and absorbing information, and how to work it to his own
advantage. He seems to have no qualms eating out of a dumpster, or sleeping in
odd places. His adjustment skills are stunning for someone his age.
Like Dustin Hoffman’s character in Straw Dogs (1971), Zack is kind of a
stranger in a strange land, and when finally pushed to shove, he is a survivor
and will fight for his life no matter what it takes. When dealing with Wayne
and his troupe, to paraphrase Generation X’s “Your Generation,” it’s “gonna
take a lot of violence…but he’s gotta take that chance.”
This is an intense film right from the
start, and it just keeps building right until the very end. Its sheer level of
violence – everyday kind of violence to the extreme level, meaning the story
begets the violence rather than the other way around, as in most films of this
type. That is where the neo-realism comes in: it’s realistic, but takes a step beyond
that into a fictional realism, if that oxymoron makes any sense.
It really is a horribly beautiful film. The
editing, the lighting, the camerawork is all spot on. It doesn’t hug the action
(that’s not to say there aren’t some close-ups), but rather presents it as Zack
sees it. We see everything the same time he does, i.e., he’s in just about
every shot. I’m not sure how old Lucas is in real life – I’m guessing somewhat
older than his character – but as a performer he plays stoicism pretty well,
rarely letting the viewer get lost in the acting. Similarly, Le Faye strikes a
delicate balance in being sympathetic as both a dreamer and a lost cause. The viewer
is both horrified at her actions, and also her inactions. To me, she is the
most realistic in being caught between wanting to do good, pining hope on the
hopeless, and feeling trapped. I see women who have gone through this nearly
day, and have decided to take the step of separation from an abuser that Sandy
does not.
Vito Trigo
As for Trigo, if he can make us
uncomfortable while his face is being hugged by that shaved raccoon on his face
that seems right out of the Dirk character from She Kills (2016), that
says talent. Seriously, he comes across as fierce in an early Harvey Keitel
kind of way. He takes a ridiculously looking role and still made us fearful and
him fearless, and that’s good acting. At least, I hope it is…
If you’ve ever seen Koch’s first film, 7th Day (2013) – or, if you’re like me
and have seen the trailer – you know how effective his SFX company’s work is,
and it’s no surprise that the application work is top notch. With the exception
of the fact that there would have been a lot
more blood in the situation presented (no, not gonna give it away), it looks spectacular. It also isn’t overdone,
which is a nice choice for Koch, considering this is only his second feature.
If you’re in for a good story with some
excellent writing and acting to back it up, tension that is palpable in a building
crescendo, and some way-above standard physical effects, this will be a good
direction to go.
