Review: The Sky Has Fallen

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2013
Images from the Internet

 

 

The Sky Has Fallen: Limited Edition

Written, photographed, produced, directed and edited by Doug Roos           
80 minutes, 2009

Lost Forever Productions

Rachel: Aren’t you afraid?

Lance: Of what?
Rachel: Dying? Being tortured? Suffering?

This multi-award winning film shows a post-apocalyptic world gone crazy. A disease has killed off most of the population of the world, but it gets worse than that: the disease has mutated into these black hooded demons who stich up the dead and use the corpuses to kill or capture live people. Yeah, like zombies, but they mostly just kill, rather than make the living lunch. That is essentially the film’s opening narrative in the first minute.

The focus of the story is a rather too neat and clean man and woman whose make-up is always perfect, who meet while hiding in the woods of Missouri (though it could be anywhere) a few months after the start of the whole shebang. They decide to go find the leader of the black robed ones (who, apparently, wears a white robe and black bones sticking out of its back). He uses a samurai sword and she, a handgun that doesn’t run out of bullets, unless it is part of the storyline.

Meanwhile, they are besieged by not only many blood and goo-covered people who have sharp instruments for hands, but the robed ones who apparently can be killed by both sword or gun. Then there are the nightmares produced by them so you are not sure what is real.

Sounds great, right? Well, the premise is unique, but the writing… Almost all the dialog, which is 90% between the two main characters, tries to sound like Before Sunrise (1995), but comes across incredibly stilted. Almost all questions are answered with questions, and it is rare that a character says more than one sentence in a row, almost always in a monotone.

Ideally, I would have liked to have seen Roos work up the story and get someone else help with the dialog. I mean, the two leads, Lance (Carey MacLaren) and Rachel (Laurel Kemper) are fetching and with the near constant and repeating soaring music as a serenade, the viewer should care about them, but it’s nearly impossible as they mostly stoically line-by-line tell their stories in slices, bits and pieces.

Being Roos’ first (and so far only) feature, this is obviously a learning experience. HH He knows that close-ups make more sense on a low budget, and he does employ that. The film actually looks pretty good, in part to the use of appliances rather than CGI. There is definitely a lot of “moist” going on throughout. There are also some really beautiful shots of backlighting, and editing is tight (though sometimes too quick),

The make-up is pretty well done, and a bit different than your usual gray-green undead being, I am grateful to say. Sometimes the flying blood is a bit much, but again, learning experience. It’s also pretty amazing that the main characters don’t get much of the red on them (in additional to what we see when we are first introduced to them).

I hope Roos gets to make more films, because for a first release, this is a respectable start.

Tacked on are a decent series of “Behind the Scenes” shorts (how about a “show all” to go with it?), and two others about special effects applications. This may not be a film I watch over and over, but I am glad to have had the opportunity to see some decent first steps.

 

Review: Abolition

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2013

Images from the Internet

Abolition
Directed by Mike Klassen
Abolition films / R-Squared Films
82 minutes, 2010 / 2012
Rsquaredfilms.com
MVDvisual.com

As much as the word “abolition” ( the overthrow of something) sounds similar to “absolution,” so this film jiggles with the line(s) between good and evil.

Even with a somewhat high gross (e.g., vomit) and gore quotient - even though most of it is after the fact, such as brains splattered on the sidewalk after a jump - this is a very story-based project. Unlike the usual Biblical-themed action thrillers like The Seventh Sign (1988), End of Days (1999), Bless the Child (2000) or Constantine (2005), the pace here is more of a build than a burst, as it should be. One of the positive side-effects here of it being done that way is that it definitely makes the viewer work harder on the coming events. With most films, many times I’d say,”Oh, this is going to happen at some point,” and it does, but this more lured me in with bits of info, keeping my attention.

I’m certainly not going to give away much, because it’s rare that a film works this well, especially for a first-time director such as Mike Klassen. There are a couple of moves that felt a bit amateurish, such as the obvious use of a wide-angle lens to indicate things being out of sorts, but that is how one learns. If the viewer sees the film as a whole, it’s quite impressive. Even with the occasional plot hole, it plays out so well. Again, you look at some directors like Cronenberg, Hooper, Craven, Carpenter, and the like, their early films also had questionable moments of mire, sometimes more than here.

One of the things that impressed me the most is that this film has its own feel, that certain vibe and look. There is also a level of subtly that works towards the grand reveal. When dealing with a storyline with no comic relief, all the elements need to work together as not to feel oppressive; this one walks that line successfully.

Klassen should also be acknowledged for some of the talent he has chosen for his leads, especially Andrew Roth as Joshua, an recently unemployed building superintendent who is trying to figure out why whenever he helps people, bad things seem to happen, especially in Sybil (1976)-type blackout moments. Roth is gaunt, intense, and has total movie-star appeal. He’s so much better an actor than many of those making so much more, such as Adam Sandler, the Wilson brothers (Owen and Luke), and Vince Vaughn. It’s not surprising he’s been in over 40 films, though he still needs the right vehicle to get recognized).

The female lead is Mia, played by Elissa Dowling, definitely an indie film demi-goddess). She seems to pick many quirky roles, usually in the horror genre, such as in Creep Creepersin’s Peeping Blog (2011) [Reviewed HERE] or Bloody Bloody Bible Camp (2012) [Reviewed HERE]. Whether a sex comedy or an intense story, she is always fun to watch; plus, she has impeccable timing whatever the genre. Yeah, I’m a fan.

Matthew is a pivotal character, a bitter man who gave up the priesthood for family, only to also lose them (named after the first book of the New Testament, I’m sure), played by Reggie Bannister. Bannister will forever be associated with the Phantasm (1979) series (yes, he still has the ponytail), but over time has proven himself to be more than just that. Matthew takes in the homeless Joshua, a relationship that is bound to change over time and a decisive puzzle piece to the overall story arc. While Bannister does have a tendency to do a bit of curtain biting, he is also extremely effective in this role as he eventually goes all Renfield. Oh, as a side note, Reggie also starred in the aforementioned Bloody Bloody Bible Camp.

As I said, the question here is who good or other, and what acts are positive or perhaps something more sinister? One of the underlying issues in the film that is well handled is the desperation and loneliness of the down-and-out, be it through substance abuse, poverty, physical and verbal abuse, suicide, prostitution, homelessness, or any combination above. While on paper it may sound like this film is trying to achieve too much, it all works together, albeit in a bleak way. But it is that despair that drives home the central theme of the story leading to its… well, check it out. It may not be the feel good movie of the year, but it will certainly keep you guessing and interested.

  The only extra is the trailer. For this one, I would have loved a commentary, but as the great stage director Roger De Bris said in 1968, quell dommage...