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.
Sloven Directed by Marc
Cartwright Glass Cabin Films 6:40 minutes; 2015 What would you do if
you came home and allegedly your roommate made a mess of the apartment on
Halloween, smoked your weed, and drank your drank? This is what Steve (Baker
Chase Powell) is facing, getting ready (with one of the silliest, least-work
costumes I’ve seen in a while; just my style… one year I taped a 6-inch “0” on
my chest and went as part of a binomial system… got honorary mention, I kid you
know, but I digress…) to meet his girlfriend at a holiday party. The film
floats along on a bit of tension, and then there’s the jump scare. Reminds me a
little of the work of David F. Sandberg, who also ventures in this arena
(though I don’t think either director is feeding off the other). This reminds
me also of Cartwrights 15-second film “Savor” (see below). Essentially a
one-person (plus two voices) piece that is effective and fun. It’s also just
the right length for what it is, to build the tension and then explode it. Full film:
Vexed Directed by Marc
Cartwright Glass Cabin Films 12:59 minutes;
2016 Leah (Nosheen Phoenix)
is in a situation many of us can understand. She loves horror films, but her
boyfriend Nick (Baker Chase Powell, who also wrote this) is more into checking
his Instagram and comedies. That’s all well and good until he starts living in
a nightmare of doppelgangers, demons and malevolent happenings in their apartment
or possible multiverses. Cartwright’s direction gets us seeing what Nick sees
(and misses) is appropriately creepy, and at the same time tense. What would
you do if you were suddenly trapped in a horror film, either being a horror fan
or not? Would you hide under the covers or go check out the sounds? The editing
here is sharp and there is also an underlying sense of humor (such as, in the
middle of a crisis, wondering why your partner changed their phone password). This
is an award winning short, and it’s certainly no surprise to me, as it’s taut,
tense and has a self-referential nod to horror films that is spot on. Full film:
Savor Directed by Marc
Cartwright Glass Cabin Films 0:15 minutes; 2016 Reviewed HERE
We Die Alone Directed by Marc
Cartwright Glass Cabin Films;
GMG Pictures 23:43 minutes;
2019 Aiden (Baker Chase
Powell), is desperate. He is hyper-shy and timid, and lives in a fantasy world of
dating and wants to“make a connection,” but keeps ghosting people he meets
online. His older co-worker Elaine (soap opera star Ashley Jones) is desperate.
She’s lonely and tired of being treated badly by men; she has affections for
Aiden, but there is the age difference. Moving across the hall from Aiden is
Chelsea (Samantha Boscarino), who is also desperate, moving from place to place
to escape from her past. What happens when a potential sociopath meets a woman
who is living on the edge of her life? That’s the direction of the film, which
has so many curves and unexpected twists to keep any thriller fan on the edge
of their seat. Incredibly well made and acted, each of the characters brings to
the story elements that form an eddy of tension with the viewer sitting on the
edge, waiting to just drop into the abyss. Through it all, thanks to us hearing
their inner thoughts and action narrations, we can feel sympathy for them even
as they do things that are shocking and abhorrent. Well done. Trailer:
The Devil’s Camera Written and directed by Séan Weathers Full Circle Filmworks 51
minutes, 2018 www.facebook.com/Séanweathers
One of
Brooklyn’s-own Séan Weather’s filmmaking shtick
is to take a modern news story and adapt
it into a murderous spree of gore and glee, such as with celebrity cell phone
hacking in The Fappening (2015). As
usual, Séan is also the central actor and in this case, also the villain of the
piece.
This time,
the news item is the subculture of the incel, an online group of ironically mostly
white men who complain they can’t get laid, and so develop a deep misogynistic
bent, and on some occasions to a murderous level.
The aptly
named David Cross is – err – cross that he is a 40 year old virgin. Unlike the genial
Steve Carrell character, Cross is triggered and armed. It’s hinted at a
possible physical (brain tumor, perhaps?) as well as mental issues, but he
definitely crosses the line (otherwise there would be no film, am I right?).
Like Creep
Creepersin’s 2011 Peeping Blog, Cross
follows women through his various cameras that we see laid out at the beginning
of the him (and hence the title; though I wonder where he got the money for all
this gear when he’s unemployed… But once again, I digress…), hoping to get
somewhere and in his neediness and desperation, turns them off. This of course
turns on his triggering of murderous
rage.
Séan Weathers
Technically
this is a found footage flick, but most of the shots are static (e.g., pre-set
up in his apartment), so there’s little Cloverfield
or The Blair Witch Project kind of shaky
nonsense. There are, however lots of subtle (or not so subtle) nuances in the
backgrounds, such as the his camera focusing on the Gillie and Marc Puparazzi statues on a Manhattan street,
or a six-pack of Angry Orchard beer off to the side, but in the camera’s eye.
As with
many of Weather’s films, being the auteur he is (again, compliment intended),
this film is episodic in that it is a series of set pieces stitched together.
Most of it seems to be his planning or incidental moments (such as phone calls
to his mom), which I actually found kind of interesting, and the kills tend of
be messy and quick. The body count is nice, and you can take that comment any
way you wish to read it.
Séan does
a riveting job as David. Even at his most emotional, for example as he’s
pounding on a wall in anger and frustration, or when he’s holding his head in literal
physical pain, he never goes into the bizarre
like he did in his Scumbag Hustler (2014),
a film I liked a lot by the way. As for the fodder (i.e., victims), they tend
to run from competent acting to a bit on the wooden side, even if their screen
time is mostly pretty short. A rare exception to the time frame is with a beautiful
woman (Elma Bayliss) who he meets on the High Line in Manhattan. Bayliss does a
great job onscreen.
Of course,
there could be a reaction to the film with cries of misogyny, and I can
certainly understand why considering all the victims are female, but I would
like to interject that this is film is a social commentary on a particular
sub-set of dudes who hate women. Even with the woman he professes to love, with
a chance of return affection, he spews out gender hatred. Yeah, it could be argued
about what was Weathers’ motivation to choose a topic like this, but I’m going
to pick the side of an indie, no-budget filmmaker who has the opportunity to
film guerilla style when he can (episodic), while he can (short scenes), to
make a cohesive story about a deranged serial killer. As he explains to mommy
on the phone, “I’m not crazy, I have mental issues.”
For me,
the one aspect of this that feels weird, other than all the victims being
female (even though it fits the
storyline) is that Weathers is a handsome and ripped dude. This is presumptuous
of me, but I wouldn’t imagine him having trouble scoring. Hey, dude, that’s
meant as a compliment, so chill. Besides, I’m not into guys and I know you’re
not either. No, put away that knife! Aaaaaarrrrgggg.
Of course,
it’s the virgin who is doing the genocide, not a genocide of virgins. But I
start by digressing…
The sequel
to The Devil’s Camera picks up from
where it left off, with David Cross (Séan Weathers) being angry and decrying
his anger at the opposite sex into his/the camera, portraying himself the
victim (lessons from Trump?) as he swears a murderous path for himself.
Again
playing with visuals, one woman enters a (real) restaurant on 14 Street in New
York called The Crooked Knife while Cross is stalking her. I smiled at that
one.
Of course,
being the sequel, the violence ramps up a bit, though other than fighting and
choking, most of the time we see the results of the violence rather than the
contact of non-flesh objects (after so many explicit torture porn releases,
honestly, it’s somewhat of a relief). So you get the bloody SFX usually without
the need to cover your eyes (if yer so inclined). Though I should point out
this is more true of the first film than this one.
What’s
also a help is that the names of the characters are mentioned this time, so it
is easier (or, as they said in my neck
of Brooklyn, more better) to tell who is playing whom. For example, I know it’s
Shayla (Talisha Lee) who tells Cross the obvious truth that he will get nowhere
picking up women by sticking a camera in their face and being rude. Like most
Republicans who voted for the present Trumpville administration, Cross is
pushing against his own self-interests into a self-fulfilled prophesy.
One of the
subthemes is that Cross seems to be obsessed by the film The Sadist,
a 1963 so-over-the-top-it’s-great B-indie
starring the underappreciated Arch Hall, Jr.; clips of the film are shown throughout
both these Weathers’ flicks.
Sara Rosenberg
Of course
questions arise as the film plays out: how far will David go before he gets
what he wants? Or after? And is there a comeuppance for his behavior? Well, I
ain’t-a a gonna answer any of these questions, you’ll have to see for yourself.
Meanwhile
the actresses are, again, attractive with varying talents (though they do
better in this film), and there is even a cameo from scream queen Sara
Rosenberg (who also played in Weather’s 2016 The New York Butcher).
Weathers
really does have a style of his own, and yet it’s grown over the years as he
becomes more prolific with his output. The themes may occasionally be similar
(serial murderers, serial rapists, serial drug abusers), but still worth the
view for the nuances. Or just for the story. For guerilla filmmaking, you don’t
hear much from Brooklyn, so let’s remedy that, okay, and see one of his films.
It may inspire you to make your own, and that would be a good thing.
