Review: The Retaliators

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

The Retaliators
Directed by Samuel Gonzalez Jr.; Bridget Smith; Michael Lombardi
Better Noise Films; K Phat Productions; CineLife Entertainment
97 minutes, 2022
www.retaliatorsmovie.com/  

Presently, we live in a world full of conspiracy theories and beliefs in shadowy cabals out for control. Modern stories are awash with them, from the high-octane assassins of the John Wick franchise to the more intimate mundanity of Stephen King’s 1978 stop-smoking short story, “Quitters, Inc.”

To be honest, when I read the premise of the film, I thought it was going to be a revenge action thriller. While that is not totally inaccurate, there are at least three stories going on here. First, there’s the violent prologue, which I’m sure will meld with the other two at some point. Second has to do with two rival motorcycle gangs dealing with a revenge motif, thanks to the brother of the leader of one of them, Ram (Joseph Gatt; Thenn Warg in “Game of Thrones”).

Michael Lombardi

The third and central story, which also involves Ram, circles around the family of a pastor, amusingly named John Bishop (Michael Lombardi, from “Rescue Me”; he was also an “additional director” for this release). He’s a “turn the other cheek” kind of guy, but his beloved daughter, Sarah (Katie Kelly) has been murdered, and he’s out for revenge. The Detective on the case is hardnosed Jed (Marc Menchaca; he played a recurring character on “Ozark” and “Homeland”). All three parts take place in New Jersey, filmed in Vineland.

And what would you do if you were given the opportunity to have 5 minutes alone with the person responsible for the brutal death of a loved one? Yes, this has been covered before in the likes of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), but here it is more mano-a-mano, as Bishop is given that opportunity “to heal,” hence the name of the film. His link to the Retaliator(s) is no surprise, but that is hardly important to the flow of the story. The biggest added element here is the fact that (a) he is a pastor, and (b) has preached turning the other cheek. As he looks over the mean, nasty, ugly implements of destruction, that instantly made me think of the cliché of the angel and devil on the shoulder paradigm. This is an interesting moral dilemma.

Marc Menchaca

His decision, which I will not reveal, leads us to the final act of the film, where all hell breaks loose, when Ram’s brother’s motorcycle gang shows up to find Ram, armed to the teeth. But that’s not where the danger originates, which, again, I will not give away, but it is an interesting concept that reminded me of a part of Enter the Dragon (1973). And what about Bishop? Think about Straw Dogs (1971; 2011).

The prologue is finally addressed in a way that made me smile despite the gruesomeness of it (because of it, perhaps?), as Bishop looks closer to Ash Williams than to a preacher. But I was waiting for a particular moment, hoping it would come (again, no giveaways, though it seemed pretty obvious to me).

With a mostly well seasoned cast (not counting the musician newbies), this was well-acted, with Lombardi giving his all, and I have to say, Gatt makes an amazing villain, looking so much more massive than his 6’1” frame; who knew he was a self-described Star Wars geek and collector?

While Bishop is a pastor and there are a couple of scenes in his church (both concerning sermons and scripture), I would totally say that this is not a religious-themed film, and is totally non-preachy in that way. Sigh of relief from Agnostic Atheist me.

A key element to the meta of this film is its cameos, which include Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee as the strip club’s DJ, Jacoby Shaddix (the voice of Papa Roach) in his first acting role as a serial killer, the band Five Finger Death Punch who play at Bishop’s church, and a whole bunch of other musicians. The soundtrack, which features the music to those and other high-line bands is also available on Better Noise Music, including the Crüe’s (plus others) “The Retaliators,” ‘natch. Speaking of cameos, watch for modern Scream Queen Sarah Nicklin as Emily, a crisis counselor.

I have to say I was surprised and pleased by the amount of blood, gore and violence that was throughout the film, with a beautifully done third act that kept me smiling as things went crash and boom. The SFX were practical, as far as I could tell, and flowing.

Oh, and did I mention this was a Christmas movie?

IMDB listing HERE

 

Review: The Forsaken

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

This is the second of a three-part review series of the films of Yolanda Torres. They will be in chronological order, over three days. These films were also written by Joan Alvarez.

The Forsaken

Directed by Yolanda Torres

aFilm International Film Workshop; Easy Stiges

86 minutes, 2015 / 2020

www.afilm.es/

www.easystiges.com

Tales of kidnapping for ransom gone awry are certainly not new. Even back in 1907, short story maven O. Henry wrote an iconic one with a comic bent called “The Ransom of Red Chief,” for example.

Of course, this account takes itself quite a bit more seriously, if not with a profound sinister and possible supernatural tone. Five British and Spanish kidnappers for hire, with Tarantino-eque names like Mr. Blake, Mr. Quartermass, Mrs. Peel (who wears tight leather pants; what, no Mr. Steed?) and Number Two (Alberto Esparza), have grabbed schoolgirl Sara (Claudia Trujillo playing younger than her years, but looks well in the part) under the orders of an unknown and unseen contractor, aka Number One. The goal is to extract a tidy sum from Sara’s well-to-do businessman father.

Alberto Esparza and Claudia Trujillo

The place they take Sara is a beautiful old stone house (shot at Casa Felix, Olivella, near Barcelona) in the middle of flippin’ nowhere, where she is tied up. Except for Mrs. Peel (Sarah Tyler Shaw), no one really takes any time to try to connect to the rightfully scared bound and blindfolded girl, which is understandable considering the circumstances.

But, being a horror film, if you can’t tell by the title, there is more afoot than meets the eye in the creaky abode (man, I really love what we see of this house!). We get creaky sounds from the locked basement, enough creepy atmosphere to figurately blow the doors off with, and five criminals who do not trust the others in their own group.

In the first half, at least, there seems to be a heavy reliance on The Haunting (1963) where you don’t actually see anything other than objects hinting at evil, such as a key twisting in a lock over some highly dissonant music to set the appropriate mood. That and the fact the people in the house cannot physically bring themselves to leave (a nice way to keep them around without damaging the house).

Sarah Tyler Shaw

More meat’n’taters than Torres’ previous release from the year before, The Afterglow (2014), but this still keeps up the artistic level, applied with more as an emphasis than a hindrance. There is a strong use of shadows (showing off, among other things, Shaw’s amazing cheekbones), dark filters, and angles that are just skewed enough to be off-putting, often without being conscious. Plus, there is that deep, mysterious bass sound that occurs to jangle the viewer’s nerves.

Without trying to give away too much, there is definitely an Evil Dead (1981) vibe going on here, with a malevolent force emanating from – well, it’s pretty apparent right off – that possesses the kidnapping krew one by one, in some way or another, often through the visual as a theme (eyes, mirrors, etc.). Instead of a Necronomicon, there is a box of notes written in diary form. A cool aspect is that the next victim’s name appears in blood somewhere, but you don’t know who that is because they are all using pseudonyms. That is another great touch.

While filmed in Spain, it is an English-spoken film (with Spanish subtitles). For me, the only drawback was the accents, which are quite strong in some of the players, from both the British and Spanish actors. Speaking of which, I wonder about Sara’s eye make-up: while raccoon-eyed style, it does not seem to smear, even though she has been crying profusely and is blindfolded. Ah, the magic of movies!

The gore, however, is infrequent and all the more shocking because of it. Sometimes gore can enhance a mood, but here it’s the moments of it that tie the tone to the story.

The acting is all amazing, and the characters are nicely fleshed out in terms of personality even without much of a backstory, considering they are anonymous even to each other. That being said, by far the women have the strongest fortitude.

As possession films go, this one is actually quite good, with a creepy, crawly overall mood, in part thanks to the lighting of the stone interior, the soundtrack, and bass that rumbles through numerous scenes and the off-set camera that I discussed earlier. Any one of those things could work, but Torres manages to mash them together into a terse and tense piece of genre cinema that is a beauty to watch.

The Forsaken trailer HERE.

Review: True Love Ways

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2018

Images from the Internet

True Love Ways

Directed by Mathieu Seiler

Grand Hotel Pictures; Klusfilm Berlin;
ARRI Film and TV Services; Synergetic Distribution; MVD Visual

95 minutes, 2015

www.mvdvisual.com

Germany is familiar with cinema of the strange in the past few decades. Just look at the likes of the extremely other-there Nekromantic (1987), or even Run Lola Run (1998) as examples.

Anna Hausburg and Kai Michael Muller

For this film, named after a Buddy Holly posthumous rock’n’roll romantic classic from 1960 (which we hear more than once in the film), it opens on the strained relationship between our heroine, Séverine (the lovely Anna Hausburg) and her boyfriend Tom (Kai Michael Müller), with the former telling the latter that she doesn’t love him, but rather has given her heart to someone of whom that she dreamed; to me, his reactions says a lot about why she needs to dump his ass.

Speaking of reactions, the first couple of acts of the film are set at a very languid pace, like being on a rowboat meandering down a river, with little dialog, as Séverine sits in a park watching people, spending the night by herself, or driving down the road chewing both her hair and gum with the camera mainly focused on her face. Within those times, however, there are some disturbing moments of her wondering, “okay, who should I trust?” This paranoia also is placed on the audience by some creepy goings-on that I will very lightly touch on to not give too much away.

Muller and David C. Bunners

At a bar, after Séverine chucks Tom outta da co-joint for a few days, he goes to a bar where he meets Chef (David C. Bunners), who suggests that he will kidnap Séverine and then Tom would come to the rescue and be her “Tarzan.” With other events that happen in the meanwhile, during the ebb and flow of the day mentioned above, the audience can’t help wonder if this is part of a larger event.

About half way through the film, the pieces of some of the events that happened before and why the Chef is so interested in Séverine start to become clearer. And yes, it’s even creepier than you’d expect. We get to figure it out the same time as her, and that’s when the film shifts gears into overdrive. Yet, and this is where I find the film is playing with us, there are still moments of long silence and little movement, that in the heightened state of tension and adrenaline, are nail-biting thriller moments. Again, you know Séverine is feeling the same. It’s really well written that the audience gets to not just sympathize, but empathize, because you’re feeling a bit of what she is experiencing (without us being in real danger).

While definitely a sharp (and occasionally darkly humorous) thriller, some have referred to this as a kunstfilm (art film), and not just because it’s in black-and-white. It’s the pacing, the way the music works with the film beyond jump scares, but it’s not obnoxiously so. In other words, most art films try so hard to be ar-tay, that they become obtuse and confusing. There is none of that here. There are also few weird angles, other than multiple long close-ups of Séverine’s face.

The good news is that Hausburg is talented enough that with the extreme close-ups and lack of dialogue, it still is easy to read the broad emotional range she expresses (i.e., no “Blue Steel” vs. “Magnum”).

As always, the bad guys underestimate Séverine; while she’s no hired assassin like in the predictable and ordinary Final Girl (2015), she is extremely resourceful and works her way through situations (which we get to watch, step by step by facial expression).

The one cliché that is easy to predict in the film regards a tavern owner. I actually said, out loud as soon as she walked into the bar, “Oh, really?! C’mon!” But in a film that’s over 90 minutes, I can forgive it considering how much else is going on.

What really drove me crazy is the Tom character. Hero? Villian? No matter, he’s an asshole, that’s for sure. I’m not going to go into details, but like the male protagonist in Run Lola Run, I have no respect for him.

Sometimes arty films can be especially bloody, such as with Nekromantik, or Miike’s Audition (1999), and while it’s not overly done or in super-graphic detail like many Euro-body horror releases, there is definitely a spurting of the stuff. That being said, there will be a contingent with whom I agree to some level, who will argue that the males are killed pretty quickly, but it’s the women who receive the brunt of the brutality.

Okay, I know I’ve made a couple of complaints, and they seem valid to me, but overall this is quite the stunning picture. Sure, not necessarily a date flick (depending on your companion, of course), but it really is a beautiful piece of cinema, and much of that is directly is in the lap of Hausburg and her mighty-fine acting. My fear is that it will be remade in the Western Hemisphere, and the Séverine character will be played by someone like Chloë Grace Moretz or Abigail Breslin (who’s IMDB’s bio laughingly states is one of the “most sought after actors of her generation”), who cannot really do the heavy lifting acting that would be necessary to match Hausburg.

The only extra on this DVD is the chapters; the captions are imprinted onto the film.

Séverine certainly lives up to her name. Loving her would be severe, and threatening her would be even more so, judging by the actions here. She’s a bit nuts, but borderline enough that you’d have to be intimate with her to see just how around the bend she is. Part of the explanation and what is interesting on a few levels is that the ending is both a WTF and an Ohhhh-I-see moment. You certainly don’t see that occur much anymore.

Review: Hollow Creek

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2018

Images from the Internet

Hollow Creek (aka Haunting in Hollow Creek)

Written, produced, directed by Guisela Moro

Newfoundland Films; First Edge Films;
Cinematic Motion Pictures; FilmRise; MVD Visual

116 minutes, 2016

www.mvdvisual.com

I love it when I get to see a horror film written and directed by a woman; in this case it’s Latina actor Guisela Moro. She takes a number of different subgenres and mashes them into an expansive story that lasts nearly two hours (usually a long time for an indie flick), which I will now discuss without giving away too many details, of course.

Steve Daron and Guisela Moro

We are introduced to married horror writer Blake Blackmore (dashing Steve Daron, who continually has a Sonny Crockett-type 5 o’clock shadow) and his mistress, Angelica (the lovely Moro), as they head out to a cabin retreat in a not largely populated small town in rural West Virginia (hillbilly genre). It seems some young boys have gone missing recently in the area, but our protagonists are more focused on their work and – err – play.

But it’s very shortly into the story (which is why, in part, I bring it up) that other supernatural happenings start to crop up in the house (haunted house genre) that are somewhat subtle to them, but are used well for jump scare type shock value to the audience. There is also the bit about the trio of missing boys and the investigation into finding them (“Criminal Minds”-type genre). They all interplay together well into a comprehensive story with a touch of the supernatural without being overwhelmed by it.

In the first act, the ghostly stuff is well timed because in the beginning there are some dialogue-heavy moments of exposition that drag a bit due to some forced language, such as the over use of the endearing-babble word “babe.” But they are interrupted by those nice scares that livens thing up quite a bit.

Earleen Carey and Alyn Damay

The questions that arose for me were concerning the film’s intentions. Is it a good ghost or a bad ghost? Are the cops the good guys or the bad guys? The only two things that are a given pretty much right from the onset is that Blake and Angie are the side of light, and Leonard (Alyn Darnay) and Margaret Cunnings (Earleen Carey) are the in the dark region. As it’s given away quite early on (and even in the trailer) that it’s the latter, rednecky farm couple who are behind the kidnappings, But again, what are the reasons and intentions for the sinister duo to be carrying out what they are doing? That is part of what kept my interest.

Here is the thing about small towns: they can amazingly rally up behind you, or give a strong cold shoulder if you are (gabba gabba) not one of “them,” meaning if they turn their back on you, it can be isolating. I’ve been through small towns in West Virginia, and other than the Dixie flags a-flyin’, I got along with everyone I met, even as a stranger, but if I had taken an action that was disapproved of by the group by breaking a code of honor, that situation might have turned into something else. When Angie suddenly disappears, Blake gets a taste of this from the locals as he gets blamed for her going poof! in the rainy night in the court of public opinion, thanks to a sensationalist-driven local media (as we were taught, “If it bleeds, it leads”).

When the second act starts, after Angie vanishes from the town (but not from the story), is when the tale really starts to build momentum. While the film centers on the kidnapping story as its core, it manages to not overuse the ghost or hillbilly aspects of it; rather, Moro wisely plies the other two as aspects of the whole story, which actually helps make it stronger. Yeah, there are some gothic cliché’s, such as a child’s baseball mysteriously and nosily dropping down the stairs, which has been a standard ever since The Changeling in 1980; however, the orb is key to the story, so in this case it’s not just a ghostly announcement of presence.

Do I really need to say who this is?

The big cameo, of course, is Burt Reynolds, who shows up for one decent scene with Daron, and a brief one later on. Now, Daron has announced that Reynolds is one of his acting idols, and the writing credits state that Daron is “collaborating writer.” My guess is he wrote the scene with Reynolds, which just consists of the two of them. I will further posit that while the film was shot in West Virginia, the scene with the frail, then 80-year-old Bandit, was filmed in Florida where Reynolds lives. The second scene just shows the back of the heads of the cops, so I’m guessing all his scenes were added in after the principal shooting. I would say that it is a cool thing.

The one big hole to me is that there is a rifle hidden in the closet where Blake is staying. This makes no sense, as the cops think he is responsible for Angie’s disappearance, wouldn’t they have found the rifle in searching the house? It’s not like it was hidden somewhere, it’s right on the shelf at the top of the closet. I’m just going to put it up to a rookie writing mistake, and mosey on.

The cast is really strong here. Both Moro and Daron carry their roles well, Carey plays woundedly cracked just a tad overboard (though her character, well, actually is), and Darnay definitely steals his scenes as the always seething patriarch of the kept clan. He has this way of moving his mouth as a sign of annoyance (you can see it in the trailer) that says so much about Leonard.

Once past the initial “Hey, babe” scenes, the film turns into a really taut, well-written thriller. Even if one edited out all of the supernatural aspects, the tension would still be on high, and that’s great. Having it in, though, is a boost as a way to take it to another level to apprehension. Plus, the way the film was shot, with the effective lighting (including being able to see the action at night) and slower editing, brings a strong and satisfying end result. I look forward to seeing more of Moro’s work as actor, writer and director. Brava.

Review: The Glass Coffin (El ataúd de cristal)

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2017

Images from the Internet

The Glass Coffin (aka El ataúd de cristal) 

Directed by Haritz Zubillaga

Basque Films; Byp Media; Demeter Films; Life & Pictures;
Morituri; Peccata Minuta; MVD Visual

77 minutes / 2016; 2017

elatauddecristal.com/

www.facebook.com/Glass-Coffin

www.mvdvisual.com

The premise is simple: actress Amanda (the lovely Paola Bontempi) steps into a stretch limousine on her way to get a Lifetime Achievement Award for her 20 years in the business. Through her cell phone, she quickly finds that her husband Saul, is stranded somewhere during a storm and will not make it to the awards dinner. But that is the least of her troubles.

Soon the windows of limo the go black, the doors are locked, the cell phone is jammed, and she is trapped by… well, all you hear is a disguised voice coming from somewhere beyond the hidden front seat. She is told she must do what the disguised voice says or suffer consequences.

While this is a nice story motivation, the requests come across as a bit sexist out of context (i.e., the why), and that it is what actually makes the scene uncomfortable for not only Amanda, but viewers like me. Sort of like how unsensual some sexual films are, such as Irreversible (2002), which are not just uncomfortable to watch, but they are icky because you it’s harder to really justify the action, even if it’s explained (think of 2010’s A Serbian Film, for example). Okay, so they want to degrade the character, I get that, but it’s what is requested more than why. And I’m only a third into the film!

Now, I’m willing to admit that’s partially on me, probably. I mean, going into watching the film, it’s pretty obvious that as Amanda is put into uncomfortable positions (both figuratively and literally), the idea is to make the viewer empathize and feel her discomfort with her. Mission accomplished. At first, she is cynical, and then is angry, but after a while and with good cause, she is cautiously compliant; but you know it’s a bit out of her control, at least for the bulk of the film, as these tend to run. About the end? I ain’t tellin’, because in today’s genre climate, there’s a 50-50 chance of survival or death of the main character.

Thing is, once the big reveal is accomplished, the story really picks up, and the icky factor gets replaced more by tension, which is much better. As Andrea is put through her paces and rules change in various directions, we get more involved rather than just wanting to flinch away, even with knowing the motivation behind the actions.

Naturally, as 90 percent of the film takes place in the confines of the “glass coffin,” i.e., the stretch limo, of course it feels a bit claustrophobic, but rightfully – and I’m sure intentionally – so. That Bontempi is on the screen nearly constantly, being the center of the whole she-bang, also helps. Luckily, she can cannily play a full range of emotions, so you’re not going to get tired of watching her performance, and that she’s attractive doesn’t hurt either, even when covered in bruises and blood.

As a frequent watcher of murder mysteries and even banal television shows, I often pre-guess what is going to happen (my wife and I make a game of it), and so naturally I had my own ideas on how it would turn out, and who was behind it all. There are a couple of red herrings in the first few minutes to lure you away from the truth, but odds are you aren’t going to see it coming… well, I didn’t, so there.

Horror films from Spain have come a long way from the Blind Dead series in the 1970s, but while I would consider this film in that genre, I should also say that it falls equally into the thriller category. That being said, there is a nice level of practical effects gore, but none more than necessary, and what I mean by that is there’s nothing over the top like projectile spurting, just a realistic amount for the actions taken. I admire that.

Considering the confined space, the camera doesn’t move around much as far as actual motion goes, other than a dolly shot occasionally down the length of the stretch limo, but thanks to multiple cameras, the tension of editing works really well. So does the lighting, which constantly shifts colors from blaring white to dusky, dark blue. Most limos these days are “party buses,” so there is a lot of lighting that has been added to the rides. The film successfully takes full advantage of that, so the viewer feels as dazed by it as does Andrea.

Being a film from Spain, you’d be right to assume that it’s in Spanish. Luckily, you don’t have to turn on any captions, as it is already there. While I cannot attest to the accuracy as I don’t speak any other languages than English and Brooklynese, my one complaint is that the lettering is white with just the minimal shade of outer shadow, so when placed over something on the screen that is white, it can be hard to read. Luckily, because so much of the film is in a semi-dark limo, it doesn’t interfere too much. I was able to follow everything with the occasional fill-in-the-blanks.

As for extras, there are none other than chapter breaks, but honestly that’s pretty common for foreign language films, and I’m okay with that.

Despite the initial icky factor, this is an especially strong film that is well supported by Bontempi, which reminded me a bit of a more brutal version of the play/film Deathtrap, especially once we get some footing of the why things are happening rather than just the what. I don’t know if I’ll give this a second viewing, but I am definitely glad I sat through the film. It’s a very razor-sharp piece of filmmaking.