Review: Nightshooters

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

Nightshooters
Directed by Marc Price
Ascendant Films; Dead Pixel Productions; White Hot Productions;
Indican Entertainment; Lightening Entertainment;
Mop Media; Nowhere Fast Productions
100 minutes, 2018 / 2021
www.facebook.com/nightshootersmovie
www.tribal.film/nightshooters 

I am not quite sure why, but I tend of like films that show mayhem behind the camera at a movie shoot. In this case, we are in London, and the crew is doing some final pick-ups overnight – a very common practice – when the space is clear. Most of the releases that fit into this category tend to be slashers, such as Lights Camera Dead (2007), or even A Serbian Film (2010).

Nightshooters, however, falls directly into the action and gangster film categories, rather than horror. It’s closer to Die Hard (1988) than a slice-‘em-up. That being said, the film-within-the-film that is being made is a nice mix of martial arts and an incredibly visceral and bloody zombie flick, Dawn of the Deadly. Those who wish for the gore, just the opening alone can make you smile (It did for me).

Rosanna Hoult, Kaitlyn Riordan

The location for this film (and the meta shoot) are two abandoned office buildings, high rise towers that face each other, ready for demolition. This gives a great cavernous feel that is both wide and broad, yet at the same time a bit claustrophobic. If you have ever been in a buidling that has been stripped down to its skeleton, you will know what I mean. Same no permits by the story's film crew were obtained.

Both the cast and crew of the meta film are a bunch of characters, including Harper (Doug Allen), a petulant, lecherous and alcoholic lead actor who is so vain he has his own picture on his phone case; Marshall (Adam McNab), a harried director who has no issues with shortcuts or legalities to get the shot, safety be damned; Oddbod (Nicky Evans), a sound guy who likes to complain (though I can’t really see where he is wrong); Kim (Mica Procter), an assistant who can’t get the coffee machine working; an ammo expert, Ellie (Rosanna Hoult); put-upon producer Jen (Canadian actor Kaitlyn Riordan) who amusingly wears an Montreal Expos hat; and a stunt coordinator, Donnie (real-life stuntman and martial artist, Jean-Paul Ly).

Jean-Paul Ly

And while our hearty, dysfunctional crew are setting up for the last night of shooting before the walls come tumblin’ down in the morning, there is something else going on in the building across the way: some gangsters, led by Tarker (Richard Sandling), are taking care of business by fiery execution (as mobsters do).

As they do what comes natural in the gangster world if you have watched such fare as “The Sopranos,” guess who happens to be watching the whole thing in the window across the way? Yep. Of course, the order is given by Tarker to his crew to take care of the problem in their own, initiable, mobster ways: go full Die Hard (see, I mentioned it for a reason).

Richard Sandling

The bad guys group are professional killers. The film crew are not, but they have their own talents, as we learn. It is definitely and us versus them situation, but will it be a Little Big Horn massacre scenario or something else? Good thing is, with this many people involved, it is guaranteed to have an interesting body count number. It does seem strange, though, that there were this many people needed for a mob hit, but who am I to complain about it? The more, the merrier, the more the messier. The practical SFX, done by Lea James, is nicely mixed with some CGI blood splattering.

The acting is top notch, and these are some well-honed talents, but for me the standout is Sandling, who reminds me of some of the gritter work done by Bo Hoskins in films like The Long Good Friday (1980), especially a speech he gives early on before the initial execution. The other bad guy worth mentioning is Nicholas Aaron as O’Hara, second-in-charge.

While technically not horror, as I stated above, there is definitely a level of high action drama with lots of blood and viscera as our tribes do what they need to survive. The martial arts action is actually quite amazing. No ridiculous wire work or spinning to the roof like many modern genre films, but rather more Jet Li solid body pounding work. Ly is definitely fun to watch. Some people have referred to this as a comedy, but I don’t see it, other than a couple of funny lines here and there. But I am totally comfortable considering this a solid action drama with a bit of comic relief.

As the side of advantage changes often and quickly, there is quite a lot of fun cat and mouse games between the groups for a while, as they are both maladjusted and some not so smart, but once the killing finally does begin, it’s graphic and brutal. There were multiple ones that were so impressive, I backed it up to watch again. Wheeeeee.

Mica Procter

The only odd thing in the film that poked my rassoodocks is that Marshall seems to disappear somewhere late in the second act, and then suddenly reappears towards the end of the film with no explanation that I caught.

The film crew aspect can be seen as a subtle commentary on what it is like to work on a low budget, to do whatever it takes to make it work. I have been on one indie set in my life, so it’s not like I have a wealth of experience, but I am assuming that this is pretty much more damn accurate than not, more often than not. On a modern, cultural aspect, while this was filmed three years ago (and now being released on disc and a number of digital and cable outlets after a Festival tour), it is interesting to see the questionable set safety dynamics in a post-Alec Baldwin/Rust period of filmmaking history.

The director, Marc Price, has proven himself with the likes of the zombie epic Colin (2008), and here he continues to do well to mix the gritty gangster style of, say, early Guy Ritchie, and to mix it with martial arts. The filmmaking aspect of this, such as the cinematography by Tom Barker is occasionally mouth-droppingly good, especially the lighting during the fighting scenes, and the editing by Price is tight and tense. The film is 100 minutes long, and keeps the attention for the full time.

 

Review: Star Vehicle

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

Star Vehicle (aka Bleading Lady)
Directed by Ryan Nicholson
Plotdigger Films; New Image Entertainment; Unearthed Films; MVD Visual
76 minutes, 2010 / 2021
www.plotdigger.com/movies/hanger-2009/
www.unearthedfilms.com
www.MVDVisual.com

Apparently, Unearthed Films – one of my fave labels at the moment for both its original content and reissues – has purchased the hardcore gore films of the late Vancouver director, Ryan Nicholson (d. 2019, way too young of natural causes). Nicholson’s love of the ‘80s slashers is evident here right from the start, be it the tone of the film, and even the synth score over the credits.

Dan Ellis

As with the recently released Hanger (reviewed HERE), this film also stars Dan Ellis, as Donald Q. Cardini, who stole every scene he was in during Hanger, and not just because of the prosthetic nose. One of the things the opening prologue scene made me think of is the multitude of videos available on YouTube about abusive Lyft and Uber passengers. For this film, Don is a driver for a movie company, shuttling cast and crew from accommodation to location, and back. His take on these privileged back seaters is certainly a fantasy of drivers, on occasion, I’m sure.

As grumpy as Donnie is, he is smitten by Reversa Red (Sindy Faraguna), “the Scream Queen,” who has an unknown stalker lurking about. He knows all about her life and career, and is super protective of her, even smashing a friend and fellow driver’s (Mike Li) face into a fence for suggesting he’d like to…well, you know. Don is egocentric and a buttinsky, needing to make his presence known, even if it means lipping off Luke (Nathan Durec), the newbie indie director of the film within the film (meta-film). I was wondering if she is a metaphorical or ideological stand-in for Debbie Rochon, the star of Ryan’s previous release.

Sindy Faraguna

He spends a lot of time on set, as we watch the director shooting his low-budget horror flick. This leads to some very dry humor that can be appreciated by the viewer, if they have been on a similar set, or not. The meta-film shooting of the horror epic are some of my favorite parts. Thing is, you can guess this is actually what it is really like on some sets, with some bad acting and minimal accommodations, including food.

There are some good action scenes (i.e., kills) throughout the first two acts as Don gets more and more deranged, reminding me of other nutty overly enthusiastic fanboy films, like The Fan (1981), The Fan (1996), or The King of Comedy (1982). Being an aspiring filmmaker with no direction or means, who is watching shoddy work, along with the presence of his idol, Don snaps, which affects Reversa, her co-star Sienna (cute Erindera Farga), the make-up person Jenny (Paige Farbacher), and Luke. Assisting Don on camera to film the debacle is the “Lodge Boy” (Nick Windebank). The latter becomes a willing accomplice to the mayhem.

Of course, things get increasingly erratic and especially bloody as these filmmakers get caught up in the vision of a maniac. I will not, of course, go into detail, and ruin the joy for the new viewer. Let’s just say, as this is a Ryan Nicholson release, that things are not all smooth sailing.

The thing is, most of the characters, with some exceptions (such as Luke), are actually likeable, and even with little to no backstory on any of them, it is easy to feel some sympathy for them, which of course makes the kills all that more engaging. There are a lot of prosthetic goodies from the meta-film, but the actions of Don feel more visceral, even if they too, in reality are compositions, like in Hanger, created magnificently by Michele Grady.

It is pretty easy to figure out who the stalker is, though, which is a nice ribbon-and-bow tied on the story that made a really nice soup with all the bits coming together. There are still plenty of surprises that pop up and can make the viewer go, “oh, I was not expecting that!” or admire how even some well-worn tropes are used (stalker) to an advantage.

Though I do not have the disk, some of the extras will include an archival full-length commentary with the director and lead actor Dan Ellis, “On the Set of Star Vehicle” presented by Left Coast TV, “Behind the Wheel of Bleading Lady,” a “Making Of” featurette, “Make-up Students + Acting Students,” Deleted Scenes and Alternative Opening, opening at Splatterfest at the Plaza Theatre, a photo gallery, and the trailer. The discs are available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Unearthed Films and MVD Entertainment at the links near the top. 

While I do not believe this is one of Nicholson’s strongest works that I have seen to date, it’s still heads over many others from either that period or even some that are being released now. I am sad that Nicholson died so early because he could have easily outshone some majors like Eli Roth, and many of his films have done just that; they just haven’t been recognized as such yet because of his passing. Unearthed re-releasing his catalog will hopefully shed more light on his fine work. Think of the early releases by Cronenberg and Peter Jackson; you know how some say, “His early works were amazing even though they were cheesy at times, but you could see the brilliance there”? Nicholson never got past that beginning point, so we will never know what kind of The Fly or Lord of the Rings opus he might have eventually given us. For now, thanks to Unearthed, we have the opportunity to enjoy what we have.

Review: Effects

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2017

Images from the Internet

Effects

Directed by Dusty Nelson

AGFA / Something Weird Video / Bududa Inc. / MVD Visual

84 minutes, 1980 / 2005 / 2017

https://www.americangenrefilm.com

www.mvdvisual.com

So-called snuff films became a focus in American culture during the late 1970s and early ‘80s, in large part, for two reasons. The first was due to some pretty bad films such as Snuff (1975), which supposedly had a real snuff scene at the end (any seasoned SFX fan could see that it was fake), and the Faces of Death series (which was also bogus when concerning humans). The other was the rising video boom that was desperately in need for film fodder for fans, and would take anything they could find and put it out there in the exploding video store market. Snuff, a film that probably would have easily passed into the mire of bad cinema along with the Face of Death, found new life and became shocking sensations that made national news.

This led to a series of “realistic” releases trying to ride the wave. Hell, no one would have probably even heard the word “snuff” if it weren’t for those reasons. But it did lead us to Dusty Nelson’s film, Effects. Thanks to a revival of the VHS craze from that period, which has now passed into the nostalgia phase, companies like American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) are putting out hi-def, Blu-ray versions of these very same films. In this case, thanks to distribution and legal issues, this film was not actually released until 2005 on DVD, and now this Blu-ray from a rare print (more on the quality later). Thing is, as bad as some of these releases are, I’m glad they are given new – err – life.

Joseph Pilato, Tom Savini

Essentially, in a convoluted way, the film plays with the notions of what is real, what is pretend, and what happens when they mix in the world of film (although there are some moments that seem like it’s television). This is what is facing the dating couple of special effects expert/cameraman Dom (Joseph Pilato) and actress Celeste (Susan Chapek); they – and others – are caught in a web of confusion, like the audience. How will this effect the director, Lacey (John Harrison), fellow actors Barney (Bernard McKenna), Rita (Debra Gordon) and Nicky (SFX wizard Tom Savini in one of his early acting roles)? The big question, however, appears to be how far would/should/could one go to make a film?

Though I’m certain they were just trying to keep current, it’s interesting to me how many then-current cultural signifiers they use throughout the film, such as someone playing the electronic game Simon, or all the drug references (e.g., lines of coke and Maryjane). Then there’s the clothing, such as the common place jeans-and-tees (with images like The Rocky Horror Picture Show logo from 1977). There are other small touchstones, similar to a take-off of the Bill Saluga classic, “You doesn’thave to call me Johnson” bit.  There are more references in here than in a Family Guy episode. Heck, there’s even a bit of a soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Richard II.

Susan Chapek

Speaking of the “looks of then,” it’s amazing how the look and pacing of the film is like porn films of the period. Yeah, there’s a couple of (female) nudie scenes, such as the then-obligatory and totally unnecessary-to-the-story shower scene that opens up the pic, but nothing that would really qualify as even softcore. And yet, the feel of the film, the pacing, acting and ambiance screams late ‘70s adult cinema.

That being said, much of the cast and crew are part of the Pittsburgh area film group, which included George A. Romero (RIP). Many of the cast and crew were in front or behind (or both) the camera on numerous Romero releases. In fact, one of the lead actors, Pilato, would play a pivotal role (and have an iconic scene) in Day of the Dead (1985).

Filmed in a pre-MTV period, by the standards of even a couple of years later, the camera is quite static, with long shots and dialogue that keeps the story at a steady pace, as we get to know, although not necessarily like (which is the point), most of the main characters. The camera pretty much sits there, or just lazily cuts from character to character.

Debra Gordon (Bernard McKenna in mirror)

Along with the languid pace until the last 15 minutes, even though there are some decent moments of tension throughout, the film bleeds out rather than spurts. I wish the story was a bit clearer as it was happening, but even with all the character build-up, there isn’t much to connect to with hardly anyone. This is not helped by the very grainy visuals (shot in 16mm) and spotty sound, but I’m glad to have had a chance to see this almost-lost piece of cinema history from a very specific period of time.

The first extra is the 59-minutes documentary After Effects: Memories of Pittsburgh Filmmaking (2005; Red Shirt Pictures), directed by Michael Felsher, in which Felsher interviews the cast and crew 27 years later in Los Angeles. The arc is how the director and his team first got into making indie films (then called guerilla filmmaking) including and documentaries and commercials, and grew into raising the funds and gathering all the threads with enough cojones to make Effects. Also featured and interviewed is the late, great Romero (d. 2017). There are also some cleaned-up clips both visually and audibly from the film that I wish had been the whole film proper. Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of watching this long featurette because I thought I was going to be bored by it for the hour, but it’s actually quite well done and kept my interest throughout. There is an additional After Effects full-length commentary with the director. Much of the talking is about the distribution deal that squashed the original film, and how it eventually came out. It’s also the link between Effects and After Effects. Not overly exciting stuff, honestly, but somewhat interesting in its historical perspective. To be truthful, I made it through about the first 20 minutes.

Next up are two rare shorts. The first is the 12-minute Ubu (1973), an experimental picture directed by John Harrison, who plays the director in Effects. He actually has a few really nice credits under his belt, including the 2000 mini-series version of Dune. Here, we meet the titular Ubu, who is the tyrant of a Dark Ages version of Poland (or, as the marionette narrator states, “that is to say, nowhere”). It’s definitely a piece for its time, in a period of paranoia about the Nixon Administration. This is followed by Dusty Nelson’s 15-minute Beastie. Chris (Paula Swart) is hitchhiking and gets picked up by George (Steve Pearson). They instantly start a relationship, and we follow it until… well, I’ll not give it away. It’s also a story of its generation, which seems to be just-post-hippie.

Last up is the 2005 full-length commentary with Nelson, Harrison and Pasquale Buba, who all make up the production company, Bududa Inc. It’s a quite decent combination of technical matters, anecdotes and intentions. They work really well together, and it shows in the way they respectfully let each other finish their own bits, such as positing what the film is actually about: “…What’s real and what’s not, and if you don’t know the difference, does it matter?” Even though it’s hard to tell who is telling what story, it really isn’t important because it’s the content of the tale that matters. It was interesting throughout.

In some ways Effects reminds me of Maniac (also 1980, and name checked in one form or another in the documentary sides, which is not surprising considering Savini also worked on that one), which also had an appearance and – err – effects by Savini. I would recommend any fan of the VHS or Pittsburgh film school to see Effects, because it is an important piece of work, even with its occasional wonkiness.