Review: Sinful

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Sinful

Directed by Rich Mallery

CineRidge Entertainment; Cinema Epoch; Napalm Love Productions

75 minutes, 2020

https://cinemaepoch.com/

www.madsincinema.com

For a pandemic, the gay community is the one to look for when it comes to dealing with it day to day. Their experience with AIDS has – er – grandfathered them (sorry about that term) into being years ahead of most. While sure, it more directly killed gay men, it was their lesbian sisters who often were the caregivers, so they still experienced that loss first-hand.

Why bring this up for this review? Two reasons: first, the film is based on the occurrences around a newly-married lesbian couple, Salem (Nicole D’Angelo) and Remy (Christine Lo), and that it was filmed in the middle of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been a lot of art that has come out of the isolation the disease has brought, and cinema is certainly included.

A pandemic calls for a small cast, and this one consists of a trio, including the two mentioned above and a mysterious masked man (Chris Spinelli) who shows up on occasion, and disappears just as fast. These three actors have been working on films together for a while now (e.g., Choke and Acrylic), so they are comfortable around each other and feeding off the other’s energy. This is important in creating cinematic synergy.

Salem and Remy are recently married and on the run from a bloody, “horrific” (as the film’s descriptor states on IMDB) crime, waiting in a house for some new identification to beat it on the lam. But their paranoia is deep and their distrust for anyone, including each other on occasion, tends to get the better of them. This is especially true with high-strung Remy, who is on the verge of a breakdown (or appears to be), while Salem is trying to hold it all together and be solid, but even she is having the heebie-jeebies (wishing she were at CBGBs?).

The film is essentially a character study of these two women, and how they are either coping – or trying to – with various levels of success. The tables often change and the dance around each other and their situation ebbs and flows.

This is a psychological drama more than a “horror thriller,” though there are hints to support both classifications. Sure, they might be in a multi-dimensional space where things repeat or change, it may all be in their increasingly paranoid minds, or perhaps this house is like a The Twilight Zone episode and they actually are in purgatory (hell?). It’s often left up to the viewer to decide.

Nearly everything is sparse, from the walls to the hallways, to the fact that you can’t see out the windows, giving the film a bit of claustrophobia and paranoia to the viewer as well. The skewed angles also throw us off a bit as I try to put it together with the two protagonists. And what’s with the pop-up man in a mask? The personification of guilt? Well, I am certainly not going to tell you.

As I said, the two leads play off of each other’s energies really well. Lo may get a bit shrill at times as Remy tries to sort out what she’s doing and what is happening, and D’Angelo does well to show emotion on her face as Salem is torn between her love for Remy, not wanting to get caught, and trying to find patience while the new IDs are out there somewhere. While Chris Spinelli doesn’t do much other than stand around in a mask, I have seen him in other works recently, and I have no question the man can act.

The film is emotionally draining, between the pent up fear of the characters, the shifting of the plot line to match the tilting of the camera angles, and even the complexity of the story against the starkness of the setting. We are thrust into a situation of panic, fear, and varying levels of trust, and we just have to hold on for the ride.

It is a well-scripted story, the acting is at times breathtaking, and the direction by Rich Mallery shows a sense of style that makes me want to see more.

The film is available on various media platforms, and will soon be available on Blu-ray.

Review: Irrational Fear

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Irrational Fear

Directed by Hunter Johnson

Slasher Studios; LAHorror.com; Terror Films

98 minutes, 2017 / 2020

www.slasherstudios.com/

www.lahorror.com

www.facebook.com/irrationalfear2017

Unless someone has a true phobia (aka an irrational fear), rather than just a normal one, even if it is only perceived rather than real, it’s hard to understand the torment that it can play with the everyday living of a normal life. I’m afraid of bees, but if one is on the other side of the window, I don’t freak out and can get close (unless it’s on me or buzzing near my ear). I have a fear, but not an irrational one. This film examines the more extreme form, where it feels like a matter of life or death.

One of my biggest fears is a film taking a really long time to spin its wheels before the action really starts. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but in this case, it’s a full half hour of exposition before the story actually gets anywhere (not counting the mandatory prologue where a woman wearing a Freddy K-style striped sweater reacts to her fear of being laughed at). As a side note here, the opening credits look great.

Charles Chudabala and Baker Chase Powell

Diminutive college psychology professor Dr. Sanders (Charles Chudabala) is the big man on the project presented, and he and his graduate student / assistant, Zach (Baker Chase Powell, who was also great in 2019’s Dolemite is My Name) takes a group of – phobia-ites? – to a lake house at Crivitz, Wisconsin, to do research into curing phobias; but not a cabin in the woods, as you can see the neighboring homes in the distance when they pull up. The group of six (not counting the Doc and Zach) are an odd bunch, including the lovely Taylor (Leah Wiseman) who doesn’t like being touched; child-like germaphobe Jake (Kaleb Shorey) and his anger-prone father with a tooth fixation, Nat (Tom McCarthy); high school jock Cameron (Mathias Blake) who is afraid of “choking” during his games; Kelly (Jennifer Nagle aka horror hostess Malvolia, the Queen of Screams) who is self-conscious about her self-appearance; and bad-tempered alcoholic Helen (Cati Glidewell), suffering from a fear of water… you know the lake right outside back is going to come into being a factor. In other words, there is a nice opportunity for a large body count, and that’s important, am I right? Who out there has a fear of seeing a horror film with a low kill rate?

Leah Wiseman

It’s told right off the bat (so I’m not giving anything away) that Taylor and Zach have a history having grown up a few houses apart, and that this is a group that is angry and, naturally, scared to open up. Hence, phobias. The collection of personalities kind of reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House (and it’s subsequent 1963 film, The Haunting) where a scientist gathers some people together who have had strange psychic phenomenon events occur around them into a haunted house to see what happens.

People being tortured by their own fears is hardly a new premise, and has been done a few times before, but because they talk about common fears (times ten), it’s something many in the audience can identify with; thankfully it’s not the cliché tropes like spiders and snakes. Here, wisely, the fears are about more common things like germs, water and being touched. So of course, these dreads are just the lynchpin to the story for when a supernatural element is introduced, somehow reminding me of Thir13en Ghosts (the 2001 version; the posters are even similar, and Wiseman has a Shannon Elizabeth vibe).

There is definitely also an element of Evil Dead (1981) as people start to disappear, one by one. Sure, no one comes back as demons, but the way “spirits” influence what happens around them, indicates there’s malevolence about. Sometimes we see the action, other times it’s off camera (budget constraints is my guess), but as things fall apart, the doctor tries mightily to keep shit together while others are freaking out. Personally, I would be with the latter group, and in fact, would be outta there. Go to one of the houses down the block, call a cab, order it to the local police, and “buh-bye.”

Cati Glidewell

The film wisely plays around with who is good and who is bad, though it’s pretty obvious from the outset if you are familiar with these kinds of things. Still, events and reasons are not what one expects (well, for me, anyway), and for that I’m happy as I love when a story line catches me by surprise; even if I know who did it, the reason why is usually where the big a-ha­ moments come in.

There is no gore in the film, but it gets a bit bloody at times, and all the SFX are practical, rather than digital. And in the out there department of nothing to do with nothing, though I am not sure of its significance, I found it interesting that there is a minor theme of strings of lights that are placed around rooms, both at the house and even in Taylor’s room at home (if the filmmakers want to say in the comments, I’d appreciate it). But that’s neither here nor there.

Despite the slight nod to Friday the 13th (1980), the end is manic and a bit over the top, if not a bit predictable, but it’s hyper fun, and that is the end point for which a film should be going. The story seems to be pulling in a couple of different directions in a form of distraction to what is really happening, but even with it’s slightly amateurish feel, and a couple of lags here and there that could have been cut, it really is a diamond in the rough, and I kinda like that.

Review: Babes in Psycho Land

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019
Images from the Internet

Babes in Psycho Land

Directed by David Silvio
Baywood Films / Kiss of Death Productions / z-Diet-3 Productions
82 minutes, 2019
www.facebook.com/babesinpsycholand/

The last film directed by David Silvio was a ditty called Fetish Dolls Die Laughing, from 2012 (reviewed HERE). So you can see, he has a way with titles; before calling out the Sexist Squad or PC Wagon, perhaps it should be noted that the film was written by David's spouse, Diana Silvio.

One thing is clear, and that is while fetishism is not the focus of this release, it is certainly present in many forms, including S&M, bondage, lesbianism, chloroform (yes, that’s a real thing), and sexual asphyxiation. It’s almost like it’s one of the characters, rather than the plot itself.



Danielle Brickman, Ryan Bergman

The story kicks off with the nabbing of a young runaway/petty thief named Cheryl (Jill Mesaros) by the cops, including the Sheriff (David Ogrodowski) and hot-pants wearing Officer Piper Paisley (Danielle Brickman). After fleeing the coppers, Cheryl finds herself at Aunt Mary’s (Melissa Rae Bender), an abuser and dominatrix who is trying to get reaccredited to run a group foster care home for boys. Apparently the last time didn’t work out so well, but the money was good, so...

 

Also living on the property is PTSD-laden Andy, his insane killer twin (or is he?) Alex (both played by Ryan Bergman, the centerpiece for this release), and Sam (David Dietz), a perverted growling grounds keeper who reminds me of Arte Johnson's Tyrone Horneigh character from "Laugh In." See, the problem is that Alex is fixated on his childhood friend, Jenny (Mary Houle), who… well, I’m not going to give it away, but it’s not good and it traumatized him.

Into this mix comes our short-shorts officer who is looking for Cheryl, and has a few sexual leanings of her own, as we come to find out. She sneaks around the house trying to get some information on Cheryl and learns a bit more than she’s bargained for, but is she equipped to handle it?

Well, that’s as far as I’m willing to say about the story proper, so no spoiler alerts. I should also confess that I am a happy wuss who has none of the fetishes presented here (mine is punk rock and horror films… duh), so some of the attraction goes over my head, but I can sympathize if not empathize. Desire is desire, and one can look at it that way; or, do what I did, which is see it as a slasher film with lots of (often weird, pinkish colored) blood. Most of the violence, and there is plenty, happens just beyond the frame of the camera, much like Hitchcock did with Psycho (1960), but the splatter is everywhere – and as far as I can tell, it’s all practical SFX; I didn’t really see any digital enhancements, which is cool.



Mary Houle, Melissa Rae Bender

This is the kind of film that you just need to turn your brain off, and enjoy the ride. There are plot holes, the occasional over- or under-acting, and behaviors of characters that would make no sense in the real world. But this is not the real world, this is micro-budget indie filmmaking, and in that context, it is successful. The characters are interesting, especially the question of who is real and who isn’t, and there is also a very subtle dark-dark-dark humor that runs throughout.

 

Because of the need for suspension of disbelief,

which can also be a really good thing, events happen that are unexpected. This is easier to do when the filmmaker is a bit lax on following the mainstream rules without the studio pressure for bottom line profit margin at any means necessary (e.g., the over-the-top-ness of Comic Book related mega-releases these days). That’s part of why I love indie films so much: the formula sometimes gets chucked out the door for Why Not?!

There are a few jump scares that aren’t that scary, but the thriller part of the story holds up decently, all things considered, as people are chased down, captured, escape, get captured, killed, etc. What’s also nice, in my opinion, is that despite the film’s title, it isn’t just women that fall victim to violence here and not just men that commit it, and it actually comes out quite equitable. Again, indie cinema = breaking rules.

Be sure to stay after the credits because there is a lead in to Silvio’s possible next film, Cannibal Sluts of Satan Place (oy, such a title…).

 

 

Review: Sheep Skin

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2016

Images from the Internet

Sheep Skin

Written and directed by Kurtis M. Spieler

Unearthed Films / Invasive Image / MVD Visual

79 minutes, 2013 / 2016

www.unearthedfilms.com

www.mvdvisual.com

So I guessed the ending in about three minutes. Happily, I was wrong, even though I still like my idea, I’m glad they went in a different direction. That’s a good sign about this Boston-based production.

What I especially like about the film is the dichotomy of what makes a monster. Is the possibility that a man is a werewolf and slicing-and-dicing people (mostly women, it seems), a person who is a womanizer to the level of workplace harassment, or the people who are convinced someone is a creature and then goes about abusing that individual?

Let me back up and do some ‘splainin’. Todd (Laurence Mullaney) is a middle management douche office drone who is not exactly dedicated to his wife Nicole (Jamie Lyn Bagley) or two kids, but is more of a philanderer as is evidenced by the creepy opening scene. He gets no stars for sympathy at this point, though that’s also questionable at any time.

He is kidnapped by a punk rock band (!?) and brought to a closed warehouse. How can you tell they’re a punk rock band? The leader wears a leather jacket over a black hoodie, a studded belt, and one of those ‘70s-‘80s swinging chain things hanging from his belt to his pants pocket. It isn’t until near the very end that we find out actually they are a singing group, when they try to talk to a security guard and they say they have the band’s equipment set up.

The hoodied ringleader of this little excursion is Schafer (Michael Schantz). He knows Todd from high school days, and in a previous full moon his younger sis was butchered by what seems like a large animal. She was having an affair with Todd, and now Schafer is convinced that Todd is the wolfman in sheep’s clothing.

Helping Schafer out is his band, the Brutalizers, including unpredictable and impetuously hotheaded and violent Boston Clive (named for his accent; Zach Gillette), the scared and out of his league Marcus (Bryan Manley Davis), and Schafer’s girlfriend and lead singer, Dylan (Ria Burns-Wilder, who is also the singer for the band In Rod in real life). With most of them, even though they are the “bad guys,” they garner a lot of sympathy, especially Marcus and Schafer (okay, so let’s call them anti-heroes),

The warehouse set, filled with a chair and clear plastic dropcloths, looks more like it could be from American Guinea Pig (2014), A Serbian Film (2010), or perhaps even Reservoir Dogs (1992), for which there is a certain kinship of elements. Its simplicity helps the viewer concentrate more on the story than on the surroundings, which is a nice change. It’s also roomy enough to give both a feeling of claustrophobia and yet a false sense of freedom, without restricting the crew to a corner.

If you’re worried about me giving anything way, rest assured I’m not one to offer much towards spoiler alerts, even when I want to discuss them badly. Suffice it to say that things go unanticipatedly bumpily, as they tend to do in any film where there one group holds a person or persons hostage.

Most of this film is more of a psychological thriller, as alliances dally, fear and anger is a constant on both sides of the action, and as I said, the viewer begins to wonder who is the true monster(s). Rest assured all will be known. Without giving away anything, the ending reminded me a bit of a story from an old Eerie or Creepy magazine with a similar story ending, which often relied on a Richard Matheson-esque twist.

Most of the acting in the film is quite good. I’ve said in previous blogs that I am a fan of Bagley, who has a good sense of line reading and a keen way of expressing “Are you outta yer fuckin’ mind?” sentiments. Her role is more of an extended cameo, but she makes her scenes stand out. Mullaney does an excellent job as the focus of this group of amateur vigilantes, making the audience wonder whether to hate him or pity him, but he definitely makes it hard, because whether this band of outlaws is right or wrong, Todd’s a tool.

The standout for me, though, was Schantz. As the situation spirals further and further out of control, the intensity he projects come off as real, rather than cartoonishly over the top, even when the action is extreme. Nice job.

The effects are… well, here is where I don’t want to give anything away. The blood and gore look great, and it does please. That they use appliances rather than digital is a nice touch and earns bonus points. Let’s leave it at that for now.

The music by Yuppicide is excellent, of course, but the standout for me was the music over the final credits by the Dick Punchers, in actuality Ria Burns-Wilder and her band, In Rod. They do a hysterical song called “The Dick Punchers’ Anthem” that is straight out of old school punk, and is guaranteed to make you both gird your loins and laugh throughout (e.g., “If you eat my falafel / I’ll punch you in the dick… / Oi! Oi! Oi!”).

Lots of extras are included, such as a decent director’s commentary (also one of the executive producers, Nicholas Papazoglou, who unfortunately is hard to hear as he’s not close enough to the mic), a deleted/trimmed scene that I’m glad they too out because it gives too much information, “Tearing Back the Skin: A Look at the Making of Sheep Skin” which is 11-minute featurette about the SFX and is interesting, and the 12 minute 2007 short with the same name on which the film is based (also by Spieler; only Mullaney appears in both, in the same role) that is worth the watch. Also included is a second version of the film, but this time in Black and White, including an intro by Spieler to explain why. The only thing missing is the usually included long list of trailers of Unearthed Films, but probably due to lack of space considering how much is already included.

This is a meat and potatoes kind of film that is well written and shot on a shoestring budget, a decent cast, and well pace and put together. To be honest, I felt a bit impatient watching it through to the end because I wanted to know if my guess at the ending was correct. When I realized I was wrong, I sat down and watched it again (yes, this time in monochrome), and then I heard the commentary, which is only available in the color version. After spending over three hours in this film and its extras, it was still enjoyable.