Review: Maniac Driver

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

Maniac Driver
Directed by Kurando Mitsutake
Akari Pictures; Reelgore Releasing; 8 Ball Films; DiabolikDVD; MVD Visual
75 minutes, 2020 / 2022
www.mvdvisual.com

Although this film is Japanese in origin and language (with subtitles), it may be inspired by the real Hong Kong serial killer portrayed in Dr. Lamb. He was also a taxi driver serial killer.

The opening credits’ title states this is a “Japanese Giallo.” Well, the opening sequence screams of it, as a woman in a spandex bathing suit sensually strips in a shower, and is murdered by the titular, Fujinaga (Tomoki Kimura). The color palate (by Shuji Hamamoto and Mitsuo Kojima) is correct for a Giallo, with lots of primary colors, a knife, and a helmeted killer. Actually, what the opening made me think of was a cross between Italian Giallo and the ending credits of What’s Up Tiger Lily? (1966).

Tomoki Kimura, Iori Kogawa

The tone of the over-thought narration describing the city definitely smacks of Taxi Driver (1976). Kimura even looks a bit like a younger DeNiro; heck, there is even a scene with him in front of a mirror holding a weapon and giving the whole “You talking to me?” speech. I have no doubt this was meant as an homage, rather than a rip-off.

While this definitely has a retro-Giallo feel, there is a Japanese spin on it. For example, as a businesswoman is being chased, she takes off her jacket so the film camera can get her braless bouncing, there is a close-up slo-mo shot of her backside where you can see her underwear beneath her overly short skirt, and, of course, by the end of the scene, her top is exposed. To be fair, in the body of the film (pun not intended), there is also male nudity.

The driver is depressed after his wife was murdered and he was stabbed in a home invasion by someone with the same helmet as him. This sours him on society, and both wants to die and to kill. But, how much of his killing his customers is real and what is fantasy? This is a territory touched on in American Psycho (2020).

The nudity and sex is a-plenty here, so it is no surprising that many of the women/victims in this film come from the world of adult cinema, such as Saryu Usui, Ayumi Kimito, and Ai Sayama (as is stated on the back of the Blu-ray box. Through fantasy and memory, this turns out to be quite a softcore flick. There is also extraordinarily little actual dialogue, with most of the philosophizing happening in the driver’s head. It ranges from injustices, to positive feminism, to despair.

Slowly, as his anger as desperation grows, he starts looking for a victim to take out his perceived vengeance on society and to end his own miserable life. Meanwhile, we see him taking customers in his cab numerous times, through a cab-cam with somewhat blocked faces. Did you know that DeNiro drove a cab in New York for two months to get a better idea of what the character goes through?

There are a lot of shots of Tokyo and the editing (John Migdal) and cinematography (Makoto Hayashi) is noteworthy, such as the city reflected through the moving hood of the dark taxi. Most of the shooting is normalized, but the fantasies are in high-art Giallo colors and lighting techniques. The music during these sequences are also interesting, in a distorted way.

Things pick up when he meets his (adult) “Jody Foster” in the form of injured Mayumi (Iori Kogawa), and he finally sets in motion to carry out his idea for a murder/suicide. Heck, there is even a long-haired villain (Yoshiki Kondô) who is reminiscent of Harvey Keitel.

When the reality is revealed and the facts are finally shown, well, some of it took me by pleasant surprise. The ending nicely sums it up, but I won’t tell…

The extras on this Blu-ray are as follows: an Audio Commentary by the director, Kurando Mitsutake, who fortunately is very fluent in English, so no subtitles needed (born in Toyko, grew up in Fresno, CA). He skillfully goes back and forth between descriptions of what is happening on the screen, and anecdotes about the whole process and the cast/crew. Worth at least one listen. We also learn that the title is a mash-up of insane serial killer flick Maniac (1981), and said Taxi Driver.

The “Maniac Driver: Behind the Scenes”-featurette (30 min) is exactly that, mostly setting up shots (and then we see what they filmed), and includes some brief interviews with the main cast. It is very basic but kept my interest. Finally, there is a Trailer (in English) and Slideshow, along with a nice 4-sided box insert cover with images of the film’s original posters. There are also subtitles available in three languages.

There is a prestigious amount of nudity, sex, and violence, not to mention blood and some gore (SFX by Yoshinari Dohi). The story is a bit weak and repetitive at times, and seems to circle around the point, but by the third Act, it is quite a ride.

IMDB listing HERE

For some reason, the trailer on YouTube is captioned in German:

Review: Mandingo Sex Addict

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2015
Images from the Internet

Mandingo Sex Addict

Directed by Sean Weathers
Full Circle Filmworks
87 minutes / 2015
www.fullcirclefilmworks.com
www.mvdvisual.com

Tracy Spencer (Sean Weathers) is a bit of a nerdy guy: a part-time sports writer who has a strong belief in Jesus. He’s in love with Felicia (Catalina Dias), who has just left an abusive long-term relationship and is not ready to just jump into one with Tracy yet.

In a sad state, Tracy runs into the now grown-up sister of a school chum, leading them to form the creature with two backs and smoke something out of a pipe, like many good Christians would do (especially if they’re Republican, apparently, but I digress…). She nonchalantly tells him about the suicide of someone close to him that happened a few years back. He hits the bottle, depressed because everything is going bad for him. There’s even a poster of Edvard Munch’s The Scream in the bedroom to reflect his attitude. Luckily, this narcissist has a bestie, Nick (Weather’s regular onscreen sidekick Waliek Crandall); unfortunately, the double dog is trying to make moves on Felicia.

Anyway, she has a change of heart and being the guilty Christian he is, Tracy tells her the truth about his fling, so she rejects him. These events start him on a downward spiral that leads to the title of the film.

Tracy is both similar and polar opposites of Weathers’ last few roles in Scumbag Hustler and Ace Jackson is a Dead Man. The other characters were full of false bravado fueled by addiction, but Tracy is more of a conservative cliché who cries and whines often, with glasses and Andy Williams-style sweaters (scarily, the gray one is almost exactly like one I own), but with sliding down the razor blade of his titular sex addiction, he de-evolves into a crazed, shell of himself.

Like many of Weathers’ films, there is a the introduction of a bit of a larger social aspect, such as one of Tracy’s friends, Brent (Kevin J. Williams) having distaste for Nick’s use of the N-word. However, this same character has no problem referring to women by the B-word, so I’m not sure if the message is just not use the N-word, or the hypocrisy and sexism. Kinda works looking at it both ways.

Speaking of which, obviously from the title, there is a lot of sex, all involving Weathers’ character. Sean is not afraid to show his nads, ass or anything else as he beds woman after woman. And, adding a bit of sexism myself, they are stacked, Jack. Cleavage aplenty and nudity overflowing as body parts and appendages swing wild. This is easily Weathers’ best looking female co-stars to date; acting levels vary, however, but that can be said historically across the board in any low budget genre.

Also amid the high drama, there is also quite a bit of humor, such as when the character Crayon (?!?) Jackson (Adonis Williams) goes into full gangsta mode and threatens Tracy (e.g., if the viewer takes a shot for every time he uses “dawg,” they’d possibly die of alcohol poisoning).

Using guerilla-style filming around New York City and Brooklyn during winter, it’s nice to see Coney Island, and especially the Narrows between Ceasar’s Bay [sic] and the Verrazano Bridge, very close to where I grew up. Aswad Issa also keeps getting better with the camera, so a special nod to him.

The ending is a bit abrupt, but actually it’s probably how it should end; no, I won’t go into details, but I can see debates about it down the line between film geeks like myself, which is a wonderful thing. The only unsatisfying piece is the incomplete credits (e.g., the cast and characters), and that’s pretty minor in the scheme of things.

Definitely a strong release for Sean Weathers, and from what I understand he is going to be putting further Blaxploitation / exploitation / softcore sexploitation films aside for a while for some straight-up horror. That should be fun, too!

Review: Ace Jackson is a Dead Man

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2015
Images from the Internet

Ace Jackson is a Dead Man

Directed by Sean Weathers and Aswad Issa
Full Circle Filmworks
67 minutes, 2015
www.fullcirclefilmworks.com
www.facebook.com/acejacksonisadeadman
www.mvdvisuals.com

While I sometimes kid director Sean Weathers about his lack of making horror films any more, he really has nailed down the exploitation / sexploitation / Blaxploitation genres into a single category in a way that I imagine would make Melvin van Peebles smile.

As usual, a very toned and six-packed Weathers plays the lead, and also par is that the main character is not a likeable lot, up to his dick in violence, drugs, hookers and trouble. A lowest echelon wannabe gangsta (am I allowed to say that?), Jackson has picked up some pure coke from an evil tempered and dangerous dealer named Mr. Bigelow (aka Mr. Biggs), fully embodied by Adonis Williams, who does a magnificent job. Shit, I was at home watching this and he made me a bit frightened!

Even his hooker girlfriends are scary. One won’t give him the time of day (though shows us a whole bunch of cleavage) at first, and another, named Chelsea, is in for a penny-in for a pound of coke. She dances and twerks for Ace (aka, the audience), and then lots of flesh on flesh (the sex talk is right out of a porn playbook in a “Pin me down with your hot pussy!” kind of thing). As the writer, Weathers also gives himself lots of opportunity to co-mingle with all the female cast members onscreen. This gives him a chance to show off his physique, as well as act with some fine looking actresses in softcore sex scenes.

The Cramps once sang that “All Women Are Bad,” and while I don’t agree with that, here the Eve backstabs the Adam – or Ace – and the drugs are gone. Of course, this puts our little pal in a pickle to pay back the bad dude, hence the title of the film. That being said, while there are some devious dishy dames, it is also a couple of women who are the most pitifully entrapped in the lifestyle by our reckless protagonist (I don’t believe “hero” or even “anti-hero” would be appropriate).

Over a soundtrack of some classic way-back beautiful Blues songs, Ace roams the Brooklyn ‘hoods trying to find his way out of the possibility of ending up in a hole “with nothing showing but the toes.” But one thing to learn about this film is that comeuppance, the negative side of karma, comes hard to those who play by their own rules and greed.

This is filmed purposefully in a very grainy high-contrast black and white by Issa, and while some of the shadows are occasionally too dark and block out the faces, it is always the right level of moody, so it all works out fine in that aspect. Perhaps the darkness is meant to reflect the characters’ dark souls. Also the sound is clear, which is a plus. There’s still the occasional rough edit here and there, but the scenes flow well and enable the story, which is a pleasure.

One of the character’s names is Trayvon Martin, a nod to the teenager shot in Florida by psycho pseudo-cop George Zimmerman. No matter how racially charged and negative the characters can be in a Weathers film, the social justice level is definitely there as well, sometimes blatant like less-than-subliminal police crime photos of real murdered criminals and prostitutes (some are quite gruesome, including decapitated heads). Weathers effectively used this trick before, showing historic lynching photos to emphasize a point. There are also a number of times when the action between scenes is interrupted by text discussing social ills that may have helped lead to the crime story in the film, such as wealth of the 1%, poverty, and the need for social programs. Rather than a hindrance, this works on a level in lieu of character background.

As for Ace, well, he’s not a nice guy, and it’s nearly impossible to feel any kind of pity for him as he drags innocents into his twisted lifestyle. I would have liked a bit more of a background than someone saying, “I’ve always hated you” or some rolling text (though that was smart), I want to know why he’s developed into such the substance and person abuser that he has become.

Will all the violence and the mistreatment of just about everyone by just about everyone (with the rare exception of some dragged into the mess), there is also a delicate sense of humor that arises occasionally, such as a burglar wearing a Richard Nixon mask, stating they both were crooks.

I’ve always enjoyed a Weathers (and Issa) release that has a narrative thread rather than made up of various set pieces, and this one is definitely one of his better; and I’m not saying that because of the shout out at the end of the film. You’re welcome, Sean (and Issa).

Along with the main feature, there are three classic (public domain) criminal features included on the DVD, including Mr. Scarface (1976, aka I padroni della citta, with Jack Palance), Family Enforcer (1976, aka The Death Collector, starring Joe Pesci), and most notably for this DVD, High School Caesar (1960, with the ever wonderful John Ashley).

There are also two original shorts. The first is the 3:17 "Forgiveness," directed by Aswad Issa, is a beautifully esoteric and experimental piece consisting of objects always spinning, pixilation, and if I understand correctly, a baby who is doomed from the start.

The second, also directed by Issa,is a 4:27 piece titled "The Pimp Chronicles." In sepia, we meet two hookers who discuss their lives to someone off-screen (Weathers, I believe). This doesn't sound scripted, which makes it quite scary, in spite of the ease and banality of tone.

There is a lot to chose from here, so give yourself some time and work your way through. It's worth it.
 

Q&A with Director Sean Weathers about "Ace Jackson is a Dead Man"

Text (c) Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2015
Images from Sean Weathers / the Internet

The review of the Sean Weathers' starring/co-directed/edited film can be found HERE.

Indie Horror Films: You shot the majority of this film 5 years ago, why so long of a delay in releasing it?Sean Weathers: My partner [Aswad Issa]and I shot principal photography of Scumbag Hustler [reviewed HERE], Mandingo Sex Addict and Ace Jackson is a Dead Man in 2010, but then I took an unintended hiatus from filmmaking for four years. Life in general got in the way; the years went by quickly before I realized they were gone. Now here I am, trying to make up for lost time.

IHF: What went into your decision-making process to make this film a high-contrast black and white with added graininess?
Sean:  The world and the characters in this are very gritty, dark and dirty, and I wanted the look of the film to match that.

IHF: Why the old time blues and folk music?Sean:  There were a lot of parallels between the songs, the people who sung them, the time they were living in, and the Ace character and the world I built around him.

IHF: Why the stills of the dead bodies throughout the film?
Sean:  When writing this I imagined someone opening up a newspaper and seeing a B&W image of a thug that was shot in the head in the hood for a drug deal that went wrong. With that seed planted in my head, once I started editing I wanted to further emphasize the inevitability of death and how it’s always there waiting on us; no matter what we do or how hard we try it’s the final chapter for all of us. In this case it’s murder, so I wanted to show people who died savagely and prematurely.

IHF: There is scrolling text throughout the film telling us certain disturbing facts about government and corporate power. Why the decision to put that in the film and how does it relate to the story?Sean:  I think it’s easy to go through life and just focus only on what you see affecting you and not think on a wider scale. I wanted to show how macroeconomics – the government, the country, the banks, large corporations, etc. – can effect microeconomics, you.

IHF: How were you able to achieve a natural feel to the dialogue in the film?
Sean:  Most of the dialogue and about half of the scenes were improvised. I had written a script called “Man Hunt” that we never shot. We took the plot and cherry-picked some of the scenes from that script and made up the rest on set as we went. We were looking to shoot something very quickly; I’d say about a third of the scenes in the film were shot with one take. [Outtakes reel can be seen HERE]

IHF: The DVD also includes three classic crime thrillers: Mr. Scarface (1976), Family Enforcer (1976) and High School Caesar (1960), plus two original short films: The Pimp Chronicles and Forgiveness. Can you tell us a little bit about the other five films?Sean:  The three crime thrillers all have the same common theme with Ace, of a low level criminal trying to earn respect and work their way up the ladder. The Pimp Chronicles features a pimp off-screen interviewing three hoes about life in the business. Forgiveness is an award-winning short film directed by my partner that I helped co-produce.

IHF: Anything else about the film you want to mention, while we have the chance?
A - Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to talk about my film. Ace Jackson is a Dead Man, which is available for pre-order now on www.fullcirclefilmworks.com, will be officially released on June 23, 2015.