Meet the Denovio Family: Caesar and Otto and Fred’s Eerie Interview

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2016
Images from the Internet
www.caesarandotto.com

They’re creepy and they’re goofy…

Caesar is pissed off, not at any single thing or person specifically, he just always thinking – or let’s say believing – that life should be with him at the center, and in control of it. His older half-brother, Otto, isn’t necessarily running on all motors, but is fueled more on emotions than anything else, and has a lot of loss and failures behind him. Together they spar, but they are each other’s yin and yang. Their shared father, lothario Fred, is a huggable, lovable rascal who doesn’t take crap from anyone, but can charm the wallet out of your pocket and you’d be glad. The only thing he can’t control is his sons, but he is joyfully along for the ride to see both how he can help keep some peace in the family, and what he can get out of it.

Caesar and Otto can now be considered part of a film franchise, with director and writer Dave Campfield at the helm. He also plays the anal and the occasionally somewhat sexually ambiguous Caesar. Otto is faced by the slovenly looking Paul Chomicki, who has a natural talent for comedy timing.  Both of these gents grew up in the Commack/Kings Park area of Long Island, and have been friends since teenhood.  Joining the brothers is real-life Disneyland Nurse Scott Aguilar, who has found a way to medicate his acting bug through Caesar and Otto’s dad, Fred. Scott manages to occasionally steal scenes with his natural charm (hey, he doesn’t work for the Magic Kingdom fer nuthin’).

As I was saying, there have been a series of these films, including shorts, such as Caesar and Otto in the House of Dracula (2009) and Caesar and Otto Meet Dracula’s Lawyer (2010), to some features, including (but not all) Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre (2009), Caesar and Otto’s Deadly Xmas (2012), and the most recent Caesar and Otto’s Paranormal Halloween (2015). As the series progresses, we are getting to meet some other wonderful recurring characters and actors, as well. The films are available through Wild Eye Releasing and MVD Visual.

Over time, the three main characters have evolved (unlike, say, the Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers, who’s wondrous personas pretty much remained the same throughout their runs), I believe for the better. For that reason, along with the fact that their films are quite funny while remaining in the genre, that I asked the three main actors in this series some questions I was pondering. For honesty’s sake, I asked Campfield for an interview, and he suggested I should include Chomicki and Aguilar, and he was totally right.

Oh, and Campfield has directed (and acted) in other films beyond the Caesar and Otto timeline, including a hysterical one that is quite relevant now: a short called The Perfect Candidate (can be seen HERE).

Now, here are the humans behind the cinematic Denovio clan.

Otto and Caesar

IndieHorrorFilms.BlogSpot (IHF): Let’s start off with some obvious questions and build. How did Dave and Paul get to know each other, and then become friends? I’m assuming, in part, it’s because you grew up 5 miles from each other in the Kings Park/Commack area on Long Island. And how did Scott, who lives in California, come aboard?

Dave Campfield (Caesar): My older brother had a friend named Dan. He was the filmmaking prodigy of the High School that I went to. Dan could take pots, pans, and construction paper and build the cockpit of an airplane. His big effort was a VHS camcorder feature length thriller named The Highest Fear, about a hijacking. One of the stars of that movie was a twelfth grader named Paul Chomicki. I thought he was great and let him know that during one lunch break. We became good friends. I was thirteen and just starting to make my own movies on a camcorder. Paul became my go-to actor.
Paul Chomicki (Otto): He was two grades below me. We lived about 10 minutes from each other. We became friends as we were both into filmmaking and movies in general.
Scott Aguilar (Fred): I'm in Southern California (born and raised a long, long time ago...). There was a newspaper called Dramalogue. It later changed to Backstage West and Backstage East. Now it's just Backstage. It's a newspaper that one can list casting notices. Dave put an ad in and I sent him my photo and acting resume. I met him and Paul. He had a first draft script for our original Caesar and Otto. We've now made 4. It was a take-off on reality TV which was still pretty new. That was 2005 [released in 2007 – RG].

IHF: Where did the concept of Caesar and Otto come from?

Dave: When Paul lived near me, we’d get together a few days a week and work on sketches. It was in that time that the characters of Caesar and Otto emerged in a short movie we made. Eventually Paul moved to Los Angeles, and I, in time, had the idea of expanding the characters into feature films.
Paul: As Dave [said], Caesar and Otto started as a little sketch we did on video. One big difference though is I played Otto as Mentally Challenged. I then acted in a play with Dave and he was kind of inspired by how I played my character, who was a bit lazy and silly.

Caesar and Fred

IHF: Many seem to compare the series to Abbott and Costello or the Three Stooges (I’m guilty of this, as well). Do you see this as a good thing or a hindrance?

Dave: People gravitate toward what they know, so it’s a good thing. I also happen to be a fan of the above mentioned so I’m quite flattered by the comparison. I don’t set out to copy them, as we’re our own distinct characters, but they were certainly an inspiration.
Scott: I think any comparison to well-known comedy teams is an amazing complement. I've always thought we were closer to the Marx Brothers.
Paul: Yes, we are kind of like the Three Stooges, especially with Scott Aguilar as our dad as the third Stooge. Inspired for sure by the Odd Couple as well. I think of Caesar and Otto like Ren and Stimpy, which I was a fan.

IHF: The characters have undergone some transformations since Caesar and Otto, the first film released in 2007. How would you describe them?

Paul: Dave's character of Caesar is certainly more cartoonish in the earlier movies. Otto's character hasn’t really changed too much.
Dave: I used to simply think the bigger the better in terms of performing Caesar. Paul likewise felt so and would spur me on to be bigger! Louder! But at one point I realized I was annoying about 80 percent of the audience and decided to dial it back some.

IHF: There are a lot of genre actors who appear in the films, such as Debbie Rochon, Felissa Rose, Brinke Stevens, Andre Gower, Vern Wells and the late Robert Z’Dar, to name just a very few. How do manage to wrangle such amazing talent?

Dave: Largely through Felissa Rose, who’s been in the producing department of these movies. In the case of Linnea Quigley and Lloyd Kaufman, that was the work of Joe Randazzo (producer as well).

Lloyd Kaufman as grandpa talking to kid Caesar

IHF: Lloyd Kaufman is known for being such a wild card; what was it like to work with him [Caesar and Otto’s Dead Xmas, as Caesar’s maternal grandfather]?

Dave: Easy going, fun and relaxed. I wish I had something juicy for you, but he was just a normal guy as soon as the cameras stopped rolling. He also gave the cast and crew lots of Troma posters and memorabilia, which was great.
Paul: I never met Lloyd Kaufman as we didn't have a scene together.

Dave Campfield, who plays Caesar (and directs the films)

IHF: While so many pictures that spoof major genre tropes, such as A Haunted House (2013) and most of the Scary Movie franchise seems to fall on its face (no matter how money much they make, in my opinion), how is it that the Caesar and Otto films seem so much more accurately biting, even though not bringing in the big bucks (although ought to be) the same ways?
Dave: Well, thank you for that. Clearly those movies are made by people with major talent but often it’s far from the artists’ best work. Though truth be told I did very much enjoy the first Scary Movie [agreed; they do just keep getting worse, though – RG].  In the case of Caesar and Otto... I think what helps is that it’s really focused on the plot as a whole. And the characters: Caesar, Otto, Jerry, Dad, aren’t spoofs of other characters you see in horror. We have our own history, likes, dislikes... Cindy in Scary Movie [2000] is just an exaggerated version of Sid in Scream [1996]. Whereas Caesar and Otto are their own people. You can get more involved with their stories as such. As far as the style of comedy, I have my feelings about the state of horror and I just let the screenplay reflect that. If I made it for a big studio they’d probably tell me to keep it simple, and in turn, I’d probably lose the satirical edge I hope these movies have.
Scott: Between you and I, I think it was lack of publicity and marketing. None of us were involved in that. Dave oversaw it all.
Paul: Caesar and Otto has a much bigger audience out there. We need to find them any way we can. We simply don't get the publicity of a major studio.
IHF: Dave, how do you go about getting ideas for the gags? Do you see other genre films and write notes about things most people don’t notice? Is it a solo input, or do you have feedback from others, like Paul, other actors, the producers, etc.?
Dave: Paul and many of the actors tend of offer their two cents on set. Pretty much the writing process consists of me locking myself away from the world and committing it to paper. Rich Calderon, however, who provides the practical effects and Production Design, probably has the greatest input. He reads the script, lets me know what can and can’t pull off for the budget, and offers some great gag suggestions as well. For the writing on Paranormal, I broke out every haunted house movie I could get my hands on and tried to find parallels in them all. There were plenty.
Scott: Dave usually has the major bits already in the script, but he's always open to ideas. We would always shoot it his way first but always had a chance to try other things.

Paul Chomicki, who plays Otto

IHF: Otto seems to be searching for a specific someone to make him happy, be it a childhood sweetheart [Deadly Xmas] or his mother [Paranormal Halloween], to no success. Comments?

Paul: Otto has had a lot of people abandon him in his youth. He needs Caesar as Caesar needs him.
Dave: Otto’s just a lost soul looking for love... So, you’re right. All though meeting his mother certainly does make him a more complete person.

IHF: Gratuitous, tongue-in-cheeky question: there is always one topless scene in every film. Is this a social commentary on genre films, or is there another point, such as a sneaky way of getting to see someone topless?

Dave: Actually Summer Camp Massacre didn’t showcase any on screen nudity. I was asked to by its executive producer (then the distributor) to include some nudity, and had a good gag lined up for it, but it fell through. So, I plugged that same joke into Deadly Xmas. When Paranormal came along, a collaborator said he knew an actress he thought would be great for the stripper character and said she’s very comfortable with on screen nudity. I just threw my hands up in the hair and said what the hell. In other words, the only film I wanted to have nudity in didn’t, and the other two did. Go figure.
Scott: To be honest I liked the way it was done in Summer Camp because it made fun of the gratuitous T&A in other movies. He did use a bit in Deadly Xmas, and the gag was her boobs were pixelated. I don't think we really needed it in Paranormal Halloween. Same with language. In the first movies we never used four-letter words and it worked as a joke. That also changed.
Paul: There is nudity in the films because it's in my contract. I refuse to do a Caesar and Otto movie without seeing boobs. In our [forthcoming] Spring Break movie there must be three pairs of tits or I walk. [The full title is planned be Caesar and Otto’s Spring Break of the Living Dead – RG.]

IHF: I hope you don’t mean three pair on the same person… Speaking of which, there is a lot of Troma in your films, including acting talent (such as Rochon and Tiffany Shepis; and, of course, Kaufman). How much of an influence was the Troma films on your childhood, and can you give an example or two of how it changed your life (such as particular films, or scenes)?

Paul: I personally was always a fan of Toxic Avenger since my youth, so it was cool Lloyd got in one of our movies.
Dave: Troma was a later discovery in life. My love of comedy horror was forged by The Simpsons Treehouse of Terror episodes and the Abbott and Costello comedy horror installments. But when I did discover Troma, I found a voice that was completely unique and off the wall... and it was my cup of tea (well, a lot of the times at least).

Scott Aguilar, who play Fred

IHF: Scott, you’ve done a lot of medical/nursing work on some major films. Any anecdotes you’d like to share? And how did you make the transition to the front of the camera? You seem very comfortable in the role of Fred.

Scott: You've been peeking at my IMBD page, I see. Yes, I have a pretty mixed resume. I started on stage as an actor in 1970. It wasn't until 1984 when I was studying Theatre at the University of Southern California that I began directing stage shows. At that time I also was introduced to a USC Film School student (Glenn Burton) who was trying to write a stageplay and needed help. We collaborated and I did do it as a stageplay at the University, but we decided it would be better as a screenplay. We wrote it as a romantic comedy and started making rounds in Hollywood trying to sell it. By 1988 we had written three more romantic comedies. One of the professors at the film school liked our stuff and got us a meeting with Henry Winkler (who had just opened a production company at Paramount Studios [Fair Dinkum Productions – RG]). [Winkler] liked our stuff and things were going to move forward. The next morning the Writers Guild of America went on strike; we were not union members. Our scripts were never seen again. I got into V work in 1983. I was on a research team at the USC School of Medicine, working on AIDS (which was brand new). My boss assigned me to work with Jack Klugman and his production team to work up a Quincy M.E. [television program, 1976-83 – RG] script about AIDS. During that same time I was assigned to help a production company called West 57th [a news-focused television program, 1985-1989 – RG] who had a new news magazine TV show. They were doing a story on AIDS. That lasted about half a season. Anyway that how I first got over being a theatre snob and found it was okay to do other things. I received a random call from a guy at Termite Art Production Company [their programs include “Made in America,” 2003-present – RG]. Someone (and I never found out who) had given him my number because he was looking for a medical advisor. They were a contractor for the newly formed Discovery Channel. On more than one occasion an actor wouldn't show up for a shoot and I would step in and be the doctor or whatever. They finally put me on a show as a co-star when we did More Than Human [2003-present – RG]. During that time I was also acting in a lot of student shorts and independent films. The problem with the consultant job was it wasn't steady. I still needed a day job.

IHF: The two main actors of Caesar and Otto are from New York, and yet it is filmed in LA. Why is that, and will that change over time?

Dave: We’ve shot some shorts in NY together. So, ya never know.
Paul: Our shorts are shot in NY and features here [in LA] pretty much. Easier to get our horror movie cameos being shot in LA.
Scott: Pretty much only Dave and JoJo [Josephine Iannece, who was in Paranormal Halloween, and is Dave’s significant other], are in NY anymore. Everyone else, including Paul, live out here in SoCal.

Avi Garp, who gives the film a hand (or two).

IHF: What’s with Avi Garp’s character and the limb removal-and-replacing cha-cha?

Dave: I really enjoyed how Avi played the scenes of his limbs getting pulled off in Summer Camp; so much that I decided to make it a reoccurring gag.
Scott: That was a one-time gag in Summer Camp that got so many laughs it had to come back.

IHF: I really enjoy the “Ask Caesar and Otto Anything” series on YouTube [Example HERE]. It reminds me of the 2000 Year Old Man recordings. What are some of your favorite questions?

Dave: Let me avoid this question as there are so many I literally can’t remember them well enough. We had about 30 questions in the last edition alone. 
Paul: I like the “Ask Caesar and Otto Anything” shorts because the questions are from real fans and not made up by us.

IHF: I understand that the next film you will be working on, Dave, is a more serious one (check out his acting reel HERE). Yet at the end of Paranormal Halloween there is a hint of Caesar and Otto’s Spring Break of the Living Dead. Is this really an idea (I’m hoping), or just a continuation of putting a “coming next” at the end of every Caesar and Otto film?

Dave: I’d like to make it, but at the moment I need to make a movie that’s very person to me (ironically, it’s a horror movie).
Scott: I was talking about a Caesar and Otto Spring Break Alien Abduction, but I think Dave wants to do a zombie one instead.

IHF: I’ve always told new filmmakers / photographers / writers / musicians the same two things when asking how to start: first, volunteer to work on other people’s films to learn what to do and what not to do, and to follow Lemmy’s advice to a singer I know (Dava She Wolf) who wanted to learn guitar, which is ask everyone in the field to teach one thing. The second piece of advice I have is to just do it, and learn as you go (or do both pieces). What advice do you have to get into the field?

Dave: If you’re willing to spend most of your life being financially destitute, just do it. I’ve been at this for years, glad to have met so many wonderful people along the way, but it’s not for the faint of heart. If it means as much to you as it does for me, just do whatever you can. Find your own unique voice, and get involved with as much as you can. And don’t lead with your ego. Even when you don’t like a colleague’s movie, don’t go badmouth them behind their back. It makes you appear petty and vindictive. We’re all artists, and we’re all in it together.
Paul: Working on other people’s films is a good way to learn. Experimentation is key to figure out your own style.

IHF: Anything you’d like to add, such as what you always wanted say to people asking questions and never got the chance?

Scott:  Don't know if it's interesting, but I studied Theatre at USC and Cal State Los Angeles. But with all the TV and film work I was doing I went to Columbia College/Hollywood after I came back from operation Desert Storm and finished my degree in motion picture production.
Dave: I'm all out of anecdotes!
Paul: I love and appreciate our fans. It makes my day to get a good review or a compliment on the movies. Stick with us folks! We love you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsUvnUiIvls

Review: Madness of Many

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2016
Images from the Internet                                                                                                                  

Madness of Many

Written, produced, directed, make-up effects and edited by Kasper Juhl
Hellbound Productions / Unearthed Films / MVD Visual
73 minutes, 2013 / 2016
www.facebook.com/madnessofmany
www.facebook.com/hellbound666productions
www.unearthedfilms.com
www.mvdvisual.com

Danish director Kasper Juhl may be young (b. 1991), but he has a good sense of the camera, as shown by this artistic and abstract treatise on life and pain (which Juhl claims as his own philosophy in the commentary). And while this is neither here nor there as it is not reflected in the film directly, Juhl is also the lead singer of the death metal band Abscission (aka dead, fallen leaves).

Told mostly through soliloquy narration, we meet/meat Victoria White, as she flatly describes a childhood full of sexual assault by her family. But this is only the start of her ordeal, as we are given verbal details that are eventually manifested into the visual. I should note here that although filmed in Scandihoovia, the entire dialog is in English.

Thanks to all of this pain in her life, we quickly find that she is a bit of a nihilist, claiming that she was “born to be exploited by others.” Despite this, she is not ready to end it all, stating she is more afraid of dying than its result. By the way, this is also an idea posited by English writer Henry Fielding in his 1751 novel Amelia, where it is stated “…it is not death, but dying, which is terrible” (yeah, I admit it, I’m a Fielding fan).

After being drugged and subsequently tortured for a year after escaping her parents, she starts to develop multiple personalities to avoid the pain. This is quite cleverly handled by having different actresses playing the same role, in different situations. Body type, face, and even tattoos differentiate Victoria’s shattered lives. Ironically, the man/men (credited as The Shadows) who torture her is/are never given a face (occasionally we see white masks or are blurred and distorted), though she has many.

By using a high level of abstraction, Juhl uses a lot of different devices to play out Victoria’s mind, such as removing or muting the colors to the point of near grayscale or high black and white contrasts. But the point of where artistic merit end and being opaque is a delicate one, and it is a line that is crossed often. Many of the scenes last way too long without promoting the story (what there is of it), such as watching someone putting on eye make-up, or puking up blood (sometimes through the literal hands of a Shadow down a throat, others by self-infliction).

Which brings me to the gore: this film has been compared to A Serbian Film (2010), but it does not come anywhere near that. In fact, American Guinea Pig was much more effective and relentless, and Flowers (2015) handled the art side of personal pain with a bit more flair and was more accessible without losing any of the creativity. When it is applied here, it’s quite effective. I mean, there’s lots of manhandling of the woman/women, such as multiple scenes of choking, but the ultra-violence is kept sparingly until the final act. That being said, even early on, when it’s more intense it works.

As for the psychological torture aspect, honestly, I was more freaked out by the similar themed (i.e., abuse leading to Multiple Personality Disorder) two-part television film Sybil (1975). The whole rising of enlightenment through pain may have some thinking of the recent 50 Shades of Gray, but honestly it reminded me more of The Who’s Tommy (“I’m free!!”).

It could be said that this film is on the sexist side. I mean, we see the female form being tortured, but there is no mention of comeuppance of the males who do the perpetrating. So, do we say that there is a lot of females abused when they are all supposed to be the same one, or is that a cop-out? I don't have an answer for that, but it wasn't comfortable for me in that aspect. 

Juhl explains that he likes slow-paced films, which is good because he has definitely made one. It will take a lot of patience to sit through it, especially in this, the post MTV editing / instant gratification period of cinema. Even the final credit roll by very slow, with no sound through most of it.

There are some nice albeit limited amounts of goodies here in the extras section, such as a long list of Unearthed Films trailers and a decent commentary by Juhl, but if you want to dive in deep, there is also a three-disk version available (including the soundtrack CD and many other features not in the basic DVD package, including some “Making Of” documentaries, a short film by the director, and deleted scenes), of which 1000 were produced. Collectors’ item!

I know I’ve whined a bit about it, but it’s a very strong piece if you have the patience to swim through the philosophizing of good and evil, pain and pleasure, and story and idea, you may connect to it. I’m looking forward to seeing what else is under Juhl’s directorial sheet, but just know with this one, if you’re expecting something relentless it may be a bit of a letdown. For those out there who like a thoughtful piece of torture porn, well…

 

Unrelated to this DVD bonus:

 

Review: Live-Evil

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2016
Images from the Internet

Live-Evil

Written and directed by Ari Kirchenbaum
Simian Tales
95 minutes, 2015

As if working as a cop in a small college town wasn’t bad enough. As if working as a cop in a small college town on Halloween wasn’t enough. As if working as a cop in a small college town on Halloween and two on the FBI’s most wanted drug dealers list were cuffed in the precinct wasn’t enough. As if… okay, I’ll shorten it… all this wasn’t bad enough, thanks to an ancient relic bought by a rich collector, something wicked this way has come. One of the officers refuses to name it in a running gag, just giving it the descriptor, “Evil.”

Charlene Amoia

Officer Hancock (Buffalo native Charlene Amoia, who gives off a kind of Gina Gershon vibe, was a semi-regular waitstaff character on How I Met Your Mother, among many other credits) gets called to rich dude’s mansion to find a bunch of bodies and a naked woman forming out of ash, eyes aglow, aka the previously said “evil.” Arresting her, aware that something is obviously afoot, Hancock puts her in a cell next to the snarky drug dealers.

These dealers could be a film unto themselves. Young, cocky and fearless, they remind me of long-haired versions of Pharma Dude (you know, the dick who raised the cost of the AIDS drug 5000% - I will not glorify him by printing his name). Referred to as simply Mr. Eleven (Ed Ricker) and Mr. Twelve (the mono-named Carter), they are amusing in tune with their situation and have a strong don’t-give-a-fuck attitude. Like other (non-police) characters, there is something off about them, which makes them interesting, even if not likeable. I spent the whole film waiting to see whether they get their comeuppance or not (I’m not telling).

Kind of running the show is Sherriff Pete (Vladimir Kulich, who looks a bit more Norge than Czech, so it makes sense that he played one in 1999’s The 13th Warrior, and The Viking television series). Pete’s a likeable enough guy, but not the sharpest stick in the woods (though heart’s in a good place); it’s actually Hancock who is usually dealing with the pragmatic reality of the moment. She’s been on the force over a decade and she should be running the show, in my opinion.

In an extended cameo role (as all indie films must now produce, it seems) is the Candyman (1992) himself, Tony Todd, as an imbibing pastor. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always good to see him, as he is a class act. Stealing the scenes, however, is a college dean (Tim Ross) who, for those who know academics well, delivers his comic relief lines with just the right amount of red tape and incredulity. He’s hysterical. Also grabbing attention is the tweaking Rosie (Raven Whisnant), in an extremely high-energy, physical performance given with glee.

Then add some risen undead (more on this in a bit), affected by the ash that’s floating around the town that looks like snow, whose intentions are not known for a while, with glowing eyes (which hint towards their… again, I won’t give it away, though I’m sorely tempted to discuss). Everyone keeps calling them zombies, to which Hancock vehemently differs. I understand what she is saying, but I humbly disagree with her for the following reason: in the post-Romero world, risen zombies are flesh eaters out to kill and eat the flesh of the living. If you go back pre-1967, however, zombies meant something different. They were raised from the dead to do a deed or obey a master, not independently and randomly slaughter (I once wrote a blog about it, HERE). So, in current Western culture she is correct, but in the original meaning of the term, she is not. But I’m digressingly nitpicking.

Tony Todd

Breaking the story up into seven chapters are witty title cards, such as “Evil Descending a Staircase,” “Chasing Pete’s Dragon,” and “Kamikaze, Rinse, Repeat.” I’m pointing this out to explain, in part, that this is actually quite a cleverly written work. This is only part of the care given to the thought of this film. Along with the meat and ‘taters shooting (and there is a lot of it) and blood’n’bones (ditto), there is also an ample use of digital effects, from the previously described eye glowing and nearly omnipresent ash floating around, then add in some gunshot wounds, people appearing out of thin air, and other assorted gizmos. But there is also some appliance SFX as well, such as the undead (most of whom look great, by the way), and the “Evil” masks (see the film’s poster, above).

When it comes to being arty, as I’ve said before in other reviews, there is a fine line between being artistic and being opaque, much like poetry or a certain level of fiction. Within that line the viewer gets to see a vision presented by the director that’s above and beyond, and yet the story doesn’t get lost in the adjusting (which is the problem I have with much of the over-produced music since the early ‘80s, but I digress…). Kirchenbaum takes that leap and lands on safe ground, giving this a unique feel, and yet keeps the watcher involved in the story. For example, most of the beginning of the film is in B&W, and then suddenly turns to color 53 minutes in, after the ringing of a ritual bell.

I must say, I enjoyed this immensely. It took me three-quarter through to figure out a key point, and it still kept my interest until after the credits (yes, there’s a bit at the end there). Kirchenbaum doesn’t always take the easy or obvious road here, even though one can see elements of so many other films, such as [REC] (2007), 30 Days of Night (2007; here it’s cops vs. Evil, not vampires), and any one of a million rising dead themes, albeit this time with automatic weapons. The risen dead masks remind me a bit of the aliens in They Live (1988), but again, perhaps I’m assuming too much, because I didn’t care about it as I was having too much fun with the story.  Speaking of which, while I certainly would not necessarily call this a comedy, man it has some funny moments.

From beginning to end, this was an enjoyable film to watch. It never lets up, it’s rarely predictable, and except for a couple of parts that could have used a bit of snipping (e.g., for story pacing, Sherriff Pete takes too long to convince Hancock to get into the police car, even though it’s probably more realistic), and a couple of arguably superfluous characters (the pair of apparently X-Files-inspired FBI agents), it kept me interested all the way through. It’s a good watch.

Review: Nightmare_Code

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

Nightmare_Code

Story, produced and directed by Mark Netter
Dark Program Productions / Nettertainment Films
Indie Rights Movies / MVD Visual
89 minutes, 2014 / 2015
www.jointhenightmare.com
www.nightmarecode.com
www.mvdvisual.com

Borderline personality disorder computer whiz Brett (Andrew J. West, who appears in a lot of guest roles on television shows, including Gareth in The Walking Dead), got caught up in a scheme, which cost him his job, perhaps his family (wife and kid), and some time in prison. Desperate, he finally gets a job at a start-up computer company after a coder went crazy and shot up the place, killing some of his coworkers. His job is to figure out just what happened.

Of course, being a computer company verily there must be geeks (where is Suzy the headbanger’s mother?). Someone’s been watching Big Bang Theory or just going to horror or comic conventions, because this crew is loaded with eccentrics, with the exception of the very serious female lead Nora (Mei Melançon).

The Programmers, including West (second from left)
and Melancon in front.

Among this group of big brains and little social contact, Nora remains the only really likeable character that one would naturally root for – even though she does something I found pretty out of character and kinda despicable – as not only are there nerds, but the business side is classic corporate nasty folks with little care about their employees, only their product (to be honest, I worked for a company like that for over a decade that a good friend just called “the Evil Empire”).

While Brett is working on the mysterious surveillance project that everyone is trying to keep hush-hush and yet still expecting quick results, he is sleeping on the office couch and Skyping with his daughter and trying-so-hard-to-accept attractive wife (Caitlyn Folley). While this is all going on, he is also investigating exactly what happened to his predecessor, the shoot-'em-up guy, Foster (Googy Gress). Natch, he finds clues which lead him to discover, pretty early on so I’m not giving much away, that the guy may have actually managed to write a program that put him into the machine’s circuitry upon crossing over.

Folley in the center and West in the Insert

The ghost in the machine – here used more literally – is hardly a new premise in this day and age of nearly omnipresent computer technology; hell, it’s been fodder for stories since probably the 1950s or ‘60s. Japan has tons of stories along this idea, especially in manga books.

Even in death, the murderous previous programmer is having a disastrous effect on whomever views the computer files, bringing murder and death reminiscent of the last act of Five Million Years to Earth (1967, aka Quartermass and the Pit). He could also be seen as a Jim Jones, or the leader of the Heaven’s Gate debacle.

But I’m happy to say that the director, Mark Netter, wisely takes some original steps along the way, making this watchable, especially the cool ending. The code everyone is working on is for worldwide surveillance, a hot topic right now. To make it even more interesting, this is kind of a found footage, ironically using the very surveillance cameras in the organization (where a very large majority of the film takes place). Sometimes we are viewing up to four cameras at the same time. But to make it even more interesting, Netter sometimes fools around with the chronology just a bit to make it more dramatic, and that works, too.

Most of the effects look nearly as good as, say, CSI: Cyber, though I going to guess the budget here is significantly lower, so kudos on that. There isn’t much blood, though considering the way things are going lately thanks to the NRA-influenced “give guns to everyone” reality we currently live in, there are plenty of real people going to offices and letting a few rounds fly (as I write this, someone has just shot up an office in Toronto, and this month some teen shot up a school in northern Saskatchewan, making this kind of currently culturally salient to the point of it may or may not strike a chord and make the viewer squirm a bit, taking even the sci-fi premise a bit close to home.

There is a lot of media theory in here, which is touched on in the extras, including determinism, Neil Postman’s theory that every technology is a Faustian Bargain, and sometimes technology ends up doing exactly opposite of what it was intended for, such as the Internet supposedly connecting us all, yet we are even more isolated in our own rooms, reaching out.

There are a few extras, most of which are about two-to-three minutes long, including some technical stuff and character examinations that I recommend watching after the film, the trailer (a version of it below), and a full length commentary by the director, lead actors West and Melançon. It’s actually an excellent one as everyone doesn’t try to talk over the others (though it happens occasionally naturally), and the content is a nice mixture of shooting anecdotes, technical stuff, and the thoughts behind the story.

While the film is ambitious, it doesn’t try to overreach its goal, which is a compliment. Sure, in a world where so many indie directors are trying to build an art piece because they own an Apple Computer and know some editing tricks, Netter instead knows he has a good thing going with his application of technology and the various media arenas used, from said surveillance cameras to cell phone messages, to…well, let’s just call it the version of The Cloud, and he seems to know that’s a lot to deal with on its own.  Include the time warping, and that’s makes the mundane into the interesting.

 

Review: Captain Z and the Terror of Leviathan

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2014
Images from the Internet

 

Captain Z and the Terror of Leviathan
Directed by Steve Rudzinski  
Silver Spotlight Films / MVD Visuals                           
74 minutes, 2014          
www.captainz.com
www.sliverspotlightfilms.com
www.MVDvisual.com

With a name like Captain Z & the Terror of Leviathan, there are things that are going to be assumed, the most obvious of which is that this is going to be a really terrible film, or a WTF hoot. Thankfully, this very generously falls into the latter.

For those who didn’t grow up in the Wheeling, WV, area, Captain Z is a commercial character that has been seen on local television for decades to promote a store that buys and sells jewelry (think about it, “Arg, matey, sell us your treasure”). It was started by co-writer and actor Zoltan Zilai’s dad (get it? Captain Z? There ya go), and is now played by him. Having worked with Pittsburgh-based writer/director Steve Rudzinski before on Everyone Must DIE! [reviewed HERE], it makes sense he tapped Rudzinski to complete an idea to use his Captain Z (aka Captain Zachariah Zicari) character in a more full-blown production. Rudzinski picked up the challenge.

Apparently, as the expository prologue provides, 300 years ago to the year (1714), in picturesque Wheeling, WV of all places, four humans possessed by demons – two of which are not overly bright – try to raise the dark god Leviathan to bring destruction on the puny mortals of earth. All they need is an amulet, a redheaded woman (I wonder, does it have to be a woman? What about a redheaded man? Oh, yeah, cleavage factor, right… okay, onward) and a sentence-long incantation, and Leviathan rises from…the Ohio River? Thanks to the quick actions of the good Cap Z and Rosa, his sidekick chicken (you heard me), the demons are vanquished into a void that also drags the good pirate along with ‘em.



Heather, Captain Z and the Professor

Some credits later, we are introduced to a motley crew of (mostly) slackers who work at a museum giving tours to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the saving of the town (“Captain Z Days”). Among them are the interesting looking but nowhere near intelligent Heather (played with charm by Madison Siple), the intelligent yet abrasive Samantha (Cerra Atkins), the enthusiastic Neal. (Josh Devett) who dresses like the Captain at the museum, and his dad, who is the monotone, slow-burn curator of the place, Sterling (cinematographer, editor, etc., Scott Lewis). Along comes a spi… I mean a professor of mysticism, played snarkily and humorously by Rudzinski (in a role similar to the Giles character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except with cool appeal), who arrives searching for the amulet that has been missing for 300 years.

Of course, the very day he shows up, it’s found by a family of rednecks who read the incantation on it and are instantly possessed. The leader of the quad is played by the buxom Aleen Isley, and among the rest is Seth Gontkovic, who nearly steals his scenes, as he did in EMD! as DJ Pink. He wears a bright and obvious copper-colored wig, for some reason, like he’s trying to look like an adult Opie Taylor. Like many of the others in this film, Seth is a regular in Rudzinski’s endeavors. I say when you find people who work out, keeping them close is a good thing. When the demons return, it also brings back the loveable Captain Z.

Aleen Isley as Vepar

The game is afoot to get back the amulet, and have the good Capt. get adjusted to the new-fangled contraptions (he really wants to drive/command a car) and cultural mores. He a somewhat good man in a strange situation; as he states to a pirate groupie (Lacy Brooks in a fun turn, who also does much of the great make-up effects) at a wild beer- and drug-fueled party, “I’ve done some bad things, but not evil things.” Honestly, his “arg” and “mateys” get a bit tiresome at times, especially how bad his accent is, but hell, this movie is a broad comedy so I’ll let it be and take it for what it is.

There is easily a Pirates of the Caribbean meets Demons vibe going on here, but the jokes are sometimes really good. For example, Heather collects “deformed jelly beans,” and another cries out after being interrupted, “Dude, I’m trying to bang your sister!” There is also a very brief homage to Mel Brooks’ High Anxiety (1977) when someone comments in a throwaway line, “I got it; I don’t got it.”

Played over the top just enough to be broad without being cartoonish, the acting here is quite substantial for this kind of gig, and nods to one and all. The gore effects are not over the top, but are quite well done throughout, most accomplished with appliances rather than using digi (with a rare exception being a Dustin Mills’ CGI creature). As with other Rudzinski productions, the women are not model types but have real curves and the occasional chunky parts, which is appreciated. Besides, there is ample cleavage to keep the viewer happy, if that’s a thrill for ya.

The extras are two commentaries (which I didn’t get to hear), a long segmented interview short with the director and some of the actors (Lewis comes off as charmingly abrasive), some of the Captain Z Jewelry commercials through the years, a blooper reel, and lots of others.

There is obviously room left at the end for the next adventure of the professor and the pirate, apparently dealing with vampires. Is this film outlandish? Most certainly. Is it goofy? Hoooh yeah. Is it worth seeing? Most definitely. This isn’t necessarily something you’d watch as a companion of, say, Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1960), but would easily be seen with the likes of The Puppet Monster Massacre (2010) or The Disco Exorcist (2011). Actually, it would play well with The Pirates of the Caribbean series, though bang for the buck spent by the production, this might win.

 

Review: Abandoned Dead

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2016
Images from the Internet

Abandoned Dead
Written and directed by Mark W. Curran
Nightwatcher Films / Pacific World Pictures / Pocket Studios / MVD VIsual
77 minutes, 2015 / 2017
www.abandoned-dead.com
www.mvdvisual.com   

Californian rent-a-cop security guard – as in needing to feel secure – Rachel Burke (Burke’s law?) has been assigned to begrudgingly watch over the Mayfield Addiction Clinic over the Memorial Day Weekend (memorial = dead). It’s a clinic which deals with, well, addictions, and there is methadone stored there – not to mention frequent break-ins– so it stands to reason it can’t be left alone without some protection.

But, this is a genre film, so naturally things aren’t what they appear to be. They certainly don’t seem benign, as objects move, shake and appear in the shadows. As with most thriller kinds of films of this type, you are most likely looking not at the central character as she moves around, but the dark space down the hall, or the doorway on one of the sides of the corridor. Then there are the mysterious phone calls and the static that appear on the radio as a supernatural “tell” that something is about to happen. Woooooooooo, eerie, boys and girls.

The mysteriousness level is enhanced by the sharp use of stark color lights (red, blue, etc., or even the clarity of white). Most of the time, due to its use by so many other films, this visual has become kind of hackneyed, but Curran manages to make it work quite well here, showing emotion rather than just “Boo! Different lighting!” That makes me happy.

Also, this film is not just about the supernatural (or is it?), but a supernatural thriller (or is it?). See, that’s when a film becomes a thriller, making the watcher wonder. That leads me to another commonly used trope that is exploited here, which is a character (Burke) walking around a dark building with many doors, using only a flashlight (the lights go out during the story, not like CSI where they never turn the lights on in the first place…never understood that…”Look, audience, we have cool little flashlights!” But I digress…

As far as walking around the building, usually I hate these moments because they tend to last too long, turning suspense into annoyance and finally boredom. While there are a lot of scenes like that, again Curran takes the high road and tends to break it up into shorter segments, keeping the suspense high. Amusingly, the only distraction that really took me out of the moment was a scene where Burke investigates a bathroom, and the toilet seat is up. The back of my neck hairs stood up. Any male reading this that is cohabiting with a female partner will understand.

The premise is not new (not going to give it away) and I saw the central theme coming early on, though I wasn’t sure where it was going or how it would end. That helped in part to keep my grubby fingers off the fast forward button. This, actually, is a compliment to Curran’s direction and writing, to take a tried-and-true idea and jig with it in a way to keep the interest level.

Sarah Nicklin

Burke is played by multi-festival award-winning Sarah Nicklin. Now, I have to admit I love Sarah – no, not in that creepy older guy lusting after a hot younger woman, but rather I enjoy her acting skill and I have for a while, as she is a very natural talent. Yes, the role here plays towards the mostly “scared,” but that also makes the contrasts even more realistic and jutting.

While the idea of this film is similar in some ways to another film she was in (though not as the locus character) called Normal (2015), it takes a different turn than the previous one, and her character is very dissimilar than the other lead. Again, this is a good thing.

Judith O'Dea

The cameo du jour for this film is Night of the Living Dead’s (1968) Judith O’Dea, as a Doctor of the Mind (okay, psychiatrist… happy?). To be honest, I always through her acting in NOTLD was kinda wooden, even if she is one of the central characters who is supposed to be in shock, but she certainly does fine here, and I’m glad to see her working again. I would also like to congratulate Curran for not having someone say to her, at some point, “They’re coming to get you, Doctor.” Not every actor needs to have a “Woha” or “I’ll be back” that they just have to use to remind everyone (i.e., beat over the head with their ego) of their classic turns. Besides, she gets to say the film’s tagline, so that’s good enough for me.

There is no nudity in the film (though Nicklin carries the undies scenes quite well), but a nice level of gore FX is executed. Not a huge amount, but enough to make it stick out a bit more and be quite effective.

I enjoyed how this careened over a number of genres, such as slasher, doctor experimentation, supernatural, zombie, paranormal, social commentary about family dynamics, psychodrama, crime drama, and straight out horror; and yet, it doesn’t stay in any one stream long enough to overstay it’s welcome, nor pass so fast that it is ignorable.  

According to IMDB, this is Curran’s second full-length film (he directed the recording of a live stage production about Edgar Allen Poe previously). As such, it’s a work to be proud of, and there’s plenty of fodder there to grow on. I look forward to charting his path.