Kim Henkel, writer of the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and writer/director of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION has ventured into cannibal territory again with BONEBOYS. Serving as the writer and producer of the film, he’s teaming up once again with the directing duo of Justin Meeks and Duane Graves. Kim Henkel, along with being their screenwriting professor in college, served as producer on the team’s last film THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD.
The Dallas News gives a brief synopsis: The story tells of a group of people who have adopted the philosophy found in Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” in which the author suggests cannibalism ain’t so bad.
As of this writing, TCM series alumni Ed Neal and Bill Johnson are set to have roles in the film.
Ok, ya’ll know I’m just a sucker for bigfoot flicks. Hell, I’m one of the only people I know who absolutely fuckin’ LOVE THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. So, of course, I watch just about every movie made about the big, hairy bastard (even the piece of shit flicks that dominate the genre these days…poor Lance Henriksen). That being said, I’m looking forward to another one, this time about the legendary Grassman, Ohio’s Bigfoot legend (on which there was an episode for the show Monster Quest). Obviously a heavily independent flick, I look forward to giving it a shot. So far, I don’t have much information on the flick, but check out the production blog HERE.
Well before I began writing for BackwoodsHorror.com, I had heard through the wire, then watched, a small, independent slasher flick in the vein of HALLOWEEN entitled MALEVOLENCE, written and directed by Stevan Mena. Put together on half a shoestring budget, Mena created something very special…a GREAT flick full of suspense and terror, a film lauded by many within the horror community. Upon watching the film, I found myself agreeing with nearly EVERYONE in the positive. MALEVOLENCE is a very competent piece of horror filmmaking. But, well, then what happened? Shock Till You Drop got the news that a prequel is on the way, the second part in what is intended to be a trilogy of terror. Here’s the scoop:
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Malevolence: Bereavement, the prequel and first part of the intended trilogy to Malevolence from filmmaker Stevan Mena. Fangoria caught up with the filmmaker to get a status update on the movie, which wrapped principle photography over two years ago.
“The film is in final post-production, so we’re just working on the final touches of the sound mix,” Mena tells Fango.
One the reasons for the delay? “There’s a tremendous amount of plot that I’m trying to get into a two-hour movie, so certain things couldn’t make it in, and it was a long process for me to decide what should and shouldn’t be in the final picture. The initial cut was about three hours long, so it has been a laborious process to kind of kill my babies and figure out what the final film’s gonna be. It has taken me a while to really get my head wrapped around that, and now I’ve finally done it.”
While the prequel depicts the backstory of how little Martin Bristol is kidnapped by serial killer Graham Sutter and himself turned into the killer that we meet in the first Malevolence, Mena has opted to drop the “Malevolence” moniker and simply title it “Bereavement”.
“We wanted this film to be its own entity,” explains Mena. “There are certain things which will be obvious if you’ve seen the original. And if you haven’t, it certainly stands on its own. I’d say that you should see this, and then watch Malevolence.”
Bereavement also boasts an interesting cast including fan fave Michael Biehn (Planet Terror), John Savage (Carnivàle), Brett Rickaby who plays Graham Sutter and can be seen later this month in The Crazies remake. Lead actress Alexandra Daddario will next be seen in The Lightening Thief. Spencer List, Jennifer Blanc and Kathryn Meisle (Basket Case 2) round out the rest of the cast.
Here’s a little look at some behind-the-scenes action on BEREAVEMENT:
Written, Directed, & Edited By: DUANE GRAVES and JUSTIN MEEKS Based On The Journals Of: DALE S. ROGERS
Produced By: JUSTIN MEEKS, KIM HENKEL, and DUANE GRAVES Starring: JUSTIN MEEKS, ALEX GARCIA, CHARLIE HURTIN, EDMOND GEYER, STACY MEEKS, KIM HENKEL, MAC McBRIDE, BOB WOOD, JAMES BARGSLEY, PATRICK HEWLETT, and TONY WOLFORD as THE WILD MAN
A BRIEF SYNOPSIS: From Greeks Productions and the producer of the original 70’s horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre comes The Wild Man of the Navidad. This vintage horror tale is based on the real-life journals of Dale S. Rogers. Shot in a 70’s style B-movie aesthetic, Mr. Roger’s veracious accounts are brought to vivid, chilling life in this intelligent retelling of an old rural legend involving a small Texas community terrified for years by a mysterious creature inhabiting the nearby woods.
I first became aware of Independent Filmmakers Duane Graves and Justin Meeks when I picked up, years ago, a DVD in MediaPlay called FREAK, a film now discontinued by the distributor. I became aware of this flick whenever I read about a short film included on the disc over at TexasChainsawMassacre.net called HEAD CHEESE, an early, very strange film, from the two Texans that took place at a few of the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE locations. Though HEAD CHEESE could be considered very “art school” in nature, present throughout the film were genuinely eerie. and disturbing scenes. Aided by a very odd, sparse, musical score, and a mashup of 8mm and 16mm film stock, the short carried with it the look and psychological feel of perhaps the only remaining scrap of stock from some obscure exploitation film from the late 60’s or 70’s with washed out colors and a heavy grain, along with the requisite pops and scratches we’ve come to recognize with such films.
I eagerly anticipated a feature length work within the horror genre after seeing HEAD CHEESE, something I was certain could only be a matter of time. Then, last year, news came down the line about a new film the two had been working on called THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD. In fact, my very first post here at BACKWOODS HORROR was about the film (to be followed by more as my excitement and anticipation grew with every new little bit of news that came along).
Following in the footsteps of two of my all-time favorite films (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE & THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK), adding that bit of, what I’ve often refered to on the site as, “DIRTY SOUTH” (or Southern Gothic if you will, I like my name better) atmosphere, the realistic, if sometimes dark atmosphere of the true South, I couldn’t help, even with its few flaws, but fall in love with this fantastic independent film masterpiece.
I’ll get into those flaws first, and go ahead and get them out of the way to make room for the main course, just how fucking fantastic this film is…how easily you can forget, while watching, that this film was just made, and lose yourself in the nostalgia of it, as if you’d just found a long lost drive-in treasure. A film Joe Bob Briggs should’ve written about those years ago but never did.
The only flaw in this film is the special effects makeup, and that isn’t too heavy a flaw when you come down to it. The problem is that the film, being released in the here and now, is compared to other films, all kinds of films, from the here and now with money. MONEY, boils ‘n ghouls, and imagination is what it takes to make those effects pop. With just imagination, you can generally get the point across, sometimes well, but that blood starts to really look like red paint. Now, if WMOTN were released in the late 60’s or early 70’s, then we wouldn’t have a problem with it because even WITH money, effects were limited by technology and materials. It was still a fairly new science. H.G. Lewis’s films, we can all be assured, are fantastically, ludicrously, wonderfully gory, but the effects look like play-dough and red paint. Though he was the godfather of the modern gore film, the gore and effects just don’t hold up. (I’m sure I’ll receive hate mail from nostaligic fans, but hey, take a critical, objective eye and look again). Thankfully, the gore is very light in this film, so the gripe isn’t really all that big. The only BIG gripe I have is the WILD MAN creature makeup/costume. One of the reasons THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK worked then and still, in a way, works now, is that the monster was always kept just out of focus and slightly in the shadows. You never really got a good look at the creature. We today, thanks to high-priced hollywood effects, are spoiled, always able to see the monster in our multi-screened movie houses, but NOT always satisfied with what we see. As in literature (and yes, the horror genre IS literature…if you think otherwise, get the hell outta my shack!), in film, it is often, for the most part, best to leave the monster to our imaginations when money isn’t high on the resource list. Hell, even when money’s coming out of the director’s ears, in some cases, it’s better to leave the monster in the shadows because the creature we see in our minds will almost always be far more hideous and terrible. Why? Because everyone’s conception of what scares THEM is different, thus, when the monster is shown to us, some will, invariably, scream, some will laugh, and some will just be pissed off with a look on their face screaming “what the fuck? Is that it?”
Unfortunately, that’s just the sort of look I probably had stamped all over my face when the WILD MAN was revealed as a sort of man-boar with crazy lower teeth, or tusks, who happens to be a giant of a man covered in deer skins with antler hands. What the fuck? Of course, if the monster hadn’t been shown, many jaded-ass filmgoers and critics who’ve been spoon-fed their creature-features for years where the monster is ALWAYS shown will say “HEY, where’s my MONSTER!” and that might just be why the filmmakers here decided to show it. Unfortunate, I say, for I subscribe to the school where what is not shown, when set up properly, is often invariably far scarier than what is. Never underestimate the fucked up imagination of the general audience. An audience whose life experiences and nightmares are often far worse than what any filmmaker could dream up or create. The only reason this was such a big problem with me is because I loved the rest of the film so damn much. If it were a giant, flaming piece of shit, then that monster wouldn’t have come off as such a disappointment because I was already disappointed by the rest of the film. Not the case here, shitty monster makeup aside, I fucking LOVED this flick!
As is the case when one is attempting to express love, however, I’m having a difficult time formulating it into words. (Maybe that’s why we often only see critics bashing films, because they just aren’t talented enough writers to say anything positive if they truly enjoyed a film. Perhaps it’s unfashionable. Luckily, I have terrible fashion sense). The overall atmosphere of WMOTN is really what won me over. With skillfull camerawork (including a few tricks I won’t give away that have us thinking the entire time that these guys found some stash of fast filmstock from the 70’s, perhaps reels of Kodak 800 left over from AIP’s glory days, and then fed it through an ancient ARRI), fantastic editing, spot-on direction, and glorious writing, Meeks and Graves have perfectly transported the viewer into their dream world. A world of rusty, worn out cars, always in some state of repair or disrepair. A world of the corner bar, a cement cube with a worn neon sign the owner’s probably exceedingly proud of, with an interior of mismatched tables and chairs, wooden bar, and cold beer from a cooler that says Coca-Cola on the side of it and would’ve looked at home in any country gas station from the early 60’s to mid 80’s (or, if you grew up where I did, it looks at home in the corner store now, still sitting there with the coldest cokes and nehi’s in bottles you ever had). The small, Southern town, where everyone seems to know each other. Where important meetings are often held at that cement, dusty watering hole. Where the sun always seems to cast more of an orange-brown hue over everything than the bright white we often see in movies. That small town where the locals take care of their own, where myths and legends are often spoken of in hushed tones, winks, and nods. Everyone knows, but no one’s saying a damn thing, and all hell to outsiders who want to come poking around, stirring things up. A place where things are the way they are, as they’ve always been, and you’ll be damned if you try and change it now.
Though there is an obvious exploitive bit throughout the film in regard to the moonshine sub-subplot, these boys are from Texas and they didn’t go too overboard like someone who’d never been around that sort of crowd would, and thus, the exploitation in that regard is kept at a minimum, thankfully. But that isn’t to say this couldn’t be classified as an exploitation film in the highest regard. If WMOTN had been released during the bigfoot craze of the 70’s that started with THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, and included BIGFOOT, SASQUATCH, NIGHT OF THE DEMON(1980, towards the end of the craze), and CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, among other, lesser flicks, it would’ve no doubt been a hit at the drive-in, and perhaps the grindhouse circuit. For that, I love it, it’s MY kind of movie. I think the kids who love the torture-porn flicks today might not view it in such a gloriously dusty light, but you know what? Fuck ‘em, because their idea of a good movie is comparable to watching flies struggle till they die on flypaper, their wings beating furiously, trying in vain to escape this sticky, terrible hell they’ve unwittingly wandered into. There’s no story, no atmosphere, no real characters you can care about or relate to, it’s just gore and death for their sake alone and it’s BORING AS ALL FUCK! WMOTN has story, it has atmosphere in spades, and it has genuine, down to earth characters every man and woman can relate to. It is a finely woven tapestry of small town life and small town people, their concerns, fears, triumphs, all blending together to create a living, breathing picture of that life all brought to a critical mass as it starts to unravel when people start dying due to an old legend that is more than a legend, THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD is on the loose, he’s pissed as hell, and he’s out for blood.
If you dream of a time where films actually took you out of your life for a while and put you, ever so slowly and craftfully into the life of the story onscreen, films that made you think, made you wonder, and offered story, atmosphere, and character over simple, bland gore and violence alone (though, don’t get me wrong, WMOTN has plenty of violence, but when it happens, you CARE that it’s happening, you’re INVESTED in the story, you care about what’s happening), you’ll love this movie. If you love films like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, and all of the other films I’ve mentioned already, then WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD is for you. I can’t recommend this film enough. MEEKS and GRAVES are a pair of talented filmmakers and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next. When this film hits DVD August 11th, 2009, show your support for some damn talented independent horror filmmakers and buy it. You’ll be supporting a couple of guys who have the potential to make the next TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, the next great independent film that, unlike the torture-porn trash we keep getting so often today, will live on. These are the kind of filmmakers we want making the kind of movies we want, the kind of movies people will still be talking about in hushed tones saying “have you SEEN this?” I remember, growing up, how it was something of a right of passage to have seen films like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and THE EVIL DEAD…independent films that changed the face of horror. While WMOTN isn’t quite it, I can see the edge of the storm and I say, let it rain blood!
Finally, at long last, the much anticipated (especially by me) WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD is coming to DVD. You’ll be getting a review of the film right here on BACKWOODS HORROR very soon. Below are the DVD specs and some new art (including the packaging art) along with a brand new IFC trailer. CHECK IT OUT!!!
But first, a quick synopsis for those of you who may not be aware of this indie gem:
In 1975, the small town of Sublime, Texas had an encounter with a creature so horrifying that it remains legend today: Deep in the woods along the Navidad River, someone – or something – has left its lair to rip a trail of ferocious carnage through the local population. Is it man, monster or Lone Star myth? And in a rural community commanded by the Bible, corrupted by moonshine and ruled by rifles, can anything stop the vengeance of a beast unleashed?
Here are the Special Features:
Audio commentary by directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks
Directed by Reginald La France from a screenplay by France and Mike McCartney and starring Robert Englund, Tara Reid, Juliet Landau, & Dwight Yoakam, among other horror legends, THE LAND OF CANAAN is about, well, here’s a synopsis from the imdb page:
After the goldfield hotel was built over an abandoned goldmine in 1908, the former owner George Winfield (Hopkins) gets a young prostitute, Elizabeth (Landau) pregnant, he chains her up in an old room, to a radiator. When she gives birth, the baby is thrown down an old mine shaft, and Elizabeth was left there to die. Cut to present, a group of friends, sneak into the abandoned hotel, to see if they can get any footage of any ‘hauntings’. But they start getting murdered one by one. Is the ghost of Elizabeth seeking revenge, or is someone taking a prank too far? What are you afraid of? In the Land of Canaan, trying to stay alive, will be the only mystery. Based on the true story of the murders and hauntings in the Goldfield Hotel in Nevada.
I still don’t know why the fuck Bruce Campbell bowed out of playing Elvis in the upcoming BUBBA NOSFERATU, the sequel to BUBBA HO-TEP, but hell, if you’re gonna get someone else, Perlman’s a damn good choice. I’m sure with makeup, they’ll get him lookin’ like Elvis, but I’m mostly stoked about the choice due to sheer overall talent. Ron Perlman is a fantastically talented character actor who really has the ability to take a role and run with it. I look forward to what he does with the roll.
DIRECTOR: PJ STARKS
PRODUCER: RODNEY NEWTON
(These Guys Also Take Credit For Writers/Creative Team/Etc.)
Here’s a synopsis from the Official Website:
Days before the annual opening of Slaughter on Second Street, Owensboro’s premiere haunted attraction, a tragedy befalls one of their own. Despite pleas from the manager, Buck Masters, the attraction is shut down until the mystery is solved. In his frustration, Buck devises a plan to get the haunt back on its feet and make some extra money while he’s at it. Playing on the rumors that the attraction may in fact be haunted, Buck brings in a rag-tag group of paranormal investigators to prove the rumors true. The investigator’s arrival is met with the feeling that something isn’t right, but it’s just another job…Or so they think! An unfriendly encounter with the building’s maintenance man, Mr. Jenkins, makes the team realize that the history of the building is far darker than they could have ever imagined and they may actually be visiting one of Owensboro’s most haunted sites. Locked in overnight, along with Buck, they begin their investigation which becomes interrupted when three volunteers appear from the dressing room amidst their goodbyes for the season they had worked so hard on. As the night goes on, the volunteers begin falling victim to fatal accidents that may or may not be supernatural. It is then that the investigators must solve the mystery of Slaughter on Second Street. One by one, the ghost hunters are preyed upon by malicious forces and must rely on each other if they are to survive the night. Who will live to see morning and who will perish before the true secrets of Slaughter on Second Street are uncovered?
Alrighty, so, what did I think? Well, first of all, it’s much MUCH better than that shitfest Stockholm Syndrome, but that doesn’t really do it justice (because I could take a shit, film it, and put it out on DVD and that’d be a better film). The reason I bothered to put the two in the same sentence is that they’re both examples of independent horror filmmaking. Unlike ‘SS’, however, I really liked Hallows Eve.
First with the bad: Of course, given the “out of pocket” financing, there are going to be particular technical problems, sound, lighting, stage actors, etc. But hell, I mean, the actors were working for free from what I understand, and given that, they didn’t do that bad of a job. There were particular moments that actually stood out as far as acting talent goes. I loved hearing the southern inflection from time to time (as I’m a southerner myself, and all these actors today just try to cover it up. FLY THAT SOUTHERN FLAG, ASSHOLES. Wait…that might come off as racist. Meh, fuck it.). If you can get past some of the Technical flaws, however, and sit back, pop some popcorn, drink a guiness, and relax, you’ll experience what I experienced.
HERE’S A BIT OF INFORMATION FROM PJ STARKS ABOUT THE MAKING OF THE FILM:
In Aug of 2007 we went to a film fest and watched a low budget film that we were less than satisfied with, but ultimately the film had garnered some amount of success & accolades from hitting up other festivals. Rodney Newton (Producer) & I work at a non-profit tv station here in Owensboro KY & had been wanting to do a film together for a long while and decided it was time to put our head together and create a project that would eventually become Hallows Eve. Our motivation was simple, we believe that we have an amazig talent pool in our community and using all local resources we wanted to bring artists together from all walks of lifes an backgrounds to be apart of something unique. Johnny Depp is not the only real actor that was born here and we felt it was time they got their chance to prove it. So with that in mind we began to process of recruiting individuals from around our area to help out in our endeavor. The budget for the film came directly out of mine & Rodney’s pocket; all cast and crew were volunteering their time and efforts to help bring the project to fruition. We had someone compose an original score as well as had 8 original songs created by 8 local bands in the area, all donated to project. We had an 8 month pre-production process, shot the film over 2 months and then spent the next 2 editing the film. We premiered Hallows Eve on October 31st 2008 to a full house that was also a benefit where all proceeds were donated to a non-profit organization. Essentially our goal was to amass an army of likeminded individuals from FX to costuming to sound and so forth to help bring our vision to life. The project may have started with us but it ended with a lot of dedicated and passionate souls who without their help this could not have been possible.
THE GOOD!
This movie was just a fun little horror/mystery romp. If you don’t notice right away, I’m going to give away the obvious connections to Scooby Doo. All the characters are there (Scooby was a black guy named Doobie), and “Scooby and Shaggy” are smokin’ weed all the time (as we ALL know they did in the cartoon, baking out the Mystery Machine). Fred, Velma, and, uh…the Hot one. They were all there. But imagine if Scooby Doo was on ACID! This film delivered on the gore, let me tell you. A chick’s nose gets ripped off, guts hangin’ out, hatchet to the crotch, WHAMMY! HA! just to name a few. And the story was a pretty damn decent little mystery (even though I called it), however it’s left sort of open ended where you could draw your own conclusions towards the end. There was even a “And I would’ve Gotten Away With It Too” speech. I got Owen from THE BACKWOODS HORRORSHOW to watch it with me and he also said it was a pretty decent little film. I’m not sure about when or where you’ll be able to buy this flick, but I’d suggest you SUPPORT INDEPENDENT HORROR and check this one out. KEEP AMERICA STRONG, WATCH (INDEPENDENT) HORROR MOVIES!!
I’d like to see what these guys could do in the future with a higher budget. There’s definitely a spark of talent there I’d like to see become a flame of independent horror greatness.
Ok, well, apparently the folks over at 4th Floor Pictures weren’t too terribly excited about the review I gave for their film STOCKHOLM SYNDROME (synonymous with everything else Brain Damage excreets). Thus, I had an email sitting in my inbox this morning:
Its funny you guys call yourself Backwoods Horror because you dont’ know anything about horror films or at least independent films. This was an independent film made a few thousand dollars. Its not Hollywood – its low budget film making. Thanks for trashing it…
Ryan
4th Floor Pictures
Interesting to say the least. I love the part where he attacks the site, stating with full intellegence how a horror site that talks MOSTLY about independent cinema (though, mostly GOOD independent cinema…some bad). I often rail heavily against the shit coming out of Hollywood these days. I report on it, yeah, but I also usually give a little tidbit of how shitty I believe it’ll be. Stockholm Syndrome CAN be compared to a “Hollywood” horror film, if not by budget, than in one way…they blow chunks together. Difference being, Hollywood blows millions to suck out loud, 4th Floor blows thousands. Regardless, here’s my response email:
That’s great.
Listen, because you’re young and impetuous, I’ll understand this launch against me, about my not understanding about film, something I’ve devoted my life to and have worked in the industry for about a decade. No biggie. I understand what it is to work on independent, WAY independent budgets and I gave you credit for it. It’s hard, I realize that. I’m just curious as to what you expected when you finished with the film? When you sat back and realized what you had made, did you truly think it belonged amongst the pinnacles of exploitation/independent cinema? I’m happy for you that you’re making films, I really am. It’s an amazing dream not everyone gets to follow and you’re doing it in spades.
Given my respect for that, there’s no way around the review I gave. The film is just terrible. I’m sorry, but you’re going to hear things like that when you make a terrible film. Like I said in the review, I’d be happy to look at your other work. I’d be interested in seeing what your films are generally like. You know, get an overall view of the writer/director Ryan Cavalline’s repertoire. I can’t judge you as a filmmaker on one picture alone, and I never set out to judge you personally. I set out to review the film itself. And the fact of the matter is that the film is just….bad. Poor writing and poor acting was the overall MAIN problem with the film. The sound issues could be worked with in post, not an issue, and the directing wasn’t always that bad. There were real flashes of talent here and there. A fantastic example of what someone can do on a low budget would have to be George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead. The guy had virtually no money.
The problem is, if you have such a limited budget, you need to get more creative with the story in a way to work around budgetary restraints. Trust me man, I believe you can do it. But if you continue to spew out flicks Brain Damage picks up for distribution, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Perhaps you can get some money behind you from the Brain Damage deal, however, and move on to make a better, more polished project.
I wish you all the best in future endeavors, Ryan, and look forward to seeing your future work.
Best Regards,
Aaron J. Howell
And that’s that. Jesus man…some people. Just chill the fuck out guys and make a better movie.
STOCKHOLM SYNDROME Produced/Directed by Ryan Cavalline Story by Ryan Cavalline and Jason Senior
Well…let’s begin with a summary of this flick from what will probably be the back of the DVD (coming from Brain Damage Films on 05/05/2009):
“Somewhere, in a sleepy rural area, an underground organization is operating. People are being kidnapped, beaten, and tortured beyond comprehension. They are then reprogrammed to succumb to the will of their vile captors for their sick games and sold for the highest price. Along with his accomplice, a member of this evil group is having second thoughts about his role in this field and will do whatever it takes to leave the horror behind. Meanwhile, a young man and his pregnant wife take shelter in a run-down motel while on a road trip, unaware of the sheer terror that will soon befall them. All three will soon come to realize that in this kind of business….NO ONE ESCAPES”
Colorful, I’m aware. That is the kind of writing that your Joe Blow movie guy would read on the back of a dvd in your local movie-rental-plex…well, those that actually take the time to read the back of a Brain Damage “film”.
Let me talk about Ryan Cavalline. I have to give him…what do the kids say these days?…Mad…Props? Yeah, that’s it, I have to give him Mad F-Ing Props for forming his own production team at the ripe old age of eight-freakin’-teen and proceeded to push ahead, churning out movies like a b-flick factory. That’s tough work, and I respect that.
However…
Stockholm Syndrome is a mess. A bloody, afterbirth of a mess. Terrible is too haughty a word for the thing. I have to be honest, I just couldn’t make it through the entirety of the movie; 3/4 is about as far as it went. Normally, I never do this, but I just could NOT, BY ANY MEANS GO ON. There was nothing even remotely redeeming about this one. I’ve read some good reviews of the flick, and I’m happy that there’s a market out there for STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, but we (by that, I mean ME) just don’t dig it at Backwoods Horror.
First of all, it’s not even remotely MY kind of horror flick. In fact, it’s a matter of symantics as to whether or not the film could be categorized as horror at all. More or less, what you have here is the dreaded “psychological thriller” with a shit ton of “torture porn” thrown in for good kicks. If that were all the problems related to STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, I’d be willing to let it slide…but I digress.
The effects were terrible, beginning with the “preggers” chick at the beginning with a very obvious Basketball under her skirt. Ok, if you listen carefully (I had to rewind to make sure what I was hearing was, indeed, what I was hearing) when the woman pats her “pregnant” belly, you can hear, quite audibly, that “thump” one gets when slapping or flicking a basketball. That sort of hollowed out thump. COME ON, SERIOUSLY? Then there’s the makeup effects. Not too terribly bad if made by retarded monkeys throwing blood spattered poo at people. Unfortunately, however, this doesn’t seem the case…unless chimps are taking credit. And what about that cabbage patch doll baby? How over the top does it get? Was this meant as a joke? You couldn’t create a synthetic laytex or foam rubber baby mold so that it at least has that squishy element to it? I mean…a plastic doll? COME ON. Then we have all other types of zaniness. Fake puke that didn’t look like puke, a chick pissin’ herself that was a poorly done riff from Last House On The Left, the list goes on and on.
Then there’s the sound design. The levels were OUT OF FUCKING CONTROL. I’d have to turn my receiver up and then BAM, VOLUME’S BACK UP TO 11. What the hell? So the time I DID waste watching this film was spent mostly with the remote, vainly attempting to manually equalize the audio.
For the final nails in the coffin, let’s look at the “acting,” the “cinematography,” and the overall “direction.” Let’s look at the acting first. I couldn’t find any. I found a bunch of people stumbling through their lines as if they were, in some way, constipated and just trying to make it through to the cut so they could eventually drop a giant load (an apt metaphor for this “film” I think). It was atrocious. I’ve seen bums on fire act more convincingly (of course…you know…when they’re on fire). I didn’t give two shits about any of these characters. Then there’s that horrific of cinematography…or lack thereof. Ok, it was shot on tape, miniDV from the quality. That’s ok. 28 Days later (though shot with some nice Cannon Pro-Sumers) was still just miniDV, proving in a way that miniDV has it’s time and place. Not here. It just accentuated the overall cheap-ass feeling of the film with more artifacting than an antique shop. The film was dark (c-stands, clamps and lighting aren’t all that expensive, nor are filters and gels), so at times you couldn’t very well see what was going on. And the feeling of “in your face reality captured by talented miniDV (or digital in general) users was less than applicable here and one finds oneself wondering why all of the terrible Raimi-wannabe camera angles and extreme, obscuringly so, unnecessary close ups. This was due in no small part to the directorial mind behind it.
The…plot…was a veritable clusterfuck of cliches, bad dialogue (and bad carrythrough from the actors), and overall story. Because I can only guess that much of the original story was thrown out, we have, for our viewing displeasure, a series of torture porn riffs that never live up to whomever they were trying to emulate. Heaven forbid, I even saw a bit of Eli-fuckwad-Roth’s school of “COVER A SHITTY MOVIE UP WITH GORE GALORE and TITTIES AND YOU’LL BE FINE” school of chicanary. Oh, this flick had gore…bad, atrocious, terrible gore. A girl (after exposing us to some barely-theres) pisses herself and is made to lick it up. And what about this mafioso boss that looks like Ron Jeremy? …I can’t go on, I really can’t.
This flick made me, in all actuality…angry. I became literally pissed off that I was wasting my time with STOCKHOLM SYNDROME (a word, by the way, not even used corretly within the context of the film, so, they have butchered an English word to boot. I…
No…that’s it. I can’t go on any longer. To Mr. Cavalline, I’m sorry, but if I were you, I’d take whatever negative or final product you have (be it tape or whatever) and destroy it. I know it won’t stop this film from being released onto an unexpected audiance but, for your own sake, DESTROY IT. That said, I would be interested to see some of your other films just to see if STOCKHOLM SYNDROME was just some horrible drunken mistake you made this time. Perhaps this was just the bad bunch in that slowly rotting basket of film apples.
So would I be willing to give Ryan Cavalline another shot to show me that he’s more than this sordid, horrible mixup of piss-poor storyline, poor lighting, editing camera and sound work. Anyone with the brass balls enough to strike out and work towards doing what they love best I have all the respect in the world for. I just cannont recommend STOCKHOLM SYNDROME to anyone unless they are into really bad torture porn, horrendous acting and writing, and less than par direction.
