The Original Faces of Death: 30th Anniversary Edition was released by Gorgon Video on October 7th on DVD and Blu-ray. The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen and features a feature-length commentary track with director “Conan LeCilaire,” “Choice Cuts” featurette with editor Glenn Turner, “The Death Makers” featurette with the film’s special effects creators Allan A. Apone and Douglas J. White, outtakes, original trailer, and a deleted scene.
The Familiar (2009)
Originally published on Letterboxd 15 August 2015
(Note: This is a slightly expanded version of the original Letterboxd review.)
“Christian movies” have been around for decades, most of them concerned about the End Times—the first “rapture” feature was Manford Evans’s The Missing Christians in 1946—and lately more focused on the concept of Christians being persecuted, epitomized by surprised box office hit God’s Not Dead. There have been Christian films that employed genre trappings, and any movie about the punishments of Hell is by definition a kind of “horror movie” (although they tend to fall more into the category of “Christian scare” films, movies made to literally terrify the fear of God into viewers). But true “Christian horror” movies have been relatively rare, a trend that has somewhat reversed since the late 1990s as independent evangelical filmmakers have branched out in their efforts to reach new audiences. Most of the more recent Christian genre films adhere to more or less the same Dove Foundation-approved standards as their non-genre ilk, but The Familiar is a rare exception.
Young teenager Sam and his friend Charlie happen upon an abandoned house in the woods where they find evidence of some kind of Satanic ritual and a stack of porno mags. Being teenagers, they take a couple home and unwittingly bring along a demon that has attached itself to the magazines. Twenty-five years later, adult Sam (Bryan Massey) is an alcoholic ex-preacher who has spent the last five years in a drunken haze after the death of his wife Katherine. One day Katherine's sister Laura (Laura Spencer) comes to visit and the demon haunting Sam since his youth is awakened by Laura's vulnerability and the two wounded people's attraction to each other. In order to drive the demon out, Sam must confront his grief and loneliness before Laura's soul is claimed forever.
The Familiar is the first of two "demon-possessed porno magazine" Christian horror films from the last decade, the other being 2014's The Lock-In. This one uses the magazines as a way to literally demonize human sexuality: young Sam allows the demon in through the gateway of Raunchy magazine, and later it uses Laura's loneliness and the two characters' mutual attraction to lure them toward immorality. All sexuality--male or female--is presented as equally destructive, which almost feels progressive in such a traditionally misogynist subgenre. However, the ultimate focus is on Laura's role as an unwitting demon-possessed temptress. An acceptable alternative to demonic sexuality is never directly addressed, which probably seems like a major oversight to any non-believers in the audience but is perfectly fine if you believe it's a totally reasonable thing to expect people to never have sex unless they're married.
For a “Christian” production, the film is considerably edgier than its contemporaries. In addition to some profanity, “Jesus” is uttered when the characters are not specifically referring to the Lord, and there are glimpses of cleavage and a shot of a nude woman’s back that go toward depicting the horrors of pornography and lust. As far as the actual movie goes, The Familiar is a middling slow-burn independent horror film. Despite its relative technical competence, its pace is far too slow and it runs far too long at 100 minutes. Writer/director Miles Hanon seems well aware of his low budget's restraints, and the film mostly avoids using cheap CGI effects (except for a few shots in "demon vision") that can distract from the relative care taken in the rest of the production. Hell, they even did a pretty good job on the sound mix, which is extremely rare in independent genre films Christian or otherwise. The cast tries nobly, but they can't quite save The Familiar from its biggest problem, which is the fact that it takes itself way too seriously.
Father’s Day (2011)
Originally published on Film Monthly 24 February 2012
I’m just going to put this right out there: What Wet Hot American Summer is to early-80s summer camp sex comedies, Father’s Day is to the grindhouse revenge films of the 70s. In other words, while at first glance Father’s Day seems to be yet another neo-”grindhouse”/post-Grindhouse tribute to the heyday of exploitation cinema, it’s actually more of a parody of those films, with more than a little absurdist humor. It’s hilarious, disgusting, unpredictable, and clearly signals the arrival of its creators, comedy collective Astron-6, as a force to be reckoned with.
Chris Fuchman (Mackenzie Murdoch), the legendary monster who rapes and murders dads, has returned to terrorize the city. Ailing Father O’Flynn (Kevin Anderson) sends young priest Father John Sullivan (Matthew Kennedy) to find Ahab (Adam Brooks), a man sworn to vengeance against Fuchman after seeing his dad raped and murdered when he was a young boy. Sullivan brings Ahab back, and in addition to resuming his blood oath of revenge, Ahab reunites with his long-lost sister Chelsea (Amy Groening), now a stripper. Ahab, Sullivan and Chelsea join forces with teen prostitute Twink (Conor Sweeney), who also lost his father to Fuchman.
For its first act, Father’s Day seems mostly content to jet forward with the gore and taboo levels set to 11– for sheer transgressive “entertainment,” Father’s Day makes even Jason Eisener’s Hobo with a Shotgun look like a Merchant Ivory production. It makes perfect sense that the film is being released by Troma, whose name was frequently invoked in discussions of Hobo with a Shotgun. It’s tough to imagine any other company willing to release a film with this much penile trauma and male rape. If Troma specialized in jaw-dropping offense at the height of its popularity in the VHS era, Father’s Day represents an updated version of that same sensibility that originally put them on the map.
However, Father’s Day also has a darkly anarchic sense of humor and an unpredictability that puts it on an entirely different level than what audiences have come to expect from Troma. In fact, the film goes off in an entirely unexpected direction in its final act, which is so surreal and bizarre that it transcends the neo-”grindhouse” style and becomes something completely different. To say much more would be spoiling some of the film’s many surprises, but suffice to say that Ahab’s quest takes on a considerably wider scope than simple revenge against the man who killed his father and took his eye. The last 30 minutes of Father’s Day are probably going to sharply divide people looking for another Hobo with a Shotgun and those willing to follow Astron-6 down their hilariously macabre rabbit hole.
With Father’s Day, the recent release of Drew Rosas’s 80s slasher parody Blood Junkie and their deal to distribute Drew Bolduc and Dan Nelson’s wildly inventive and offensive indie shock-horror epic The Taint, Troma seems to be having something of a renaissance. While Lloyd Kaufman’s Poultrygeist was a great time, it’s unlikely to change anyone’s mind about the concept of a “Troma film.” Father’s Day, on the other hand, may do just that. It’s easily one of the best films of this young year so far. If you’re a hardcore cult film fan and Father’s Day plays anywhere near you on the big screen, you owe it to yourself to go.
Father’s Day (2011): 4-disc limited edition
Originally published on Film Monthly 7 August 2012
When I originally reviewed Father’s Day back in February, I knew the film was something great. Sure enough, six months later Father’s Day has proven to be my favorite film of 2012, and like all of the film’s rabid fans, I’ve been looking forward to its official release on Blu-ray for quite some time. Now that it’s here, though, I can’t help but feel conflicted about Troma’s release of Father’s Day. On the one hand, despite all the behind-the-scenes conflict between filmmakers Astron-6 and Troma, Father’s Day remains a brilliantly inventive comedy that should absolutely be seen by any die-hard cinephile. On the other, this release does not feature Astron-6′s final
cut of the film, making it problematic to recommend the set without some serious reservations.
But before digging into that, a quick recap of the film itself: After a long dormancy, the “Father’s Day Killer” Chris Fuchman (Mackenzie Murdock) has returned to resume his campaign of rape and murder against all dads. Father John Sullivan (Matthew Kennedy) is sent to find Ahab (Adam Brooks), a vigilante who lost his own father to Fuchman as a child and is now bent on revenge. Father John and Ahab team up with teen prostitute Twink (Conor Sweeney), while Ahab’s long-lost sister Chelsea (Amy Groening), now a stripper who does the detective work on Fuchman’s crime scenes that the local police seem incapable of, tries to convince Ahab that she can help him find and destroy Fuchman. Their quest for vengeance ends up going to some very strange places as Ahab learns he has to follow Fuchman to hell and back– perhaps literally– to stop his reign of terror.
What Wet Hot American Summer is to early-80s summer camp sex comedies, Father’s Day is to the brutal grindhouse revenge films of the 70s. In other words, it is both a loving tribute to and an absurd parody of the heyday of exploitation cinema. It’s hilarious, disgusting, bizarre and unpredictable. Tasked by Troma to come up with a feature based on a mock trailer, Astron-6 took up the challenge by pushing the limits of sex and violence well past what even the nastiest 70s revenge picture has to offer. The last 30 minutes of Father’s Day are probably going to sharply divide people looking for another Hobo with a Shotgun and those willing to follow Astron-6 down their hilariously macabre rabbit hole.
This is all still completely valid, but discussing Father’s Day in more detail requires talking about a very modern problem for filmmakers and studios: The Internet. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter put artists in direct contact with their fans, and sometimes this lays bare problems that previously would have been dealt with out of the public eye. No such luck here, as Astron-6 and Troma have been involved in a very public conflict over the release of Father’s Day that has culminated in the release of this “limited edition” 4-disc set. Originally slated as a 3-disc set with a full-length commentary track and “making of” feature, Troma ditched the film’s original release date and scrapped most of the planned special features that had been announced for this set after Astron-6 released the trailer for No Sleep, No Surrender, their documentary on the making of Father’s Day that clearly paints Troma in an unfavorable light.
After some Internet backlash, Troma announced a new 4-disc version of Father’s Day, and that is what has been released. This set features one Blu-ray disc (with the film), a DVD of the film, a second DVD of special features, and a soundtrack cd called “An Evening with Smokey Miles” (which also features two songs by Brian Wiacek, for a total of 9 tracks). There is a fair amount of content on the special features disc, but the biggest point of contention in the set is not the omission of several previously announced special features. According to Astron-6, the cut of Father’s Day available in this set is actually not the final cut of the film that they intended to be released and seen. This places fans in an awkward position, as it seems highly unlikely given the current state of the relationship between Astron-6 and Troma that a corrected set with the actual final cut of the film is going to be on the way any time soon. However, knowing that the version of the film in this set is not the version that the filmmakers intended for release makes it difficult to recommend.
Again, despite all this, I absolutely consider Father’s Day one of the best films I’ve seen this year. It deserves to be seen, and Astron-6 deserves to be huge. They have created an amazing film on a miniscule budget, packed with fantastic makeup and effects, solid performances, and an utterly unique sense of humor carried over from their excellent short film work. Troma deserves credit for helping bring Astron-6 more attention, and for giving Father’s Day a theatrical release, however abbreviated. Unfortunately, though, the fact that Troma has elected to release a version of the film that is not the filmmakers’ final cut is inexcusable. Hopefully we’ll eventually be able to see the film the way it was meant to be seen, but in the meantime, this Troma release is the only way the film can be seen at all. It’s well short of ideal, but for anyone looking for a truly unique comedic voice, I’m glad to recommend Astron-6′s work in general and Father’s Day in particular. Fingers crossed that the home video release of Manborg goes more smoothly than this one.
Troma released Father’s Day in a limited edition 4-disc set on Tuesday, 7 August 2012. Special features include 2 deleted scenes, 2 makeup/effects featurettes, 5 trailers, 3 slide shows (behind-the-scenes, Rue Morgue magazine article, and “Super Tromette Elena Re-creates the Lowlife”), 2 Astron-6 shorts (“Lazer Ghosts 2″ and “Cool Guys”), a featurette on the making of the film’s poster by The Dude Designs, footage from Father’s Day premieres in various cities, an excerpt from the Father’s Day panel at Texas Frightmare Weekend, an introduction by Lloyd Kaufman on the special features disc, and “Tromatic special features” (Troma trailers, etc.). The DVD version of the film also features an introduction by Lloyd Kaufman, and the fourth disc is a CD entitled “An Evening with Smokey Miles,” featuring 7 tracks by Miles and 2 tracks by Brian Wiacek. The “liner notes” for the set include a poem by Guy Maddin and notes by David Annandale & Trevor Tuminski.
5 Shells (2012)
Originally published on Film Monthly 17 July 2013
Post-apocalyptic (“PA”) dramas are in no short supply these days, especially in the independent film scene. Many of these films tend to have a reach that far outstrips their grasp, though, and many of these projects fail to reach the standard set for themselves. It is a relief when a filmmaker uses their constrictions in an interesting way, twisting weaknesses around to become strengths. 5 Shells, a new PA drama from writer/director Paul S. Myers, strips away most of the extraneous matter from the standard apocalypse tale and presents a desolate and utterly convincing near future. Further, he uses a small cast to great effect in giving the impression of a hopeless, quiet world where everyone must struggle bitterly to survive.
As the film opens, sisters Matti (Kelsey Hutton) and Joslyn (Eve Kozikowski) hide under the floorboards of their home while someone murders their parents. After the raiders leave, Matti and Joslyn find their parents and bury their bodies. Matti finds five shotgun shells by her father’s corpse and shortly after the burial decides that she and Joslyn should leave their home to go find their grandmother. Armed with a single-barrel shotgun and those five shells, the girls set off on the open road. Before too long they encounter Frank (Chad Brummett) and Stanton (Lincoln Mark), and while Joslyn seems to trust them, Matti is unwilling to take her hands off the shotgun. Unsurprisingly, this turns out to be a good idea, as not everyone in this lonely, empty world is who they seem to be.
5 Shells excels at creating a bleak tone that permeates every frame of the film. Matti and Joslyn’s trip takes them on the road, but it’s long abandoned, with only an occasional broken-down vehicle in their way. Most of the time they travel through wilderness and desert, and the former towns they stumble across are utterly empty. Matti has a series of brightly colored dream sequences, but most of 5 Shells is shot with a muted, flat look that lends itself well to the film’s atmosphere. Occasional wide shots of the sky and fields bring to mind Terrence Malick; this is often a very beautiful film to look at, and the performances of the mostly very young cast are great. Kelsey Hutton is especially good as Matti, who becomes the center of the film’s attention after picking up the shotgun. There is hardly a shot in the film in which she is not carrying, aiming, or clutching at it, so much so that it becomes a significant part of her character.
Perhaps the major stumbling block of 5 Shells is its opening credit claim that it was “suggested by” The Wizard of Oz. At the beginning of the film, Matti reads from the book to Joslyn as she falls asleep, and during dream sequences Matti seems to be literally walking through the pages of the book toward the Emerald City. However, other than these direct nods, 5 Shells doesn’t have muc
h of anything to do with The Wizard of Oz, at least no more than any other similar PA road trip movie. The metaphor doesn’t hold together, and its occasional intrusion into the narrative is actually distracting. Without the Wizard of Oz conceit, 5 Shells would be a great entry into the crowded indie PA genre. As it is, it’s still head and shoulders above many other indie PA films, but the nagging idea that the audience is supposed to make The Wizard of Ozfit with the film’s events is confounding and detracts from the film’s otherwise powerfully spare storytelling.
Forgetting the Girl (2012)
Originally published on Film Monthly 1 April 2014
If you hadn’t seen the poster or DVD cover of Forgetting the Girl before popping it in your DVD player, you would probably not realize it is a sort of horror movie until well into its running time. The film takes the shape of a confessional right from the beginning, with its lead character directly addressing a video camera and playing a slideshow while he talks around what he has done and about what has made him what he is. The audience is supposed to sort of identify and empathize with him as he discusses trying to remember a traumatic event from his childhood and how tough it is being a nice, single guy in the big city who is kind of awkward when interacting with the opposite sex. And maybe there would be a way to invoke some sympathy from the audience, if it weren’t for the fact that we’ve seen this guy before a million times. We’re familiar with his problems. Too familiar.
Christopher Denham plays the lead role of Kevin Wolfe, a photographer making a living doing head shots for actresses and models. Kevin has a Dark Secret from his childhood that he can’t seem to remember, but he believes that it is the reason he has so much trouble with women. This sort of goes directly against what we see of Kevin in practice: he plasters ads for his services all over New York and boldly approaches any attractive young woman he thinks might need head shots or a nice guy to come home to. He spends literally every day interacting with various women and asks all of them out. From his description, he means literally every single one of them. Most of them say no. Occasionally one will say yes, and Kevin will find himself in a difficult situation when things inevitably go bad. “Inevitably,” because Kevin is a sociopath, and he does not take rejection well.
The Unrepentant Cinephile Page 25
