Review: Consumption - 2007

Consumption

Director: Richard Powell

2007

Horror/Short

What seems to begin with a romantic dinner for two, soon changes into something more macabre. Something way beyond ordinary peoples frames of references. Professor George Klubbard and Claudia are fully aware of their commitments and will stop at nothing to complete the experiment. Empirical research that emphasises on unknown states of mind and experiences of flesh few can brag about.

It’s all too hard to review this movie in any other way than to reveal certain details of it. The following text may therefore include spoilers. Read at your own risk!

This is a short, no longer than thirty minutes long. These have a kind of dramaturgy not comparable to that of the feature films. It’s a more intense way of telling the story and you don’t have as much time to develop characters and so forth. To create a situation is however possible but to get the depth from longer productions is just not easily obtained. It also has a limited budget so no extraordinary details nor production values is neither possible. But it does not have to contain those things anyway! The tone of the movie is certainly amateurish, but still there is both a feeling of voyeurism and real ambition, underlying values of moral and it’s fascinating at the same time as it’s provoking and really gets under your skin.

I can’t get a total grip of the actors though, at first they’re really bad and the feeling that anyone could have done this at home with a camcorder is apparent. The initial events also seems to be unnecessary trivial. But then something happens! Not really that the acting improves, but as the plot thickens and evolve into a really unpleasant story when the cannibalistic ingredients comes along the production gets more intense altogether. I would compare this, at least plot wise to films like Marain Doras Cannibal based on the true events of German cannibal case of Armin Meiwes. Not that there any homosexual eroticism, or heterosexual either for that matter, but the romantic dinner and the victims willingness to the whole arrangement could easily be compared with that movie.

Instead of the sexuality there’s lots and lots of black humour in the story. Perhaps of the kind that goes unnoticeable the first time but still its present. It’s a pretty clever dialog, but even if it’s apparent where the storyline is going it’s still a bit of a chock when it’s revealed for us. You get overwhelmed by the obvious, so to speak. It’s macabre and totally disgusting (in the most positive sense of the word) and it’s flavoured with some really good and shocking gore effects. The blood might be a little thin but as a whole it doesn’t really matter, the whole point is not to shock with these effects and I’ve seen it done a lot worse in big budgeted movies too.

                                          

So… I like this, regardless of the amateurish production values. I see it as a must for those who are interested in nihilistic, cannibalistic and repulsive flicks. It manages to stay right on the egde and does not get tasteless just for the sake of it and leaves the viewer with a feeling and hopelessness and moral values!

Review: The Gray Man - 2007

The Gray Man

Director: Scott Flynn

2007

Thriller

Albert Fish is a grey old man whose harmless appearance fools a whole society. In fact he’s a bloodthirsty serial killer and cannibal. He finds pleasure in pain both done to himself and to others. In 1928 he takes ten year old Grace Budd to a party. She’s never seen again and Fish disappears into thin air and can’t be found. However a stubborn detective refuses to let go of the case. Several years later he finally able to track down Fish, prove his guilt and have him convicted.

I think most people would refer to Albert Fish as a depraved son of a bitch if they got the chance. But I don’t think that he’s as widely known as some of the other serial killers and wackos out there. There’s a ton of movies about Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy but only one about Albert Fish as far as I know. I think it’s very strange considering this man’s mental state. It might have something to do with his crimes; they are of course taboos since they include killing and eating children. That’s something you can’t exploit in just any way. The fact that his victims were fairly few compared to some of the more widely known serial killers might also have something to do with it.

I think that Patrick Bauchau does a marvelous job in the role as Fish. He’s perfect and keeps it interesting at all times even when the camera wanders off and refuses us to see what’s really happening with the victims. And since there’s not a single scene where there’s any true visualizing of the murders, that’s well needed. He can turn from being a lovable old man to a total bastard in a heartbeat and it’s very nicely portrayed. The other parts a fine to but not in comparison with the title role.

I think it’s too bad that the film is really two films in one. We have the story about Fish, which is fine even if I would have liked a little more excitement and suspense in the story. We also have the other half of the film, told fragmented at the same time, about the detective working with lost persons and ultimately catches Fish in the end. These parts are so noir-esque that they disturb the flow of the movie. It doesn’t quite fit together with the main story I think. I wouldn’t have minded it if it wasn’t so noir all the time.

So as a whole I’m disappointed. I think there should be a more revolting film about Fish and that it wouldn’t be very hard to do considering his crimes. I need denser storytelling and a psychological depth analysis of his mind, but I guess this’ll have to do for now…

Review: The Ghouls - 2003

The Ghouls

Director: Chad Ferrin

2003

Horror

Eric Hayes makes his living with his film camera. He sells the revolting footage that he captures to the highest bidder but doesn’t make a fortune out of it. In fact he’s always looking for the one great story that will make him rich. He follows the police around hoping to get some sellable footage and more or less live of other people’s misery. One day he does discover something different though! He tries to film it but when he’s about to sell it there’s no film in the camera. He doesn’t give up and soon he finds what he’s looking for again, some footage that are so gruesome that it’ll be worth a fortune on the open market. It’ll be something to die for! He has discovered the cannibalistic ghouls…

Something that’s great about Cine Du Mondes releases is the short introduction sequence they sometimes have where the director gets a chance to tell us about his movie. This is the first ever edition with extras of this film in the UK. That’s what Chad Ferrin tells, I don’t really know and I don’t really care as I’m not a big fan of extras. As far as collecting is concerned this should be a great release though! Cine Du Monde has released two other titles by Chad in the past (Unspeakable and Easter Bunny Kill! Kill!) and I see no reason not to get this in your collection as well.

It is, of course, a low budget film! It doesn’t show too much though. It’s pretty nicely acted and the story is well thought through. There might be better gore effects out there but I think these are quite adequate. For me it isn’t the gore anyway, there is a deeper sense to the movie which I’ll try to analyse here. Bear with me…

The movie is about the discovery of cannibals. They look like ghouls but that isn’t the point. Who are the real cannibals on the world really? I say it’s the ones who cannibalize other people’s misery by making a living out of capturing the violence on film. There, that didn’t take too much linguistic skills did it? In other words I think the title may very well be referring to the profession that actually discovers the ghouls. Does Eric Hayes find himself eventually? Does he feel regret? Remorse? Does he realize that he’s just a pawn in the big boys market? This is what I think about when I see it. I have a tendency to analyse too much but you can’t say that I couldn’t be right, could you?

In this sense it’s a great film. I like being made to think a bit and I think this movie does that to you even if it might not be deliberate. And there’s the other side to it as well. If you don’t allow your thoughts to float away you can still have an enjoyable time. The story, even without any of the layers I just described, is entertaining anyway. You can watch it as a straight forward horror flick or as a clever existential film, the choice is yours!

6/10

Images: © 2003 Crappy World Films © 2011 Cine du Monde (UK Licence)