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: Familiar - 2012

A far as I know this is Richard Powell’s third short film. Both the other ones (Consumption, Worm) were quite good so my expectations were high when I viewed this one! I didn’t need to worry for long though; this is at least as good as the best moments of the previous films! It’s kind of hard to describe a synopsis when it comes to short films, they tend to be some what’s easy structure wise and if you describe too much you might spoil the film for those who reads you review. There for I will not describe it very lengthy and satisfy myself by saying that the main character – John Dodd, played brilliantly by Robert Nolan, is dead tired of his life as he lives it. He feels like in a prison and can’t wait for his kid to get to collage so he can leave his wife and start over again; live his life as it ought to be lived!

But he finds out that his wife in pregnant and plots to get rid of the fetus and regain his freedom once and for all! That’s more or less it. There are a few things that work as metaphors of course, but yet they might be true! Is there really a monster growing inside of John Dodd’s body or does he imagine things? Are they just there for us – the audience? Well, at the very end we get some answers but nothing up till that moment.

The story is great, the mood is awesome but nothing impresses more than Robert Nolan! It feels like he could pull anything of after seeing him in this part! He’s a genius and I never saw it before! He has always been very good but here he’s even better!

I think it’s really a movie about insanity (of some sort) and I absolutely loved it. The only problem with it really is that it should’ve been a feature film. It had that much story to tell and if it were spread out during a longer time and told a little slower it would have been a true masterpiece!

Review: Worm - 2009

Worm

Director: Richard Powell

2009

Comedy/Short

Geoffrey Oswald Dodd is a plain teacher and lives an ordinary life with content. He happily teaches his students and to grade their papers and there’s nothing special going on at all. At least that’s the outer image that people see, in reality the truth is somewhat different. He’s plagued with dark thought about (in his mind) the retarded students in the class and wants, beyond anything else, to bang the only bright thing in his class – Lillian, and to blow the head of the other student with his gun, and to finally blow his own brains out all over the blackboard.

I’ve written comedy above, but that doesn’t mean that this movie makes you quiver with laughter. It’s not slapstick humour in any way or something like that. No, it’s more like a very black film with subtle humour. The main characters situation with life it so twisted that it’s impossible not to be entertained by the absurdness of it. The dialog, or rather the monolog, that’s in the main characters head is amazingly well written and there is no way to not admire the inventiveness of it. Or really the paradox between the exterior of the calm teacher and the inner voice. A very entertaining contrast!

The acting might not be top notch, but it’s certainly good enough to deliver the story in a convincing way. That is even if it’s obvious that this is a movie with a very low budget and that everything that could have been visualized only takes place in the mind of the viewer. With that said it’s not hard to conclude that the movie, more or less, lacks special effects. Instead it makes good use of the twisted plot and illustrates sick states of mind with fitting music. And there is the monolog of course!

I’m undoubtedly looking forward to what Richard Powel can think up the next time! We have review his short Consumption here on the site in the past and with these two movies done there’s no limit for what can be done!