Berenice (2004) (V)

User Rating:

8.8/10   

Directors:

Geoffrey Ciani
Christian Twiste

Writers:

Geoffrey Ciani (writer)
Edgar Allan Poe (short story)

Release Date:

1 May 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Love, murder, madness

Plot:

'I have a tale to tell in its own essence rife with horror-I would suppress it were it not a record...

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title | Edgar Allan Poe's Berenice | Character Name In Title

Cast

Paul Boccadoro	...	Funeral Drummer
David F. Cressman	...	The Driver
John Cusumano	...	The Acolyte
Billy Ehrlacher	...	The Doctor
Trisha Hershberger	...	Berenice
Dick Nepon	...	The Gardener
Tesia Nicoli	...	The Maid
Dan Quigley	...	The Menial
Christian Twiste	...	Egaeus
Robert Twiste	...	The Old Bear
Bob Weick	...	The Cook

Also Known As:

Edgar Allan Poe's Berenice (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

USA:58 min | USA:60 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Mushroom Cloud Productions LLC

Admirable first time effort!

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Minor spoilers ahead.

Recently I've watched this little flick. Somehow it reminded me of the Scandinavian films I watched when I was younger (the pre-dogma, youth films that is), I always enjoyed those thoroughly. This film was a first time endeavor of the directing/producing team, and I must say they did a commendable job! There are some minor flaws; however in a production like this, they're charming.

The film was produced with a ridiculous small budget, $ 30.000. Such a budget is close to zilch in terms of a film budget. I came to understand that the actors and the rest of the crew performed for free.

The acting: It varies from promising to poor. The main character Berenice, was portrayed quite good, she was compelling as a careless young girl. The cook also seems to have some acting experience under his belt; especially his confident body language and manner of speech led me to believe this. The Egaeus character too was quite convincing.

The story and motives: As a foreign language speaker I'm not so familiar with Edgar Allen Poe's work, so I won't be able to judge the adaptation. Rumor is that it's a fairly loose adaptation of Poe's piece of work. Film deals with death, insanity and decay. With the theme of dehumanizing, I presume there's a certain amount of Kubrickian influence. Story is about two cousins; Berenice and Egaeus. Berenice is a careless happy-go-lucky young girl, Egaeus is a troubled self-absorbed character with apparent mental disorders which include schizoid tendencies and a tendency to obsessional rumination. Berenice has a certain liking for her cousin, who on the other hand doesn't seem to notice her. It's only after a streak of tragedies he becomes (overly) aware of her.

Conclusion

To return to Kubrick; Looney Stan wasn't that proud of his early work. But it is this work which lay the foundation of what was to follow. The team of this production should be proud. It is for sure I will be paying attention to their second effort.

I don't really like giving grades, but anyhow: Pound 4 pound (weighing the factors) I'll give it an 8 out of 10.