I saw this film at the Horrorfind Film Festival in 2011, and it started off well enough with a black and white boxing match. Wonderful lighting/cinematography, I expected something along the lines of Raging Bull with a horror twist... but this wasn't even close to the case.
As the plot synopsis on here says, the film goes into a "split narrative"... the only problem is, it seemed like any logic that that should have accompanied the plot was split as well. Neither storyline really made much sense, with the boxer's storyline dealing with what seemed like a coven of women trying to do something with the boxer that never really came to fruition, and "Rookie's" storyline dealing with suddenly bringing his dead relative back to life (the only real "horror" aspect of the film).
The film's biggest detriment is in the editing, and not knowing when to finally cut. For example, there's a scene midway in the film where Rookie is aimlessly driving down a long road, drinking and head banging to his radio, and it's initially pretty funny. Everyone in the theater got a decent laugh in the beginning (I at least assumed this was to be one of the comic relief scenes), but the scene went on... and on... and on... until finally, no wait, it's still going... and going... and... okay, it's done. Everyone in the theater went from chuckling to that kind of awkward giggling in which you're not sure if you're still supposed to laugh anymore. This scene probably should've been a half minute at most, but it felt like it was at least 5 minutes. Most likely to pad out the half hour runtime.
Overall, I really don't mean to sound harsh, as I know how difficult filmmaking can be. I just get disappointed when I see an indie film start with such potential, only to stumble as it goes along. I still think these filmmakers have potential, as from a technical scale, the cinematography was pretty decent. However, it's storytelling and editing that need work.
As the plot synopsis on here says, the film goes into a "split narrative"... the only problem is, it seemed like any logic that that should have accompanied the plot was split as well. Neither storyline really made much sense, with the boxer's storyline dealing with what seemed like a coven of women trying to do something with the boxer that never really came to fruition, and "Rookie's" storyline dealing with suddenly bringing his dead relative back to life (the only real "horror" aspect of the film).
The film's biggest detriment is in the editing, and not knowing when to finally cut. For example, there's a scene midway in the film where Rookie is aimlessly driving down a long road, drinking and head banging to his radio, and it's initially pretty funny. Everyone in the theater got a decent laugh in the beginning (I at least assumed this was to be one of the comic relief scenes), but the scene went on... and on... and on... until finally, no wait, it's still going... and going... and... okay, it's done. Everyone in the theater went from chuckling to that kind of awkward giggling in which you're not sure if you're still supposed to laugh anymore. This scene probably should've been a half minute at most, but it felt like it was at least 5 minutes. Most likely to pad out the half hour runtime.
Overall, I really don't mean to sound harsh, as I know how difficult filmmaking can be. I just get disappointed when I see an indie film start with such potential, only to stumble as it goes along. I still think these filmmakers have potential, as from a technical scale, the cinematography was pretty decent. However, it's storytelling and editing that need work.