Though touted as an uber-low-budget horror film (and sure, there's sex, violence, and enough fake bloodnguts to satiate the gorehounds in the theater), The Theta Girl is hardly a shot-on-video zombie/slasher/vampire/blahblahblah.
Owing more to the surrealism of Lynch or Jodorowsky than it does to Herschell Gordon Lewis or Roger Corman, The Theta Girl is a film that combines drug culture, religious experiences, punk rock, and good ol' fashioned vigilante justice, wrapped up in blotter paper.
Victoria E Donofrio stars as the titular Theta Girl, Gayce... a wide-eyed, sneering toughie who helps support her friends' punk band by supplying band and audience alike with a DMT-like drug that creates a possibly shared hallucination akin to that experienced moments before death that puts its users in direct contact with "the entity," a mysterious creature that would be right at home in Twin Peaks' black lodge. However, upon a group of holy- rolling nemeses become dosed simultaneously, the action kicks off with a bang that transcends time, space, and spirit worlds. She finds an unlikely ally in the man who supplies her the Theta she doses out, although it ultimately climaxes in a battle between good and evil in which nothing is entirely as surface-level as such terms would indicate.
Rest assured, it's easier to follow than my description.
It would be really easy to cut this flick a WHOLE LOTTA SLACK considering everyone involved is a fresh face and... again... "low- budget horror"... but there's no need here to be merciful here. This film stands admirably on its own merits.
Victoria Donofrio shines in this role as Gayce and maintains her intense, brooding demeanor throughout without becoming a caricature. Beneath the demeanor is care and complexity, and Donofrio doesn't disrespect these elements one whit in her portrayal.
Darrelle Dove as Derek, the supplier who gets entangled in the situation, likewise fuses a complexity, depth, and tremendous empathy in his role.
Shane Sillman, as the unstably religious Brother Marcus, brings a downright uncomfortable intensity to his role (think Henry Rollins only... y'know... for the lord).
Additional performances to watch for are Quinn Deogracias as Yolanda, the similarly take-no-crap lead singer of Truth Foundation and Mike Amason as Papa Shogun, the wild, eccentric, inner-space cowboy who developed/discovered/manufactures Theta.
David Axe provides a powerful script, and Christopher Bickel directs with the confidence, skill, and passion of a long-timer. The editing is airtight, never allowing a dull moment. The mise-en- scene... angles, lighting, and general presentation... hearken back to classic 70s exploitation without being a gimmicky grind-house retread. The music is used effectively... from Carpenter-esque synth moods to punk rock to ambient sounds to apocalyptic gospel- blooz.
There are innumerable "low-budget" features with exponentially larger budgets that don't hit with nearly the same impact as The Theta Girl. Beautiful, repulsive, sexy, violent, grounded, and ethereal... The Theta Girl is a hodgepodge of contradictions that work well beyond the sum of its (already incredible) parts.
In short... buy the ticket, take the ride.
Owing more to the surrealism of Lynch or Jodorowsky than it does to Herschell Gordon Lewis or Roger Corman, The Theta Girl is a film that combines drug culture, religious experiences, punk rock, and good ol' fashioned vigilante justice, wrapped up in blotter paper.
Victoria E Donofrio stars as the titular Theta Girl, Gayce... a wide-eyed, sneering toughie who helps support her friends' punk band by supplying band and audience alike with a DMT-like drug that creates a possibly shared hallucination akin to that experienced moments before death that puts its users in direct contact with "the entity," a mysterious creature that would be right at home in Twin Peaks' black lodge. However, upon a group of holy- rolling nemeses become dosed simultaneously, the action kicks off with a bang that transcends time, space, and spirit worlds. She finds an unlikely ally in the man who supplies her the Theta she doses out, although it ultimately climaxes in a battle between good and evil in which nothing is entirely as surface-level as such terms would indicate.
Rest assured, it's easier to follow than my description.
It would be really easy to cut this flick a WHOLE LOTTA SLACK considering everyone involved is a fresh face and... again... "low- budget horror"... but there's no need here to be merciful here. This film stands admirably on its own merits.
Victoria Donofrio shines in this role as Gayce and maintains her intense, brooding demeanor throughout without becoming a caricature. Beneath the demeanor is care and complexity, and Donofrio doesn't disrespect these elements one whit in her portrayal.
Darrelle Dove as Derek, the supplier who gets entangled in the situation, likewise fuses a complexity, depth, and tremendous empathy in his role.
Shane Sillman, as the unstably religious Brother Marcus, brings a downright uncomfortable intensity to his role (think Henry Rollins only... y'know... for the lord).
Additional performances to watch for are Quinn Deogracias as Yolanda, the similarly take-no-crap lead singer of Truth Foundation and Mike Amason as Papa Shogun, the wild, eccentric, inner-space cowboy who developed/discovered/manufactures Theta.
David Axe provides a powerful script, and Christopher Bickel directs with the confidence, skill, and passion of a long-timer. The editing is airtight, never allowing a dull moment. The mise-en- scene... angles, lighting, and general presentation... hearken back to classic 70s exploitation without being a gimmicky grind-house retread. The music is used effectively... from Carpenter-esque synth moods to punk rock to ambient sounds to apocalyptic gospel- blooz.
There are innumerable "low-budget" features with exponentially larger budgets that don't hit with nearly the same impact as The Theta Girl. Beautiful, repulsive, sexy, violent, grounded, and ethereal... The Theta Girl is a hodgepodge of contradictions that work well beyond the sum of its (already incredible) parts.
In short... buy the ticket, take the ride.