I'm one of those kind of horror fans who supports the efforts of dye-in-the-wool buffs living the dream, putting together whatever monetary funds they can scrape up in order to make a little homage to movies that inspired them. That's not to say there hasn't been a fair share of rotten apples along the way, particularly within the slasher genre. But in the past few years I've come across a number of flicks made by horror buffs on peanuts which have more enthusiasm, energy, and verve, while also containing elements hardcore horror fans can enjoy such as Gutterballs, Hatchet, Behind the Mask:The Rise of Leslie Vernon, among others, than most high-budget fare without a soul churned off the Hollywood machine these days. I think The Wild Man of Navidad is such a film, and it pays loving homage to films like The Legend of Boggy Creek, with nods to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(..in particular, the "room of bones" scene, except this time we see the remnants of the wilderness man-beast's meals over the past few days, the camera lens closing in tight showing buzzing flies entering gaping wounds in rotted flesh)as well.
The movie focuses on the oddball trio of Dale S Rogers(Justin Meeks who also co-wrote / co-directed), his paraplegic wife(played by his relative, Stacy Meeks), confined to a wheel-chair after a devastating car crash, and pot-bellied Mexican hand, Mario(Alex Garcia)who keep the hostility of a carnivorous half-human / half-animal at bay through skinned rabbit meat each night at 9:00, while also containing 600 acres of prime hunting land off-limits to those who desire to use it for their leisure as deer season starts up. Through mounting medical bills, Dale sees few alternatives to make some necessary quick-cash, opening the land for local hunters, resulting in one of them firing off a shot directed at the wild man of the woods, sparking a violent, bloody rampage resulting in humans being ripped apart and eaten.
I think what made this work for me was using real areas in Texas and locals from nearby small towns who would act for little to nothing while tolerating demanding conditions. Directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks studied under the tutelage of Kim Henkel(who wrote the screenplay for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The New Generation)who was teaching at a Texas college they attended. There's a good use of the rural setting and people who live there. The southern "hick" accents are thick and unrestrained and these people actually look like those who would live in a small rural area where everyone knows each other. The acting itself is often suspect because you are dealing with a great many non-actors who have never been in a film before. Graves and Meeks accentuate a variety of stylistic shots, using any number of make-shift apparatus which could compliment the scenes and characters, giving them an extra boost due to their limitations in budget. I believe an actor discusses a little buggy the duo rigged up as a rolling vehicle substituting for a dolly they couldn't afford..this is the same kind of motivation and ingenuity often elicited on Hooper's TCM.
The gore scenes are shot in a way to obviously avoid confronting the fact that they had little in regards to effective make-up effects. We see screaming victims, blood all over the place, the girth of the wild man(..always covered by skins)nearly engulfing the frame with animal guts tossed throughout from off screen. Not every filmmaker has access to a Tom Savini or Greg Nicotero, so these young guys combat their restrictions any way they possibly can. I think something has happened as the opportunities for obtaining cameras during the digital age have evolved..it seems that the attempt at developing and maintaining atmosphere and dread has dwindled. I'm not sure what it was about low-budget film-making in the 70's that gave it an edge and power that seems hard / difficult to duplicate in this day and age where anyone can make a movie with the right kind of support in place. I think Graves and Meeks give it everything they have in their being to establish dread and atmosphere, attempting to evoke that spirit the 70's had..but, again, it remains untouched. This is 2009, not 1974, but filmmakers continue to strive for tapping into the "grindhouse wellspring". Charlie Hurtin, as local back-stabbing moonshiner Karl Crabtree(..he practically took Rogers' steel welding job from him), also provided the very restrained, quietly moody score. Seems the film is a sort of tribute to Charles B Pierce, the director of The Legend of Boggy Creek and The Town That Dreaded Sundown and The Wild Man of the Navidad almost succeeds. It does have the eccentric, colorful sort of Texas citizenry one might find in a film made by Pierce or others during the 70's, lacking only that needed atmosphere that seemed to be in abundance during that decade.
The movie focuses on the oddball trio of Dale S Rogers(Justin Meeks who also co-wrote / co-directed), his paraplegic wife(played by his relative, Stacy Meeks), confined to a wheel-chair after a devastating car crash, and pot-bellied Mexican hand, Mario(Alex Garcia)who keep the hostility of a carnivorous half-human / half-animal at bay through skinned rabbit meat each night at 9:00, while also containing 600 acres of prime hunting land off-limits to those who desire to use it for their leisure as deer season starts up. Through mounting medical bills, Dale sees few alternatives to make some necessary quick-cash, opening the land for local hunters, resulting in one of them firing off a shot directed at the wild man of the woods, sparking a violent, bloody rampage resulting in humans being ripped apart and eaten.
I think what made this work for me was using real areas in Texas and locals from nearby small towns who would act for little to nothing while tolerating demanding conditions. Directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks studied under the tutelage of Kim Henkel(who wrote the screenplay for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The New Generation)who was teaching at a Texas college they attended. There's a good use of the rural setting and people who live there. The southern "hick" accents are thick and unrestrained and these people actually look like those who would live in a small rural area where everyone knows each other. The acting itself is often suspect because you are dealing with a great many non-actors who have never been in a film before. Graves and Meeks accentuate a variety of stylistic shots, using any number of make-shift apparatus which could compliment the scenes and characters, giving them an extra boost due to their limitations in budget. I believe an actor discusses a little buggy the duo rigged up as a rolling vehicle substituting for a dolly they couldn't afford..this is the same kind of motivation and ingenuity often elicited on Hooper's TCM.
The gore scenes are shot in a way to obviously avoid confronting the fact that they had little in regards to effective make-up effects. We see screaming victims, blood all over the place, the girth of the wild man(..always covered by skins)nearly engulfing the frame with animal guts tossed throughout from off screen. Not every filmmaker has access to a Tom Savini or Greg Nicotero, so these young guys combat their restrictions any way they possibly can. I think something has happened as the opportunities for obtaining cameras during the digital age have evolved..it seems that the attempt at developing and maintaining atmosphere and dread has dwindled. I'm not sure what it was about low-budget film-making in the 70's that gave it an edge and power that seems hard / difficult to duplicate in this day and age where anyone can make a movie with the right kind of support in place. I think Graves and Meeks give it everything they have in their being to establish dread and atmosphere, attempting to evoke that spirit the 70's had..but, again, it remains untouched. This is 2009, not 1974, but filmmakers continue to strive for tapping into the "grindhouse wellspring". Charlie Hurtin, as local back-stabbing moonshiner Karl Crabtree(..he practically took Rogers' steel welding job from him), also provided the very restrained, quietly moody score. Seems the film is a sort of tribute to Charles B Pierce, the director of The Legend of Boggy Creek and The Town That Dreaded Sundown and The Wild Man of the Navidad almost succeeds. It does have the eccentric, colorful sort of Texas citizenry one might find in a film made by Pierce or others during the 70's, lacking only that needed atmosphere that seemed to be in abundance during that decade.
