Am I a little late to the game reviewing a 15-year-old movie from a one-and-done writer, director, and producer named by Dav Kaufman? That's what you get when you fall down a Tubi rabbit hole. A few reviewers mentioned DVDs and video rentals, but in my hard digital travels, I've never seen 13 Hours in a Warehouse on the shelves -- not even in the dollar store or Big Lots cutout bins. Those are the bins where ALL direct-to-video indies go to go die -- especially ones on the Florida-based niche genre distributor Maverick Entertainment shingle -- as most of their catalog ends up in an "electronics aisle" discount outlet (I've picked up a couple of their 10-film packs).
So, if you dug a little on the film's backstory: this is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-made film. Dav backed this himself and was able to secure distribution with Maverick. Based on my past experiences of viewing Maverick product (there's a LOT of it on Tubi), 13 Hours is certainly an odd duck in that Maverick mostly deals in Latin and Urban product (action, drama and romance on top of it) -- so a horror film will pique your interest.
Anyway, to the movie.
While the Tarantinoeque comparison can't be avoid and are valid, I don't think this was the case of Kaufman setting out to ripoff Tarantino or write a "heist" picture. I'll take a guess he had free access to a warehouse and, using the old indie angle of writing around what locations are available to you, the wheels started turning. So, with a warehouse at his disposal, Reservoir Dogs, clicked. I also think (he's excellent) screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker's 8mm (1999) -- with it's snuff film angle (which takes place in dilapidated warehouses) -- clicked. I think Kevin Smith's Clerks leaked in, as well, as our dopey bandits -- using wood crates n' pieces -- cook up a hockey game, which gave me a good laugh (in a good way, as I got "the joke" of it). Same goes for the Ringu-in-toilet scene!
So, two brothers lead a six-man crew in an art gallery theft of a "McGuffin": turns out, they didn't steal a painting, but possibly a sculpture or cash, because all we ever see is a black duffel bag -- and never inside the bag (which takes us to the briefcase in Pulp Fiction). The crew holds up in a warehouse owned by the brothers' late father (dead by suicide?) who used it to produce adult films for the porn market. The twist: Dad was a serial killer who produced snuff films for the black market. Then, the J-Horroresque ghosts show up -- with an added TV-to-low-grade video flicker about them, which makes sense (and is a very cool effect) considering how the women met their deaths.
Back in the video '90s, I avoided the chains and hit the mom 'n pops where you could get all of the Shock-O-Rama SOVs, as well the SOV-mail order-only Cinematrix imprint works. That's sort of the "style" of movie we have here: it's dirty n' sleazy, but not as over-the-top as S-O-R's, and with a larger budget that's shot on film and not on video.
Seriously, 13 Hours isn't bad movie at all. It's above the fray in terms of cinematography and editing. The acting isn't ugh-enducing -- and Chars Bonin is a stand out. It's too bad he and Dav Kaufman, it seems, became discouraged, as neither has done anything of note, since. Its seems Bonin is sticking to screenwriting these days, Kaufman writes novels, while our lead damsel, played by Meisha Johnson, became a major-market TV newscaster.
