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Reviews
Night of the Slasher (2015)
A visual treat of technical perfection
The short film market is as flooded as never before, and while there are many, many good, and even great ones, most of them to be enjoyed at film festivals, it's often rare to see something truly unique, something that will wow most viewers with originality. Night of the Slasher follows a concept that people attempt every now and then, but mostly fail, which is creating a film that seems to follow one seamless shot, with no visible cuts. Exploring themes of classic slasher tropes, and doing something very interesting with it that I won't spoil, the film cleverly uses its extremely well done technical aspect to pull you into the story, until it ends with a wonderful punchline that is both fresh, and very entertaining.
Director Shant created something with this that undoubtedly stick out of the masses of horror shorts that you see on the festival circuit every year, and places itself on the very top of the list with technical finesse and high entertainment. I'm eagerly awaiting Shant's next film.
Cannibillies (2016)
A hilariously offensive descent into absolute madness
I had the pleasure to see Cannibillies at the world premiere at Nightmares Film Festival '16 in Columbus, Ohio, where it screened as the closing night film in front of a completely sold out crowd. Absolutely deservedly so. Reviewing this is sort of hard, since I don't know where to start. There is so much greatness about this, it's hard to describe it all without writing a novel. Let me try though.
From a technical standpoint, the film does everything right. The camera is slightly shaky at times, it seems there was a lot of hand held camera operation going on, which for me, fits this film perfectly. Actually, "shaky" is not the right word at all. The camera just has movement in it, which in my opinion adds a lot of atmosphere to the film, as it makes you feel like something wicked is going on, it's like watching it through a slightly nervous eye. Paired with the soundtrack, this makes for one hell of an atmosphere.
Which leads us that point: The soundtrack. Holy f***. This might be one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in any indie film, ever. There are a lot of distorted synth sounds, dark hums, and generally an ambiance of complete creepiness, which creates one hell of a mood. Absolutely masterful and I hope I can hear the soundtrack on its own at some point. The overall sound of the film is superb in general.
Acting-wise, this film has some great performances that all deliver and feel completely believable. The actors all give the characters very memorable appearances, and you actually start sympathizing with the them, even though they are absolute nutjobs. I especially loved Shamus Donnelly in the role of Cyrus, Jami Cullen as the Eve and Mike Neider as Joe. Their performances couldn't be any more different from one another, and that is exactly why I love them so much. Cyrus is the apathetic sociopath, Joe is an over-expressive wacko who seems to sometimes still have trouble integrating himself into the whole family, while Eve is just a absolutely sympathetic at all times, even though she's completely insane. One role that only appeared for very shortly that was very memorable to me was Joseph Knapik's role of Cleavon Chancroid. His facial expressions and overall look could actually be from a Hollywood film. I could perfectly imagine him as a twisted, sociopathic villain.
The best part of the film, for me, is the writing though. The film's story and dialogue is amazingly well put together, and is the biggest strength of the film. It is absolutely hilarious to a point where your jaw starts hurting from laughter. That is, if you can handle the absolutely demented and depraved jokes of course. Some of the jokes in this film go further than most films ever dare, sometimes so much, that all you're gonna seriously yell "holy s***, they didn't seriously just do that?!". And this is what I love about the film. It doesn't give a damn about what you think, it pulls off its own thing, completely mowing down themes that no one dares to joke about. The way these jokes are executed is absolutely amazing, and often it feels so spontaneous that one could believe a lot of it was improvised, which apparently only small bits were.
Seriously, whenever you get the chance to watch this hilariously disturbing piece of insanity, DO IT! Especially if you're a fan of offensive humor, or gory, boundary pushing horror films in general.
One more thing. Cannibillies. Say it out loud, listen to it, and tell me it's not one of the most original titles in a long time. I dare you!
Deep Slumber (2016)
An Intense Trip of Mental Violence
I got the chance to see Deep Slumber at the Nightmares Film Festival 2016, where it screened as part of the "Late Night Mindf***" program at 2AM. Already being up for 14 hours at that point, it would prove as one hell of a trip, not only being psychologically enduring, but also physically. Maybe this is the way to watch the film though. It sure as hell left an impression on me. When the film started, I already knew I was in for some total mental annihilation after the first couple of minutes. Fast cuts, grotesque images, bizarre music. It really messes with your mind. The film progresses and gets more and more intense and bizarre by the minute. There are a lot of masks used, sometimes very grotesque ones, which I really liked, and a lot of times it felt a lot like watching a David Lynch film. There was just something about the dialogue and the images that reminded me heavily of Inland Empire. Which is a good thing. Very good. There is one particular scene involving a coffin of some sort that seemed to last for over ten minutes that was particularly nerve wrecking, almost to the point where it got exhausting. Which, for me, is also a good thing, as I like films that dare to actually make you feel uncomfortable and don't hold back, just doing their own thing. And that's exactly what happens here, as you find yourself more than often feeling very uneasy, in a disturbing sort of way. The whole thing is just a big, mind penetrating nightmare, which gets stranger and stranger the more it unfolds, leading to an ending I personally really felt was the best way to end it. Personally, I loved this. You have to be open minded, but if you're a fan of the surreal, strange and bizarre, or David Lynch films in general, give this a shot. I'm not sure where it's possible to watch this again, but definitely keep an eye out for it at festivals.