Death by Engagement (2007)

You might want to "stay single" after watching this movie...

On his wedding day, volatile Spencer gets ditched at the altar by his bride-to-be. He brutally attacks her and her bridesmaid as they try to drive away. After the car crashes, the police catch up to him still pummeling his bride-to-be into a bloody pulp. Officer Mallar shoots Spencer, but then spies the enormous engagement ring on the bride-to-be's bloody finger. Planning on proposing himself, Mallar quickly pockets the ring and replaces it with a much cheaper, cubic zirconium one. Spencer is pronounced clinically dead and the only thing keeping him barely alive is a life support system. Spencer's mother, Mrs. Starkington, places him in his old room and cares for him in his vegetative state. Meanwhile, Officer Mallar proposes to his girlfriend with the very diamond ring he stole from Spencer's now-dead fiance. Mallar's girlfriend is soon brutally murdered and the ring is passed on to the next victims. It seems that Spencer wants his precious family heirloom ring back, and will go to murderous lengths to retrieve it. Trouble is, whenever he finally tracks the ring down, it's already bounced to a new couple! As the ring passes from newly engaged couple to couple, these unlucky people are murdered left and right as the ring's rightful owner tries to get it back. It's up to detectives Rikki and Cade to connect the many different killings to the ring and to stop Spencer from striking again.

This movie is fun, smart, witty and feels fresh with its take on the slasher genre. The action gets started right away and keeps a steady pace throughout the film to the explosive finale. At the end of the movie, we are shown how the ring found its way to so many eclectic couples through chance events, which was quite entertaining to watch. It also ends up on the finger of someone that you would least suspect...

The acting was great and I especially loved Sascha Knopf as Detective Rikki who continually bashed girly flicks and stereotypical views of women. Aaron MacPherson was great as snarky Detective Cade and he and Knopf played perfectly off one another. The film even featured one of my all-time favorites, P.J. Soles, as the wacky Mrs. Starkington. Also included as some of the marriage-hungry women were Iyari Limon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Christa Campbell (2001 Maniacs). All of the characters were well-developed and had distinctive and amusing personalities. I loved seeing each couple's engagement, whether it was just to get laid or completely by mistake!

The story was pretty tight, with some twists and turns, though I had to suspend belief during some questionable plot points (Ahem, how did Rikki not know that was THE ring?). The only other thing I will bitch about is the editing between scenes. It seemed like all they used were fade-to-black transitions, which got pretty repetitive and even disruptive as the film went on. A little clarification within the story and some better editing would do wonders for this movie, but, nonetheless, I enjoyed it even with its flaws!

An inventive script and story, with a wonderful cast, Death by Engagement is an engagement you don't want to miss!

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Ab-normal Beauty (2004)

Death is fascinating, mysterious and even beautiful. How close to death can we get before being profoundly affected?

Jin (Race Wong) is an art student who's main interest is photography. She, along with her girlfriend Jas (Roseanne Wong) like to go out and photograph buildings, flowers and landscapes. Jin is left uninspired by the photos she takes until one day she witnesses a fatal car crash. She impulsively begins taking photos of the scene and the victims. From then on she becomes obsessed with photographing death. She takes pictures of dead birds, dead pets, and even pays a butcher to slaughter a bunch of chickens in front of her lens. Her fixation soon drives her to the brink of madness and thoughts of murder until Jas helps her pull through. It is then that the horror really begins as someone who has been watching Jin starts sending her pictures of death and snuff torture films. Jin isn't sure if these terrible images are real or not, but she will soon discover what happens when someone's obsession with death goes too far.

The Pang brothers strike again, making the combination of style and substance look easy. Beautifully framed shots, vivid colors and intense character development of the lead Jin make for a satisfying viewing. The entire film feels like a piece of artwork, capturing beauty and emotion.

The first hour focuses on Jin and her growing love of all things morbid. She compares photographs to death - both are a moment frozen in time, where everything is still and all that matters is that one moment. As more and more is revealed about her past and as she spirals more and more out of control, we really do feel for the poor girl. This close connection that we, the audience, have to Jin makes what happens in the last half hour all the more unbearable.

The last half hour focuses on someone that has watched Jin's growing interest in death and has relished in it. Jin receives disturbing photographs from this mystery person, as well as video tapes whose outside covers are etched with the words "Take a Look." Jin and Jas both watch a tape with a horrific torture of a girl who is repeatedly pummeled with a large steel pipe. At this point, the first hour of the movie and this last 30 minutes feel like completely separate films. In the end though, both parts come together. Without Jin's obsession, breakdown and death detox, there could have never been a mysterious figure, shadowing her every move.

Ab-normal Beauty is a film that's not to be missed. Unlike the horror in The Eye (also made by the Pang brothers) that focused on ghosts, this film goes deeper to examine one's own demons and the ensuing psychological torment of "going too far." As horror lovers, have we gone too far? Like Jin, we too can become obsessed with scenes of death, of brutality and gore. Where do we draw the line? Will our hunger for horror, for the most extreme, drive us to cross this line?

This movie asks these questions, but not without delivering emotion, beauty and some wicked brutality. It is definitely a departure from the scares of The Eye, but it is still very effective. For these reasons, Ab-normal Beauty gets high marks.

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Dream Reaper (2006)

I never know what to say about these kinda movies...you know, the ones that were filmed by a group of friends in their backyard just for kicks? Most of them are just so bad, but you know it must have taken a considerable amount of time for them to put everything together - the script, the cast, the crew, the shooting schedule, the editing, etc., etc. And I know it's all done in fun, with tongue-in-cheek humor, but geez these movies usually suck and they leave me wondering why the hell anyone would go to all this trouble to make such a crapfest!

Dream Reaper, I'm afraid, is another casualty of the no-budget genre. It tells of a band (the greatest metal band on the planet!) called Dream Reaper, who piss off the real Dream Reaper by making shitty music and releasing it under his name. Man, he's been made fun of in the Nether Region (nyuck nyuck) for months now!! When each band member falls asleep, he enters their dreams and kills them! And then they die in real life (sound at all familiar?)! Can the lead singer stop the Dream Reaper before all his rock 'n' roll dreams die with his band mates?

This movie bills itself as a "horror-comedy," but I only chuckled a few times. Let me assure you, I do like to have a chuckle every now and again, but this movie was definitely not doing it for me. I've never been high, but I almost wanted to get high, so that maybe, just maybe I would find Dream Reaper funny. Long and overdrawn masturbation scenes = NOT funny! Overacting and an annoying lead who looks like and repeatedly tries to rip off Supertrooper's Farva character? NOT funny! An Austin Powers' Dr. Evil rip-off from the villian of the flick? Somewhat funny, but not funny enough!!

Did I mention this was a feature-length movie? Man, I could have lived with a short, but an hour and a half of this? It's a good thing I was sedated on flu medicine or else I probably would have punched a hole through the TV.

Attention all no-budget filmmakers: please stop making crap! This is the very reason I hate receiving and dread watching these kind of screeners - they usually suck. Filmmakers, make sure you have a good script and decent actors before subjecting us horror fans to more of your drivel!

At least Hack Films, who made this film, lives up to its name...

Shadows (2005)

Years ago, in an isolated mansion, a woman called Lady Jane found her husband and her sister having an affair. In a jealous rage, she stabbed them both with a large butcher knife. To this day her ghost still stalks the halls, looking for more cheating couples to exact her revenge on. In present day, a college parapsychology class spends a weekend in the mansion and records any paranormal activity they experience. Their professor, Julie, has a strong belief in the paranormal, while their other professor, Paul, is a skeptic. Still, both want to see the effect the house has on their students. Their students include happy couple John and Heather, quarreling couple Richard and Debbie, the class slut Stevie, the loner chick Angel, sensitive hippie chick Star and instructional aides Benny and Bobby. Each person has his or her own hidden agenda as to why they are there. Will the group find any evidence that Lady Jane exists or is what they witness all in their heads? Will past and present secrets destroy the group before Lady Jane gets to them?

I have to give this film props for accomplishing what it set out to do, which is be a commercially viable flick. It looks pretty slick for a low-budget film, with pretty high production values. Unfortunately, there's nothing new here except for a cool parapsychology/hypnotherapy twist that does little to make up for the blandness of the rest of the movie. This movie isn't horrible, but I've seen it all before and it left me quite bored.

It takes about an hour into the movie for anything to actually happen. Before that all we get are flashbacks of the Lady Jane murders, people jumping at things they see through windows/mirrors and visions of a stabbed man on the lawn. The kids have time to relax, have some margaritas, do a little skinny dipping and even have a frickin' makeover before any of the real action actually starts. Most of the time I felt like I was watching a teen comedy romp with all the drama and nudity.

I wouldn't even call Shadows a horror movie; it is more like a light psychological thriller that features a bunch of stereotypical college-age (though they act like high schoolers) kids. About the only thing I did like was the hypnotherapy twist at the end, which was the only thing fresh about this movie.

Overall, a pretty boring, unoriginal story that moves at a snail's pace before getting to the goods but would probably play well to more mainstream audiences.

Shallow Ground (2004)

Shallow Ground had immense potential...an original story, great characters and an intriguing storyline. Unfortunately, it had too many plot holes and too many loose ends that ruined what is an otherwise great indie flick. It still may be worth a watch though, for its striking imagery, gory effects and fresh story.

In a remote town in the woods, everyone is packing up and moving out due to a dam being built, killing the tourist trade. One day, a stark naked teenage boy drenched in blood and holding a large hunting knife stumbles out of the woods and into the tiny sheriff's station. A year earlier, a brutal crime occurred that local sheriff Jack Sheppard could not prevent...a girl was brutally tortured and then disappeared. As Jack and his deputies Laura and Stuart try to figure out if and how the boy is linked to the crime and reports of dozens of missing persons, they discover that a supernatural force may be at work.

I really wanted to love this movie, and part of me does, but it left too many unanswered questions. It grabbed me right from the start, with our dear naked boy walking through the woods, covered head to toe in blood...from there it only got creepier as he entered the sheriff's custody, never speaking a word. After things start to reveal themselves and it looks to be getting good, we get a major curveball thrown at us. I don't want to give anything away, but this plot point really bothered me and left me scratching my head. What was up with the junkie coming after Stuart? Are we to believe that blood-drenched people are popping up all over the world? This part of the story seemed half-assed and completely underdeveloped. Instead of following this weak thread in the story, they should have completely focused on the bloody boy.

By the way, the boy does stay completely naked and completely covered in blood throughout the entire movie. He spills blood from his eyes, his ears, his mouth and even from underneath his toenails. This is some very creepy imagery, especially when the blood starts to take on a character all its own.

While the character of the boy was one of my favorite parts of the movie, I also have to mention the awesome effects they have...mutilated, decaying bodies, a woman's throat being fondled and ripped out, a fist going through someone's abdomen...they must have literally used gallons and gallons of blood! The high-quality gore is surprising for a film that cost only $72,000 to make...I just wish it hadn't been so far and in-between.

The rest of the film looks great and is very professionally done. Had I not watched the featurette on the making of the film, I never could have guessed it was an indie made for so little. The director, Sheldon Wilson, definitely has a great talent. He is also the writer for this film, and perhaps that is where he needs improvement. The script and writing were weak, especially the gaping plot holes and irrational actions of some of the characters.

This film was a very good effort, but had it just been a little more tighter, with less floundering storylines, it could have been great. All in all, I both love it and hate it. I love it for what it accomplished and how ambitious it was, but I hate it for all its floundering. If you want to see an original, well-made, serial-killer-with-a-supernatural-edge indie movie and can turn the other cheek to its flawed plot, go for it! For all its flaws, I have to admit that I still enjoyed it.

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All is Normal (2006)

Review by Fatally Yours

Haunting and heartbreaking, this film commands attention with its strong silence. After watching this film, I had to ask myself how something so still and quiet can have such a big impact…but that is the effect that All is Normal has on the viewer...

Janet (Juliana Brafa) is in an abusive relationship with her controlling asshole of a boyfriend Bruce (Duane Wallace). Physically and emotionally bruised, she seeks help from an abuse counselor (Linda Blair). The counselor empowers Janet to leave the horrifying relationship and finds her a job in the middle of nowhere taking care of a house for sale. Janet leaves Bruce quietly one morning, with nothing but a big red suitcase and a big black eye.

Janet arrives at a large, isolated house far away from anyone and anything. The realtor, Paul (Greg Burgess), in charge of selling the house checks on Janet irregularly, making sure she keeps the place spic ‘n’ span. Janet spends her days cleaning the house, reading books and becoming friendly with Woody (Kyle Brosius), the cute guy who mows her lawn. Paul makes her keep a log of her daily chores and any odd occurrences, but most of the time “all is normal.” That is, except for the violent and powerful flashbacks Janet keeps having and the feeling that Bruce is going to track her down. Isolated from the world and alone with her memories, Janet is soon plagued with fear, paranoia and panic. With Bruce still out there, will she ever feel safe again?

A close study on the long lasting emotional scars of an abusive relationship, All is Normal has the ability to make the viewer feel the pain and isolation that abuse victims often experience. It serves as a reminder, a wake-up call that makes the viewer realize that there are thousands upon thousands of women like Janet who are abused by those that claim to love them. Like the doctors in the film who treated Janet after Bruce knocked her out, the signs of abuse are often overlooked or blatantly ignored by authority. The film uses its subtlety to snub its nose at such ignorance.

Juliana Brafa, who co-wrote and co-directed with Todd G. Bieber, plays Janet with a combination of strength and vulnerability that’s completely believable. Duane Wallace is terrifying as Bruce, every woman’s worst nightmare. He is sweet one minute, menacing and violent the next. Linda Blair gives a solid performance as the counselor and it was nice to see her in something a little different than the norm. The rest of the cast all give solid performances that could rival (and perhaps surpass) any big budget picture. As for the way the film looks, it is just gorgeous. There were many times that I even forgot I was watching a low budget flick. The use of color (most notably the color red) throughout the film was a clever motif that reminded me of Kubrick’s repeating color patterns in The Shining. The hue and intensity of the colors throughout the film were very vivid and beautiful. The scene featured on the poster, with Janet in bright red lying on the lush green grass, was one of the best shots based on pure aesthetics. Brafa and Bieber definitely knew what they were doing, in both the direction and the writing. I can’t wait to see what both of them do next.

All is Normal is a slow movie, one that doesn’t feature gore and nudity (Is that all you kids are into these days? C’mon!! Why do I feel I have to put a disclaimer on anything that doesn’t feature those two things?!), but it is terrifying nonetheless. It is a very socially conscious film that deals with the psychological terror of getting out an abusive relationship. I think all female horror fans should definitely watch this film. Like when you realize that the silence around you has moved from peaceful to unsettling, All is Normal is horrifying in its quietness.

Golden Age (2006)

A wonderful homage to the exploitation flicks that came out in the "golden age" of VHS, this film delivers in 30 minutes more torture, pain, blood and enjoyment than most horror movies deliver in 2 hours.

Burton (Cullen Carr) has had a really bad day, which turns into a even worse couple of months. It all begins when he is fired from his job. Before heading home to his wife, Burton stops off at a newly opened video store to pick up a few movies. It's 1986, and he's just bought a newfangled contraption called a VHS player. At the video store the saucy video clerk (Mindy Wester) hits on him, but Burton is just interested in getting home to his wife, Becky (Mia Frost). When he gets home, he finds her in bed with his best friend (Nick Crawford). Burton tells them both to fuck off before lighting fire to his home.

For the next couple of months, Burton drowns his sorrows at the local bar. He is further devastated when Becky comes to him to tell him she is pregnant with his child. Her tells her to leave him alone, but then changes his mind and goes out after her. On his way out, he bumps into a tough looking biker (Kyle Holman). Driving drunk, Burton is pulled over by a cop. In a fit of irrationality, he smashes a beer bottle in the cop's face before running away. He is picked up by the video store clerk, who takes him back to her place to make a phone call. She seduces him and drugs his drink. While having sex with her, she handcuffs him to the bed and he promptly passes out. When he awakes, he finds himself tied down in the middle of the woods with a large crowd, lead by the video store clerk, watching him. The biker he bumped into at the bar is also there. Burton sees the eviscerated Becky next to him, and his ex-best friend is on his other side, all cut up. The group is videotaping him as the biker, called The Poet, prepares to torture him. Burton manages to escape his bondage and takes off through the woods. The sadists continue videotaping his escape as he passes more and more tortured bodies. I don't want to give away the ending, but it is a doozy!

A fast-paced, well-delivered storyline with excellent acting from the entire cast, not to mention enough blood and nudity to satisfy, Golden Age definitely delivers. I loved its well-rounded storyline, especially the very end where everything comes together. Cullen Carr, as director, writer and lead actor, did a truly terrific job with this movie.

The small details throughout the movie are included by filmmaker/actor and horror/exploitation fan Carr for the enjoyment of other horror aficionados. For example, the video store clerk's bedroom is plastered with horror movie posters, including I Spit on Your Grave, Fright Night and a plethora of others. I was giggling with delight as I spied more and more...Also, at the end of the movie as Burton is running through the woods, we are treated to an homage of Cannibal Holocaust, as we see the iconic image of a girl shoved through a wooden pole.

It was also refreshing to see a man in peril instead of the customary "Final Girl." Instead of having to watch a girl with big boobs run around and scream, we get the emotionally hurting Burton, who is a much more fleshed out character than the standard woman-with-big-boobs-in-trouble cliche. Oh, and don't worry, you get to see plenty of T & A and gore throughout the rest of the movie. The opening scene features The Poet torturing a pretty young thing. After cutting her up, he rips out her tongue, strips her naked, places a hood on her head and hangs her.

I highly recommend this film, and it is perfectly described by Cullen Carr himself when he calls it "a love letter to the golden age of video and hate mail to all those who tarnished its gild." Within its excellent and horrifying storyline, it has a deeper question about exploitation/horror films we all watch.