The Dead Centre

By: Thomas Mitchell

I usually reserve my reviews for full-length productions. Anything that runs an hour and a half or longer I would consider to be a full-length production. Horror, action or comedy; it doesn’t matter. The reason being is that you can fit a decent story into an hour and a half long movie. Anything less than that is rather difficult because you don’t have enough time to build up situations, characters or conflict and I really haven’t been interested specifically because of that. I imagine it’s possible to tell a full-blown story in 30 minutes, but what about 5 minutes? That presents a unique challenge to a filmmaker and an opportunity to show audiences what CAN be done in 5 minutes. I was given an opportunity to view and critique not one, not two, but THREE 5-minute length short films by a director named, Jeremiah Kipp. Because these films are so short, I will be describing them and their plots in detail, so reader beware.

First up: Crestfallen. Crestfallen is about a married woman(Deneen Melody)who discovers that her husband had an affair with a friend of hers, so she decides to try and commit suicide. That’s the story. Not terribly original, and I wouldn’t consider it a horror film at all. What IS interesting about this one is that it’s essentially a silent movie. It’s telling a story through visuals, not dialogue. In fact, there’s no dialogue whatsoever. What you see are images, particularly ones from the woman’s past, more specifically, when she caught her husband having sex with her friend. Sometimes, you don’t need dialogue to tell a story, the visuals will often do that for you. It makes for a more interesting experience. The imagery in this film is powerful, especially the images of the woman’s child. The music is done by Harry Manfredini of Friday The 13th fame and is suitably melancholy. The editing is kind of hyper, but the camera work is solid with great angles which allow for a more unique look. It’s well-acted, well-paced and it’s quite good. For something that’s only 5 minutes long, it’s pretty intense.

Next up: Easy Prey. The film opens on an old man having desert with a beautiful young woman. Thing is, is that the old man is dying and the young woman is offering to make him young again. Again, simple story. It has to be. But the vampire angle is one I saw coming when I first played the film, so it seemed to be a bit of a horror film. Not quite. There’s a real tongue-in-cheek vibe throughout the whole thing and I honestly didn’t see the end coming the way it did, which made me laugh. The whole setup is actually quite brilliant. Of the three short films I’m reviewing, this is the only one with any speaking in it. It’s fairly well-acted and not very bloody. Overall, not bad.

Finally: Drool. Of the three short films I’m reviewing, this one is certainly the most bizarre. It’s definitely NSFW. I would describe a plot if there was one, but there isn’t one. What this is, is two people: A man and a woman, both naked, in a room and covered in……drool and writhing around on the floor. The email I got for this film described it as an experiment. I can tell you right now, this is a very strange “film.” There’s no plot, no conflict, no resolution: It’s just….there. It’s pretty gross, and yet the same time, strangely hypnotic. You just can’t seem to take your eyes off of it. There’s a good deal of smoke/steam and the film has a strange sepia-toned/black and white look about it. Camera angles? Lot’s of close-ups. Good thing or bad thing? I don’t know. It seems kind of fetishistic. It’s very bizarre. I’m not entirely certain what Kipp was trying to accomplish with this one, but it’s strangely intriguing.

There you have it: Three short films. Crestfallen and Easy Prey run at 5 minutes each. Drool runs at 4 minutes. According to the Internet Movie Database, Jeremiah Kipp’s career consists mostly as an assistant director. As an actual director, he only has eight films to his credit, 7 of which are short films and one full-length production: The Sadist which is apparently scheduled for release later this year. From what I’ve seen, Kipp has a great eye for visual storytelling as evidenced by Crestfallen. He also has a penchant for the bizarre, which was Drool and he has a sense of humor which was displayed in Easy Prey. I think Jeremiah Kipp has a future as a director, because it’s evident that he knows what he’s doing. He knows how to draw you in to his films and makes sure you don’t get distracted. That’s a great talent for a director to have.

Overall, this little collection of short films surprised me. It showed me that you can get in a full story in a 5-minute span and it can actually be pretty decent. Crestfallen gets a 10/10. Easy Prey gets 8.5/10. Drool is not an easy one to give a score to. It’s a strange little film with no story and no real reason for audiences to get invested in it, and yet it grabs your attention like nothing else and you can’t turn away. 7/10 is my final verdict with Drool. Short films definitely have their place, and while I still prefer full-length movies, I’m a little more open-minded about short films. Especially if they’re done nearly as well as the ones I just reviewed. They’re definitely worth watching at least once, but I’m a little more curious about what Jeremiah Kipp has up his sleeves. I’m keeping my eye on him.

By: Thomas Mitchell

When one hears the name Paul W.S. Anderson, some think hack director, some think Mortal Kombat. Others think Resident Evil or Alien Vs. Predator. But I believe his one truly defining effort was the underrated Event Horizon, released in 1997 to mixed reviews. It would eventually gather a cult following on home video. There are also few movies that have successfully melded the science fiction and horror genres. Ridley Scott’s Alien is the most well-known. In fact, Event Horizon was heavily influenced by Alien. But Hellraiser also made its mark on Event Horizon. In 2040, a deep space science vessel known as Event Horizon was deployed to Neptune to explore the outer reaches of the solar system. The ship suddenly vanished and nobody knows what happened. 7 years later, the ship reappears and a rescue team headed by Captain Miller(Laurence Fishburne) is sent to uncover the mystery surrounding the Horizon’s return. Also joining the crew is Dr. Weir(Sam Neill), the creator of the ship, or rather it’s unique engine, the Gravity Drive. According to Weir, the Gravity Drive was supposed open a new frontier of exploration beyond the solar system by transporting the ship instantaneously from one part of the universe to another light years away. Obviously things didn’t go as planned and the ship disappeared. As Miller’s crew boards the Event Horizon, they discover the ship to be completely devoid of crew members. But wherever the ship went, it brought something back with it. Basically, this is a ghost ship story set in space. Yeah, the story isn’t original, and the influences of superior films are evident, specifically Alien and Hellraiser as I said before. I say Alien, because it involves pitting a small crew against the forces that seem to haunt the Event Horizon. You never actually get to see what it is that’s pulling the strings. Alien amped up the atmosphere because you never saw what was coming. Same deal here and it’s almost as effective. I also mentioned Hellraiser because there are scenes that are straight out of a Hellraiser movie. It gets pretty gory at times. While there are a few details that almost seem to derail the film, the rest of it is stellar and really keeps you glued to your chair. This being a horror film, it’s only really effective as it’s cast, because if you don’t believe the characters are in jeopardy, the film loses its power. This is the simple truth to any conflict in any movie regardless of genre. Thankfully, the cast is more than up for it. Laurence Fishburne who would later go on to The Matrix, has a commanding presence as the captain of the Lewis and Clarke, Captain Miller. Sam Neill is equally electrifying as the unusual Dr. Weir. Rounding out the cast is Jason Isaacs(the Harry Potter Films) in one of his more memorable roles as D.J.; Jack Noseworthy as Justin; Kathleen Quinlan as Peters; Sean Pertwee as Smith; Joely Richardson as Stark and Richard T. Jones as Cooper. It’s a pretty stellar cast overall. For the most part, the special effects are pretty good. The practical effects and make-up are really well-done, especially in the visions of Hell and some of the deaths. I definitely need to mention some of the less impressive effects and make-up here. For example, the CGI. Granted, this is 1997 at the time, but the CGI doesn’t stand the test of time here. It sticks out like a sore thumb. Particularly when Weir gets blown out into space. Some of the explosions are a little iffy, but serviceable. Overall the effects do their job, but some of them, not so much. The music by the late Michael Kamen is orchestral and haunting. The opening sequence with the Paramount logo is memorable as it combines the orchestral with techno. It’s pretty effective. Overall, Event Horizon is actually a very solid horror movie set in space, and while it doesn’t reach the levels of Alien, it manages to hold it’s own against some of the horror films that were released at the same time. I know that a good number of people aren’t big fans of Paul W.S. Anderson, I personally like his movies. Event Horizon is his best film, beyond the shadow of a doubt, however. While it isn’t a perfect film, and it cribs from some of the best films of the genre, it does so with the best of intentions and gets it right for the most part. I’m personally a huge fan of the film, having owned copies on VHS, DVD and now Blu-Ray. I think any fan of science-fiction and/or horror should check this one out if they haven’t already. Event Horizon gets a respectable 8.5/10 from me.

NOTE: This review has an introduction section to put my screening in context. The start of the main section on the feature film is marked for those who do not want to read the whole thing.

By: Patwell James

On April 14th, two days before the Boston Marathon, the city streets were flooded with tourists. Many, myself included, ended up passing in front of the Loew’s movie theatre, which was hosting the 10th annual Boston International Film Festival. Standing next to a sign in front of this movie theatre was a man in a camouflage jacket and what looked to be some sort of Halloween mask. He was handing out flyers advertising a the movie mentioned on the sign - Slumber Party Slaughter.

On second thought, “handing out” may not be the right phrase – he was forcefully shoving them at any passerby not walking fast enough to avoid him. Adding to his apparent desperation was his assurance that “the first fifty tickets are free” – which piqued my interest almost as much as the poster, a terrible Photoshop rush job that made the movie look like something thrown together by a 13-year old with his dad’s camcorder. I took a flyer, and the man, in an almost accusatory tone, asked “You’ll come, RIGHT?” – clearly, he was not confident in the success of his endeavors. I assured him I would, and really, why wouldn’t I? Crappy, no-budget horror movie for free? Sounds like my kind of Saturday.

I did in fact show up, just in time to overhear a discussion between two box office workers about how some guy out front was telling everyone they could get free tickets. Which, as they explained to me when I asked, was a complete lie – no matter how early you got there, tickets were $12. But whatever. He’d gotten me in the theatre and I was morbidly curious, so I paid for my ticket and went up to a second-story auditorium.

It turned out that what I’d paid for was actually a double feature, beginning with a 30-minute drama film entitled Turnaround. As part of a film festival, much of the cast and crew was in attendance, including the lead actress. She had an obvious sense of self-importance, with a fancy dress and a completely dishonest air about her as she answered questions from one or two people who were interested while portraying one of the most painful fake personalities I’ve ever come across. My immediate thought was, “bitch can’t act”.

The movie proved me right. It was incredibly, unspeakably terrible. Not only could that bitch not act, just about no one in the movie could. At least it was laughably bad; I was chuckling throughout the brief-but-still-too-long runtime. It turned out most of the people attending this screening session were friends and family of the cast and director (who also founded the festival, explaining how such a massive dump on the name of cinema got shown). Predictably, this meant the film was highly praised by those in question, with particular faux amazement expressed at the twist ending the writer was so proud of – one that was both awfully contrived and incredibly easy to see coming a thousand miles away. The few people unrelated to anyone who’d made the movie remained respectfully quiet. After all, if you don’t have anything nice to say, say nothing.

After that movie ended, about half the people in the auditorium left. The quality of the previous film had left me especially concerned about Slumber Party. But, surprisingly, it turned out I didn’t need to be worried.

HERE IS WHERE THE SLAUGHTER SYNOPSIS & REVIEW STARTS

Although the poster and trailer don’t do much to make this clear, Slumber Party Slaughter is actually a parody of horror movies, with specific story parallels to I Know What You Did Last Summer and Vacancy. The story is centered around a group of females, who, in the prologue that opens the movie, work together at a Halloween-themed strip joint. Casey (Rebekah Chaney, descendent of the legendary Lon Chaney and also this movie’s writer, director, and producer) is the girl who wants more from life but is stuck working the job to support her little brother. Victoria (Stephanie Romanav, The Final Cut) is the veteran, a woman who’s close to getting too old for the job but loves her work. She’s also a stone-cold bitch. Felicia (Marissa Skell) is the airheaded bimbo who brags about how she “beat Heidi Montag” by getting 11 plastic surgery operations in one day despite not knowing what all of them actually are. Nadia (Elyse Levesque,Stargate Universe) is the wannabe pop-star who can’t sing to save her life. Last but not least, Nicole (Caroline Macey) is the down-to-earth innocent girl who seems too good for this job.

One night, movie star Tom Kingsford (Golden Globe nominee Tom Sizemore playing a parody of himself) visits the club and decides to take the girls along for a ride in his limo. Unfortunately, they’re tailed by two sketchy fellows – creepy strip club regular Dave (Robert Carradine, known to me forever as Lizzie McGuire’s dad) and his tattooed, split-tongue sidekick known only as “Mod Man” (Michael Bowen, The Last House on the Left remake). The girls socialize with the drug-addled star, who shows off his mask and fancy knife from his latest movie – a horror film in which he plays the killer. During a commotion in the local graveyard, Tom Kingsford gets run over by his own limo. The girls agree to never speak of the event to anyone and bury him in secret – but Dave was there, and he saw the whole thing…

At this point, the movie flashes forward one year. Casey is now a police deputy, Nadia has apparently somehow gotten a recording deal (and is killed while in the recording booth), Victoria is still working at the club, and Nicole has a new job watching the house of millionaire William O’Toole (Oscar nominee Ryan O’Neal). With Mr. O’Toole headed out for a business convention, Nicole invites her friends over for a slumber party – which spins out of control when Victoria catches wind and hands out invitations to all the strip club customers. Little do the partiers know that William is actually in the guest house, watching the action unfold through hidden cameras in order to make a snuff film with his creepy gardener as the killer and the guests as the victims!

Meanwhile, Casey is drawn to the house in search of her increasingly rebellious younger brother, who she believes is having an affair with Victoria. As she looks around for him, O’Toole’s gardener stalks and attempts to kill Felicia, stupidly wandering alone in the basement… but is beaten to the bunch by another, unidentified killer, one using Tom Kingsford’s mask and weapon! Who is the killer? Who will survive? Will Casey find her brother and be able to use her police training to save the guests? And who would’ve thought that any of this would actually be interesting?

One of the things that surprised me most immediately about the movie was the production value. It apparently cost about $1.5 million, and it makes good use of the budget throughout. The cast, while all still relatively unknown or well past their prime, includes some recognizable names, and the special effects are mostly decent. The look is the movie is pretty nice – it was shot partially on 16mm film, which lends a gritty, old-school appearance to the proceedings.

The kills are gory, creative, and funny. Nadia is killed before the party starts, her face shoved into her microphone, which becomes embedded in the back of her throat. Felicia is the first to die at the party, from electrocution – and her many implants pop out of her body and go flying across the room! I won’t give away the rest of the deaths, but all of them are well-staged and rather amusing – and this is certainly not playing it safe for a PG-13. It’s not the goriest or most shocking film ever, but gorehounds should be mostly satisfied.

I was pleasantly surprised by the plot. It wasn’t high art but there were actually some solid story threads tying the film together, unlike most parodies of late. There were parts during my screening that were unclear, confusing, or glossed over, but it didn’t bother me too much because I was having so much fun with the movie. Apparently, we were shown a rough cut of the film – several plot scenes and one death had yet to be edited in. With any luck, everything will make sense in the finished version.

The film is funny, if never uproariously hilarious. The jokes, for the most part, aren’t genre or movie specific, so you don’t need to be a hardcore horror fan to enjoy it. For those of you who are into that sort of thing, there’s some female nudity and a lot of scantily-clad hot chicks (they ARE strippers, after all). For those of us into that OTHER sort of thing, there’s one ripped male character who spends a scene running around naked just before he’s killed. No frontal, but a couple ass shots, which is more than this demographic usually gets.

I don’t feel right giving this movie a real score in its unfinished state, but I see no way the addition of more scenes could make this movie worse – it sounds, in fact, like it’s just going to get better. As such, I’m giving this a special preview score of: OUTLOOK GOOD.

The movie has yet to been screened for distributors, so release details are not available. However, the producer assured us that several companies have expressed interest based on the film’s website and trailer.

After the screening, there was a brief Q&A session with writer/producer/director/star Rebekah Chaney, star Tom Sizemore, and star Jarrod Bunch (who had a smaller part as Tom’s bodyguard). They all seemed friendly and open (as opposed to the fake, self-righteous bitch from the short film), happy with the film, and optimistic about its future – there are apparently already plans for a sequel. I recorded the Q&A and here it is.