Review by Stephen Gaffney
Directed by: Lorenzo Lepori
Starring: Pascal Persiano, Henrj Bartolini, Yana Proshkina, Simona Vannelli
A throwback to '80s horror with tons of sex, drugs and violence. What could go wrong? Nearly everything actually. I have to rip the film's plot straight from the IMDB page as I couldn't fathom what was happening before my eyes. "Paulo and Andrea meet after a long time, but their night of fun goes horribly wrong. In order to get rid of a corpse, the two friends will fight evil creatures from the woods and demons of the mind." Yeah, that's the jist of it. Sort of.
I'll start with the good. The soundtrack is great, creepy and atmospheric. But it does not suit the film at all. The special effects are practical, which is always a bonus. They look great about 50% of the time. That's it. That's why I gave this one star instead of a half star.
Director Lorenzo Lepori has been making films for 10 years now, this being his fifth feature. There is no excuse for how low quality in almost every aspect this is. It's like a bad student film. Being the Producer, Writer, Director and Cinematographer of this film, he has no one to blame but himself.
The film is clearly going for an '80s vibe. This doesn't mean it should have been shot with a camcorder. At least it looks like a camcorder. If this was shot on film or any half decent camera it certainly doesn't show. Almost every single scene is either underexposed and murky, or so over exposed it felt like my retinas were burning.
The acting is over the top, yet you can tell the actors are really trying their best. It is ultra cringey. I genuinely think this was a short film expanded into a (thankfully short 70 mins) feature.
Every scene drags on five to 10 minutes longer than it needs to without pushing the 'story' forward. Throw in the clearly unchoreographed punches and actors obviously pretending to snort coke and you may be thinking it would be worth a watch for a laugh at least. Yet it isn't. It just made me wonder what was that 'coke' that the actors were terrified to actually snort and how does a director with 10 years experience look through the eye piece of a camera and think everything looks fine?
Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that these people got together and made a film for eight thousand euro, but this is just plain awful. There is one fantastic murder scene near the beginning of the film which made me look past the low budget for a few minutes. After that it's all down hill. Fifty fifty with the effects and that's mainly down to the cinematography and editing, not the special effects artist.
The film struggled to keep my attention scene to scene, then all of a sudden, straight from the iMDB blurb, there are evil creatures everywhere. Think of the genre change in From Dusk Till Dawn. But nothing redeeming or entertaining in either half.
Again, made for eight grand, but that is no excuse. It has to be seen to be believed but I cannot recommend anybody seeing this. There are hundreds if not thousands of films on VOD made for less than this and which are a hundred times better. Which is a genuine shame because I am a huge horror fan.
Consistently bad acting, bad cinematography, bad pacing and bad to no writing. If for some reason you still want to watch it after this review, make sure you wear a pair of sunglasses for those overexposed scenes.
I adore indie/no budget films but not when they are as bad this. Budget is no excuse.
What is even more astonishing is that I think the writer/director took this film seriously, again I am referring to the iMDB blurb- "demons of the mind." This film is trying to be deep and thought provoking with symbolism when it should have been a full on shock horror.
The writer / director / producer / cinematographer obviously has the gift of the gab to get a cast and crew together. Unless he is completely in denial, he has to to know this film isn't the best. And I can't help but wonder if they spent more time on each scene they could have made something a lot better. This is his fifth feature film. Something just doesn't add up.
If you do decide to watch this take a look out for an extra who looks like Tom Savini and Sean Penn's love child. That is probably the most entertaining part of the entire film.
LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY & HAND OF DEATH: Two Early Films By John Woo To Make Their UK Blu-Ray Debuts [New Trailer/Artwork]https://t.co/wHl7xuyWi2 pic.twitter.com/BECbhwr7fB— ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ.๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ (@themoviewaffler) May 14, 2019