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Random Movie: George: A Zombie Intervention (2009)

Posted on 03 November 2011 by peanutbutterfilthy

George: A Zombie Intervention (or George’s Intervention) comes to us via Breaking Glass Pictures. It’s quite an interesting take on the genre, but poorly executed.

The film opens with an educational film shown to school children. The opening was actually quite clever. It serves as exposition to us, and is meant to teach children the facts about zombies. Zombies have become members of society. So much so that there is a zombie technical support line.  There are spores in the air that humans inhale. The spores lie dormant until the human dies. The spores then wake up and keep the brain functioning thus turning the human into a zombie. Not mindless Romero zombies. Rather, they simply remain their former selves, and are self aware that they are the undead. Unlike your typical film zombies, shooting them in the head does not kill them. It only makes them brain dead which turns them into the standard flesh seeking walkers. They only way to kill a zombie in this universe is to dismember them and burn them.

After the introduction, we see a group of friends having a pre-intervention for their friend George. He has a bit of an addiction problem. Much like you may have seen on television (or perhaps in an actual intervention), the friends are tasked to write down how George’s addiction has affected them. They arrive the next day at George’s home and he is quite resistant. George is a zombie, and he eats people. His friends plead with him to stop but he does not want to. As the group takes a break, people begin to be killed and George tries to eat them. One of George’s friends thinks that they are having a party, so George is constantly interrupted by guests arriving. He throws his victims in the basement to eat later.

This film is purposefully over the top. The gore is excessive and that’s fine. The problem is that there is an obvious attempt to make the film seem realistic at the same time, which places emphasis on its flaws. The performances are quite sub par, especially with the constant eye rolling and face acting.  Right away as the friends arrive at the pre-intervention, they act as if they hate each other. So there was a bit of confusion as to why they are friends since they were all acting like jerks. This eventually changes as Sarah reveals that she likes Ben, and we learn that Steve is just a general dick.

The most bothersome thing in this film is George’s house. It’s like a billion square feet. No one in the house knows where anyone is and can’t hear the constant bludgeoning of guests, even after the loud music is turned off. The house also is apparently self cleaning, as blood seems to disappear from the floor.

There also is some inconsistency as one zombie discovers that he has no pulse and cannot feel pain and therefore must be dead, but in another scene, a zombie complains that being shot hurts.

The film was definitely entertaining, and some of the dialogue was quite humorous. However, most of the time is was poorly written and badly delivered. And not in  a funny, quirky, Army of Darkness type way.

The very end is probably the funniest thing about the film. It is a “commercial” for a zombie rehab clinic and shows zombie supports groups and George eating Tofu Flesh.

The concept of the film is quite clever, and there are definitely some great moments. Very reminiscent of Dead Alive as far as style. I recommend a viewing, but must say that there is a lot to suffer through to get to the enjoyable parts.

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Random Movie: Ghost from the Machine (2010)

Posted on 21 August 2011 by peanutbutterfilthy

Ghost from the Machine (or Phasma Ex Machina) is writer/director Matt Osterman’s feature film debut. It had a budget of $25,ooo. If my review doesn’t give you a clue how good the film is, maybe this will: Universal Pictures is remaking it already.

Cody (Sasha Andreev) and his younger brother James (Max Hauser) lost their parents due to a car accident. Cody is riddled with guilt as he blames himself.  He dropped out of college, does not have a job and is living off of the insurance money from the accident. He becomes obsessed with the thought of getting his parents back and spends most of his time and money constructing an electrical device. In a nutshell, Cody basically believes that there is a shortage of a certain type of energy between our world and the other side. He believes that if he can supply this energy there would be no separation and he can then be reunited with his parents. This has caused him to in effect neglect James, whom he is supposed to be taking care of. James spends most of his time wrapped up in first person shooters and causing mischief at school. Because Cody is so obsessed, he has repeatedly caused James to be late to school so often that the Principal questions his ability to be a legal guardian and calls CPS. CPS gives Cody simple instructions: Get James to school on time everyday and he must behave while there. Otherwise, James will be removed from the home. As Cody gets further along with his machine, odd things start to occur in their house as well as in others.

Andreev is excellent as Cody. His Cody is teetering on the edge of madness. His sanity is still harnessed due to his firm belief that what he is doing will work. He gets excited about things that would terrify you and me. He is simply not able to properly supervise his brother and may even see it as a distraction. When threatened with legal action, he makes small attempts to be a guardian but the closer he comes to completion of his device, his obsession overtakes him. Andreev plays this superbly with well delivered dialogue and relaxed realism. I keep using words like “obsession,” and “madness,” which are accurate, but he is not moving at a hundred miles an hour and completely irrational like most caricatures of insane people are. He’s just plagued by guilt and the desire to quell it.

Matthew Feeney turns in a pretty decent performance as Tom, another electronics wizard that gets pulled into the project before he even knows it exists.

This film has no special effects. In fact, there is never any “supernatural” feeling in the film at all. No deformed ghosts scaring the hell out of house cats and children, there are no “hauntings.”  This may not be the first use of this story, but it was refreshing to see it treated in this fashion.

The film felt a little slow for a short while, but once the stranger events start to occur, it becomes clear that this slow pace was necessary. By the end of the film the progression makes sense as a whole. Then you are smacked in the face with the disheartening unhappy ending. The ending may upset some people, but it makes logical sense and evokes the strong emotions felt through the rest of the film already.

This film is seriously impressive. Osterman has shown that he is a great director and writer. I very much await more work from him.

Check out our interview with director Matt Ostermann.

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Random Movie: Asylum Seekers (2009)

Posted on 07 August 2011 by peanutbutterfilthy

Rania Ajami’s  Asylum Seekers will arrive on DVD on August 30th. There is really only one way to describe this film: batshit crazy.

The simple synopsis of the film is as follows: 6 people who can be categorized as insane for some reason or another, seek asylum (ha) from the outside world that is ever increasing it’s focus on excess and more more more. They arrive at a mental health facility that is very lavish and promises to take care of their every need. However, so popular is this facility, there is only one bed left. Much like an Ivy League college, this facility will only accept the best of the best insane people. So how do you declare the best of the best? Why, have a competition of course. What ensues is a brightly colored, blatant parody of several things, including American Idol and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I will tell you this. This film is ambitious, well acted and even well directed. However. The film sucks.

The film loses itself in its own insanity. So much so, that it goes from entertaining absurdism,  to complete boring nonsense. I felt like the film had a point to make, but got so caught up in being nuts, that the point was abandoned being no longer relevant.

What pisses me off, is that there are some really decent performances. Daniel Irizarry is especially great as Dr. Raby, one of the potential patients. And the high level, over the top approach worked for a while, but then it just went too far and became almost unwatchable because it was too random. Even absurdism has a template it operates within. This where the similarities to Rocky Horror lie. Just, incredible, super over the top, gather a crowd and make your own dialogue foolishness.

That really is the film’s only fault. But it is a huge fault. Visually it is quite stunning and pleasing. The humor is more hit than miss. All of the actors are really absorbed into their roles. But, once it unravels, you lose the journey. It’s like an acid trip. You are in the moment, and have no idea what the hell happened 5 minutes ago. I get that this was probably done to simulate insanity for the viewer, but it was not successful.

Ultimately, it is a brave effort and I can say that it is worth a viewing. It is definitely entertaining and better than a lot of indie pics that are out there. Having the attention span of a ferret on crack will probably help.

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Random Interview: Gregg Holtgrewe

Posted on 13 July 2011 by peanutbutterfilthy

 

So, Dawning is an awesome indie flick. If you haven’t seen it, please do. Also, here is an interview we did with the director, Gregg Holtgrewe.

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Random Interview: BAPartists

Posted on 10 July 2011 by peanutbutterfilthy

Filmmakers the BAPartists were kind enough to chat with us about their upcoming film The Taking. Also discussed were the struggles of making an indie film, Tupac and the obligatory Christopher Nolan. Check out the images from the film below. The podcast is below the last image. Enjoy!

 

 

 

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Movie Scum at the Virginia Indie Film Festival!

Posted on 01 March 2011 by Puck

Digger and I had an opportunity to attend the Virginia Indie Film Festival over the weekend, presented by the Virginia Film Office. We hope to have some more content available in the coming days as we conduct interviews with the filmmakers and review the offerings at the two day shindig. In the meantime, here are some of the productions we saw:

Shorts

Goodbye to Muffy

Caution Wet Floor

Possession

Relax

The Walk

RE: MESSIAH

Docs

Beardo the Movie
The story of the 2009 World Beard & Moustache Championships and the men behind the beards

Local Life: Camera Truck
Shaun Irving had an idea to turn a delivery van into a giant camera. A few years later, he bought an old truck off eBay, drilled a hole in the side, got some military surplus lenses, bought light-sensitive photographic paper and set off to document Richmond.

A Gift For The Village
A documentary about a cultural bridge built between the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and the severe Himalayas of western Nepal.

Features

Quick Feet, Soft Hand
A struggling minor league baseball player and his fiancé try to make it to the big leagues.

Tracks
Martin, a self destructive amputee, reflects on his troubled youth while drifting through the harsh streets of Baltimore, reliving the events of the day that changed his life forever.

Danger. Zombies. Run
Real zombies attack a crew filming a low-budget zombie movie.

Descriptions from the Virginia Indie Film Festival

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