MicroCinema Scene

SPOILER ALERT!

Normally I hate spoilers, but for this review I’m going to bend my self-imposed rules just a bit.  You see, Scarecrow Slayer had exactly zero redeemable qualities throughout the vast majority of the running time.  A cross between every scarecrow movie and the Crow films, Scarecrow Slayer was about to lap Jigsaw in the running for the worst micro I’ve seen this year.

That is, until the scarecrow karate fight.

That’s right, the end of this movie features not one, but TWO scarecrows doing back flips, kip ups, and martial arts fighting to the death in the middle of a field.  It almost saved this movie from being a complete waste of almost two hours.  Too bad the whole movie wasn’t just about these two kung fu fighting straw men or I might have been able to recommend it.

I’m not sure where things went wrong with this movie.  Maybe it was the rush to churn out a sequel to the original low budget Scarecrow movie.  Or maybe it was a rush to put the cool Scarecrow costume to use.  It’s hard to believe that so many people could make such a terrible movie.  With David Michael Latt of Hell’s Highway fame co-writing and directing, I expected the movie to be at least worth the new movie rental price at the local video store.  I was wrong.

Now I’m usually very forgiving with micro productions.  I understand the budget restrictions, and how hard it is to get people involved.  I know how it must have been easier to have Tony Todd shoot all of his scenes separately from the rest of the cast, including his Slingblade-like introduction while being interviewed by…somebody.  (I’m not really sure who was interviewing him, and it’s that kind of sloppiness that plagues the movie.) And I can understand why the hospital seems so understaffed, and why there seem to be only two members of the local police force - one of whom is pregnant by the other.  But when it comes to the story, and the huge gaps that plague the script, I just didn’t understand most of what the heck was going on. 

An obvious flaw:  just what is the Scarecrow?  We see a college kid accidentally killed, and his “spirit” go into the Scarecrow.  But from there on out we’re really never sure just what’s driving the Scarecrow.  Is he in love with the leading lady Mary (Kingston)?  Then why is he chasing her everywhere?  Is he out for revenge?  Then why does he keep killing after slaughtering his murderer?

Honestly, I considered writing a review that was composed only of questions I had while watching the flick.  But then those dang karate scarecrows got to fighting…

Interested in a storyline?  Well, best as I can follow, that dead college kid’s spirit (within the killer Scarecrow) chases Mary around, killing whoever gets in his way.  That includes a trip to what I think is a military academy, where they just happen to have access to live ammo and a bazooka.  Along the way our leading lady falls off a roof and sprains her ankle, but it only seems to hurt some of the time.

Another major flaw:  the voiceover explanation.  I don’t mean a narrator, I mean a character off camera telling us what they’re doing so we don’t actually have to see that.  I’m assuming it’s to cover the fact that they need to explain things, like why our leading lady is left alone to fend for herself (”I need to take care of something” is heard on the soundtrack, but we don’t see where the character was going until he shows up later in a car).  Add that in with a less than stellar audio mix that goes from overmodulated to barely audible, and it was all I could do to make it through to the end credits.

Scarecrow Slayer also features numerous computer graphic-aided shots–none of which look good.  I’m not sure if it’s a case of cost-cutting or kids playing with a new toy, but it’s distracting and happens regularly through the running time.  And that’s a real shame, considering Latt’s use of over-the-top gore in his previous efforts at least made them watchable.

Somewhere in the middle of this disaster was the germ of a decent idea.  I can see the pitch meeting now:  The Crow meets The Scarecrow.  It’s just too bad they didn’t take the time to make that idea into a good movie.  However, if you do decide to check Scarecrow Slayer out, and you survive the mostly wooden acting, cheap effects, and convoluted script, you will be rewarded with a few minutes of scarecrow fu.

Until the wood chipper out in the middle of nowhere comes into play, and you’re reminded just how bad this movie really is.

See, I warned you there were spoilers.

One star.

With the right breaks, I believe that Brian Clement has what it takes to move into mainstream moviemaking.  He’s able to craft big stories on miniscule budgets, appealing to the fanboy in all of us.  Thing is, I don’t think he wants to make “big” movies.  Meat Market is a perfect example of someone who seems very happy and very proud to be making micro horror flicks, and more power to him.

It’s a plot Romero would be proud of - a couple escape the city just as the undead begin to take over, and they search for survivors as they prepare for the final battle against the ever-growing number of zombies surrounding them.  Along the way they run into a gang of lesbian vampires (or are they?) as well as a Mexican wrestler (whose voice is humorously dubbed).  If you’re looking for a serious introspection into life versus death, look elsewhere - this movie is about blood, guts, and gunfire.

Clement has a knack for taking a next-to-nothing budget and crafting a seriously ambitious horror treat.  A battle between the living and the dead in a parking garage is shot as one long tracking shot, featuring gunfire and explosions - and actually looks as impressive as it sounds.  The movie is extremely graphic, both in the gore department as well as the sex scenes - not the kind of thing you let the kids watch.  Technically the movie looks much better than it has any right to, giving us impressive shots while balancing the quiet moments between the leads.  The sound is solid and the lighting better than most - it’s obvious that a lot of time went into the production and it shows.

That’s not to say Meat Market is without its faults.  The pacing is off at times, and all too often the actors mix intensity with what comes across more as disinterest.  It’s one thing to be intense - another to look bored.  And it’s a zombie movie, so you’re going to get exactly what you expect - lots of carnage and lots of innards.  The special effects guys deserve a lot of the credit for making this kind of movie work - if the zombies aren’t scary, it’s hard to root for our heroes.

And it’s those heroes that make this movie work for me.  When you see that a Mexican wrestler is part of our rag tag group of survivors, you know you’re not watching a movie that takes itself too seriously.  Most times he humor is tongue-in-cheek, and it works.

If you’re into micro zombie movies, you don’t get much better than Meat Market. Go in with the right attitude, and you’re in for a treat.

Four out of Five stars.

It’s a shame that so much of the microcinema scene revolves around the horror genre.  All too often the explanation is that horror can be shot in one location with a small cast and some blood - easy enough to do.  But then a movie like The Playaz Court comes along with the same elements:  one main location (a basketball court), a small cast (the pick up players) and some blood (along with plenty of guns) and proves that there’s more that can be done than just trying to scare the audience.

The story follows Juwane (Whitfield), a recent college graduate who returns to his old neighborhood and successfully passes the bar exam.  While things are looking up in his life, he still has to deal with a brother (Arlen Escarpeta) who’s followed a different path in life that includes guns, drugs, and a dealer named T-Bone (Fingaz).  They all end up at the local gym playing basketball, and before too long one of them is shot dead in the bathroom.  All fingers point at the lone white player, who insists he’s innocent.

This leads to the pleasant story twist and the play-on-words title:  the players decide to hold their own court case right there in the gym, and presume the accused innocent or guilty based on their own testimony.  It’s an interesting development, bringing about a Rashomon-like second act filled with lies and a surprise player.

The reason why a drama like The Playaz Court succeeds is because of the screenplay, which actually tells a compelling story and creates characters that are interesting.  The cast, while at times rough around the edges, takes the dialogue-heavy script and runs with it, delivering one of the stronger micro efforts of the past few years.  Director Morgan does a fine job of keeping his cast and story moving, giving each a moment to shine.  There are times when a few scenes run on a bit too long, and a few of the very small roles aren’t up to the level of the rest of the cast, but for the most part the acting is solid.

Technically The Playaz Court is as good as any micro I’ve seen so far, with the lighting and locations being used to good effect.  The handheld camera does get a bit old after a while, but overall the shots are framed well (except for the basketball action, which struggles to give the feeling of a real game but doesn’t quite succeed).  The sound in general is decent enough, especially considering the number of speaking parts in any given scene, although it has the typical dips and peaks most micros are cursed with.

If there’s a major flaw with The Playaz Court, it’s the ending.  I won’t spoil anything, but certain things happen during the last few moments that kept me from giving this a higher rating.  However, it’s a great ride up until that point.

Hopefully movies like The Playaz Court and Hall of Mirrors will encourage other micro producers to challenge genres other than horror.  With a good script, good actors, and good direction, any genre can be entertaining - no matter what the budget.

Four stars.

Written, Directed, Shot, Chopped and Scored by Robert Rodriguez

Starring Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp, and a whole lot of storylines

Yeah, I know. This is MicroCinemaScene.com - I’m only suppose to review movies with micro budgets. But after seeing Once Upon A Time In Mexico, I’m convinced that it’s the biggest budget micro film I’ve ever seen.

A little backstory: Robert Rodriguez rose to prominence after his true micro feature, El Mariachi, caught the right eyes in Hollywood. He went from using available locations, friends and family as talent, and money for film stock to Hollywood sets, Antonio Banderas, and a few million to essentially remake Mariachi into the action flick Desperado. After a few diversions (From Dusk Til Dawn, the Spy Kids trilogy), Rodriguez has gone back to his roots, giving us Mexico.

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At its core, Voyeur.com is a decent enough concept. A couple of budding internet entrepenuers run up their credit cards in an effort to get a website up and running that features a bevy of naked women, only to have their plans derailed by a masked killer. A pretty good starting point for a micro horror movie, offering plenty of opportunities for naked women and serial killings, right? Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work out that way.

We follow Mary (Jena Romano) as she “auditions” to be a part of the household, where the nine girls (well, it says nine on the box - I think it was more like six) are expected to live their lives for anyone with an internet connection to see. If you’re familiar with the web you’ve seen the ads for these sites - girls taking showers, girls romping in bed, etc. Unfortunately, that aspect never really comes to play, since the girls are stalked by a masked serial killer before the cameras are fully operational. (The movie starts with a photographer and his model being killed, but I still don’t know what that has to do with the rest of the movie). So who’s doing the killing? The Anthony Perkins-looking groundskeeper (how they afford him, I have no clue?) One of the guys running things? One of the girls? Don’t try to use logic to figure it out - the actual killer has the magical ability of being in one place and then seconds later decked out in the black garb and mask for some bloody killing. Yeah, it’s one of those movies.

While watching movies, I try to jot down things to remember for my review. Here are some of the notes I took while watching Voyeur.com:

• The photographer takes the model’s pictures in front of a mirror. Hope he enjoys his reflection.
• Body double has black fingernails - none of the girls do.
• If you’re looking for movie with lots of b-roll of cars driving, this is for you.
• The coloring of the shower scene - orange when it’s the actress, and then blue when it’s the body double.
• Not sure what’s the deal with the shot of the weight room that includes the shadow of the boom - that’s shown three times.
• Nobody sees the blood from the cut jugular that stained the walls and the carpet?
• Stunt breasts go from pierced to not pierced - but the not-pierced have black fingernails.

That’s right, there are body doubles in this movie. I’m not sure if its being shot in and around LA had something to do with that, but I thought it kind of odd in a microbudget production.

The shot-on-video project suffers from a weak script that never really puts the voyeuristic nature of its premise to good use. It comes across as more of a gimmick than anything else - in fact, the “surveillance cams in every room” is more of an afterthought than the driving force of the story. Technically the movie is decent - the picture is crisp and the colors good (outside of the showering scene). The acting is rough at times, but the leads do a solid job of keeping things moving. The one odd thing that struck me about the movie though is that the third act just happens - there’s no real build-up to a resolution, instead the killer attacks everybody, is revealed, and the denoument eats up the last ten minutes. And since it’s a “twist” ending, you not only feel cheated - you feel cheated for ten minutes before the credits roll.

Voyeur.com might be one of the more successful of the recent micros - I’ve seen it at every video chain I’ve been to in my area, including the mom and pop stores. Unfortunately if this is the kind of movie people think of when they hear “Microcinema,” we’re going to have an uphill battle when it comes to getting more micros on the shelves.

No cliche goes unturned in Camp Blood, yet another in a line of Friday the 13th-inspired microcinema efforts to come down the pipeline over the past few years.  Two couples hire a guide to take them into the wooded area known as Camp Blackwood (hey, at least they’re smart enough to realize they shouldn’t wander into Rural America without somebody who knows what she’s doing) despite the warning by a crazy old man that there’s a killer in them thar woods.  Before too long the machete is swinging and the blood is flying.

There isn’t really a point to go into the details of the plot in this one - you know what you’re getting into from the get-go.  Young kids + woods + killer = standard slasher movie.  The ending does try for something more surreal, but it comes from so far deep in left field that it doesn’t really fit in with everything else we’ve already seen.  I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s the kind of ending that could have been set up by the characters, but they’re so one dimensional it’s not even attempted.  The lackluster script doesn’t give the cast, which shows a good amount of potential, much to do other than run and scream.

Despite all that, I have to admit I kinda liked this flick.  The shooting is better than average, and the editing is excellent.  There are times when the sound levels are a bit off (especially around the campfire), but overall it’s technically well done.  Director Sykes keeps things moving at a brisk pace, and the special effects are what we’ve come to expect on the micro level.  My biggest complaint is that the movie follows the simple outline that other micro efforts have already done (Cannibal Campout, Carnage, etc.).  And why does the killer wear a clown mask?  Maybe it’s meant as an inside Halloween joke (where the producers had to choose between a creepy clown mask or a William Shatner Star Trek mask painted white - they went with the Shat).  Jennifer Ritchkoff does a good job of being your damsel in distress, and there’s a nifty little confrontation with he killer in a waterfall.  It’s just too bad the story didn’t try something different from every other killer-in-the-woods movie I’ve seen lately.

This is one of those movies where I wish I had a half star available.  For a complete lack of originality (other than the “twist” ending) but decent acting it would get two stars from me, but the tech effort and the fact that I was never bored (always a concern with this kind of flick) would get me up to a three star ranking.  If you’re a fan of 80s slasher flicks, check it out.  If you want a little more meat with your serial killers, you might want to keep looking.

Two stars for non-slasher fans

Three stars for slasher fans

Despite working with small budgets, Brett Piper knows how to deliver the goods when it comes to special effects-driven movies.  With Drainiac he tackles the haunted house genre, as a group of young people face off against the demons living in the pipes of a dilapidated farmhouse.

After a pre-credit sequence featuring a couple of drifters having a bad run-in with something creepy residing in an old, dilapidated house, we meet Julie (Georgia Hatzis) - a young woman dealing with psychoses, an abusive father, and a gang of friends who don’t really understand her.  Writer/director Brett Piper scores bonus points here, setting the story around a character who might not be all there in the noggin.  Forced by her father to work on cleaning up a house he just bought (the same one from the pre-credits sequence,) we’re never quite sure if what we’re seeing are products of Julie’s mental problems or if the house is really out to kill her.  Julie’s friends decide to help her out, and before too long people are being killed by tendrils coming out of drains.  With the help of a wandering exorcist they try to rid the house of evil before it’s too late.

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Hall of Mirrors is a great movie. Period. All too often when someone asks me about a microbudget offering, my response is tempered with an excuse. It’s good, but… has been my mantra lately when watching some of the more recent microbudget movies to come my way - and the same can be said of Hollywood fare as well. But that’s not the case with Hall of Mirrors. It’s a great movie, and one that all microbudget producers and fans alike should check out - if only to reaffirm why we’re all involved in this scene.

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Anthologies have a tendency to be a mixed bag - a little something for everyone, but rarely everything for someone. Werewolf Tales is no exception, bringing together three werewolf tales (well, sort of) that tackle the mythos with varying degrees of success.

No connecting story here, just an opening voice over, some heavy metal music, and the titles for each of the three shorts. I happen to be a metal fan, so no complaints there.

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My Objective Review: *

Bunk Films’s Reconciliation is a microbudget drama following the trials and tribulations of a young couple. Over the course of the movie’s two hours, they’re forced to deal with infidelity, intrusive friends, and the normal difficulties that come with trying to love someone in this day and age. Since we’re dealing with friends and couples, most times we’re at someone’s house or apartment or the local watering hole, so the sets are typical. Other than a few 180-rule problems and some unusual framing (and not in an artistic way), the technical side is adequate enough to tell the story. With a dialogue-heavy script, the acting needs to be top-notch, but unfortunately it wavers from time to time. As a drama this indy tries hard, but ulimately fails.

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