MicroCinema Scene

In only thirty minutes, the total length of this film, writer/director Cullen Carr has crafted a film with more style, inventiveness and pure exploitative passion than half of the genre films released last year. The Golden Age, a tribute to the mid-80s VHS, mom and pop video store boom, mingles with a snuff film subplot, creating a sleazy, violent shockfest that resonates long after the DVD is back in it’s case.

Taking place in “Sweet Home Alabama, 1985”, Burton has not only just been fired from his job, he’s also just found his wife banging his best friend. After setting his trailer on fire and throwing a beer bottle at a cop’s face, he hooks up with the town’s curvy, Goth video store owner, who turns out the be the head of a snuff-film cult, leading to unexpectedly brutal results. I dare you not to be horrified as Burton flees through the woods, stumbling upon desecrated body after desecrated body (with more than few nods to Cannibal Holocaust)—it’s a nightmarish visage.

And while this whole set-up is fantastic enough, Carr envelops it in a revolutionary style, from the opening titles that scream classic 70s drive-in explotaitoner, to the sweeping fades as the scene changes. Sure it’s only a short film, but Carr could have turned this into a feature length, and it would still hold up. I am really looking forward to whatever he does next.

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