WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS?
Well the honest answer is....... Because it makes me feel good about myself. Yeah that's the god honest truth. Someone funded this. Be it through tax incentives / or fast talking. It happened - Completing a film/ getting it funded gets them a shit load of respect from me.
There's a quote from the 1997 film "The Edge" staring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin - It's always stuck with me. Pretty sure it helped push me in some of my darkest times - those one filled with seemingly incomprehensible self loathing. The kind that will make you want to give up your dreams. It's around the middle/end of Act 2B - Anyway- Hopkins character is trying to hype up Baldwin so they can kill the bear - This is where he delivers the line - "What One man can do. Another can do!" -
Simple - poetic - Truth. When I watch films I know are going to be $5 bin quality - It gives me hope. If some one else did it - So can I..... Wait! Ha! To be clear..... My goal is not to have my films end up in the $5 bin..... But even if they did - Would it really be so bad?
I don't know where to begin with this one. Generic does not even begin to describe it. But that's my fault I knew what I was getting in to. It couldnt be anything else. For starters - The budget they were working with can be felt all over the film. it has a very "Contained" feeling. The film never breaks from the starting block. Personally it feels like it never reached the level of intensity it could / should have - Which was not for lack of trying.
A young couple out for a leisurely camping trip to an isolated New Zealand beach unknowingly find themselves stranded on the favoured hunting (Killing) grounds of a two psychopaths.
It's so badly weighted It's painful. It feels like it was re-written while shooting. I normally love Cinema from New Zealand - But this just didn't do it for me. The most unique thing it does is attempt to tell two parallel stories - One in the present - The other is the story of the killers most recent victims. This is the directors debut - And to be frank it shows. If you've ever seen films like Deliverance, Straw Dogs, Wrong Turn, I Spit On Your Grave or Wolf Creek - Then none of the story / plot will seem groundbreaking. In fact it will reek of imitation.
The cute couple cross paths with the killers at the beginning of the film. OF COURSE THEY FUCKING DO!! The husband is a doctor... Which they tell you like 50 fucking times in the fist 25 minutes.... And what do you know..... It kind of plays in to the plot..... Did I mention this thing was badly weighted..... Weighted badly ...... which is it... I should know this...... Any way...
Of course the killers are low IQ hill billy types. One is a white guy named TODD and the other is a Native dude named SCOTTY. They're surely aggressive at times and come off rather menacing - Thus evoking moments of fear - But there are other spots when the tone seems off and they come across as if they were bumbling bafoons. There's some _Master/ Slave dynamics at play between them - But that's ultimately cut short when one accidentally kills the other. Oh I'm sorry did I forget to mention there might be spoilers? Hahahahahahaha
The husband was so much of a pussy that he let a baby get killed. (For what it's worth) Trigger warning - Someone Hulk smashes a baby - That shit made me more squeamish than anything else in the film. Caught me by surprise and felt a little bit forced / only for holy shit factor. You don't see it directly - As a matter of fact a lot of the gore/ violence is offscreen / implied.
The wife was the strong one. Guess it was cool to see - That was actually one of the least eye roll inducing elements of this kiwi-kerfuffle. The final shot of the film is just the wife glaring over the husband - Disgust and pity in her eyes after he'd abandoned her with one of the killers / she had to be the one to save the day.
All in all it's not great but it's not the biggest pile of shit either. If you're looking for something to watch on a Saturday with a bowl of popcorn - Where you'll spend half the time staring at your fucking phone...... Sure this is probably perfect! If you're looking for a intellectual thriller..... AVOID! Maybe do your self a favour and watch Nocturnal Animals - Starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
IMDB Rating- 5.8/10
Release date: - 21 July 2017
Runtime - 88 minutes
Directed by: Damien Power
Written by: Damien Power
Cinematography by: - Simon Chapman
Edited by: Katie Flaxman
Producers: - Michael Gudinski, John Molloy, Lisa Shaunessy, Joe Weatherstone
Production Companies: - Hypergiant Films, Arcadia
Starring: - Aaron Pedersen, Ian Meadows, Harriet Dyer, Aaron Glenane.
Total Boxoffice $44,000
Home Market 31,973
Streaming Rev Unknown $
Anyway I'm done talking about it
That's all for now
Fuck off for a bit
E.
NOTE This post is- In my eyes - Is one of the only ways you should be using content that isn't yours. The idea of sharing trailers where the post is void of comment/ journalism and or critique should not be happening on Steemit. That kind of sharing is better reserved for F***book and Reddit. I am in no way affiliated with any of the entities connected to this film: Hypergiant Films, Arcadia.
All visual content used herein is owned by the listed copyright holders but falls within fair use. All written content is my own. Source for images was the trailer linked above.
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Nice one my friend @emwalker..
Thnx @karltaylor!!
Hahahaa... Rewritten while shooting ! another good one.