THE UGLY

The Ugly presents us with an incredibly imaginative interpretation of how life appears from inside the mind of a serial murderer. In this case, the murderer is the soft spoken and seemingly meek Simon Cartwright (played by Paolo Rotondo), who during the film  is locked away in a high security prison, under the supervision of a sadistic psychiatrist and subjected to the constant brutality of the prison guards.

Simon is granted an upcoming parole trial, and then specifically requests that Dr. Karen Shoemaker (played by Rebecca Hobbes), a well-known and intelligent psychologist, re-evaluate his mental condition. However, as the film progresses and she travels further and further into Simon's mind, she comes to realize that she has been manipulated every step of the way by Simon, and at the same time discovers the true evil and pure demonic force of The Uglies.

The film unfolds to us through the numerous discussion periods between Dr. Shoemaker and Simon in the intimidating, blood stained prison interrogation room. We come to learn of his abusive mother and brutal childhood, and his life up to the point of his arrest -- and more important, we learn about the demons that plague his mind and drive him to kill, forcing and not relenting until his savage impulses have taken over, and he has done the deed - however, once he given into the will of the Uglies, his new victim returns as yet another demon in the group of Uglies, which means yet another demon forcing him to kill and thus making it harder on Simon to fight them. This is the ever-recurring cycle.

This film stands above all others in my mind as one of the most perfect examples of how inventive, creative, and brutally convincing an independent film can be. The Ugly, being shot in only 5 weeks in and around Auckland, New Zealand, has much greater appeal that big budget Hollywood flops, and tells an honest and brutal story from start to finish, plain and simple. The point of it is not to over emphasize the violence, or the gore aspect, but to just tell the story, which because of a solid script stands on its own without further need for the spectacle of overly excessive blood like that found in the films of the slasher overkill period.

The most impressive thing is the absolutely haunting cinematography employed. Never had we seen the concept of using black blood in contrast with the impressive blue colour filters used throughout (blue being primarily the colour of the entire film, from the later added filters, down to the fact that it was constantly raining -- most likely used to further the effects of the depressing atmosphere created so well.)

Another definite point that must be mentioned is the acting, which will always make or break any film, despite the film's potential and creativity. Paolo Rotondo's performance was truly what set up the tense atmosphere of the film -- his performance as Simon was so convincing that it earned him the award for best actor from Rome’s Fantafilm Festival. Plus, a fine performance by the talented actress Rebecca Hobbes as Dr. Karen Shoemaker, who breathed life into her character and did a fantastic job acting opposite of Paolo; their scenes together were tense, exciting, and a pleasure to watch. But, last but not least, Jennifer Ward-Lealand's performance as Simon's mother during the flashback sequences needs mention. She successfully set up the mood for Simon's childhood and portrayed the atmosphere of his home life in a most convincing and brutal manner, and that was extremely important to the story.

Lastly, the film is certainly worth a viewing just for its incredible ending, which is one of the most up-to-interpretation and wildly brilliant endings I have ever seen (it will make you shake your head later on when you hear a film like Jeepers Creepers praised for it's 'controversial ending') -- in other words, a great finish to a great picture.

So, I myself will finish this review by stating once again that I found this film to be extremely enjoyable to watch, with a great script which hooks you from the very beginning and never lets go of your attention: it is a fantastic independent feature and is proof of why the future of creative horror will only be found in its independent roots.

BITCH SLAP RATING: 5