DVD Crypt Keeper

CAST: Jason Christ, Julie Farrar, Joseph Palermo, Trudy Bequette, Chris
Grega, Emily Haack, Robin Garrels, Todd Tevlin, Jeff Atwater, Doc Brown, Ed
Belt, Ceily Davis, Kevin Golden

DIRECTOR: Jeremy Wallace

To be an indie filmmaker is tough and one of the toughest things is to make the horror fans accept that you’re shooting on video. Most of ’em just can’t stand the quality (though they easily accept Blair Witch Projects) and reject most of the SOV-flicks. Sub Rosa is both making an important statement with producing and releasing these kind of movies. They show that movie making isn’t just for the Hollywood hot-shots or expensive, because that’s the biggest myth so far in our industry. With the right tactics and some passionate and talented people you can make a movie without a 100+ million-dollar budget.

The story is simple but effective. A bunch of friends go out on a boat trip and get hunted down by a big, crazy, sack-wearing maniac called ”The Boy”. As in Camp Slaughter, all the cliches are there and that is only good. We have ”old man of warning”, but this time it’s several people who warn the kids about going out in the woods. We have the standard ”around the campfire” scene, and of course some very inbred people.

Ya know me, I love all this stuff. Always! I’m one of those people that think FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 is a masterpiece, and that explains it all, because THE UNDERTOW has a serious lack of tension - just pure tension. We never get scared and it’s more of a wrestling movie when The Boy comes stumbling through the woods. It’s never scary. The photography is good and has a very realistic (not amateurish) style and it works fine. The direction on the non-horror scenes is good too, especially the scene where they stop at the store to get some food. That’s good indie filmmaking, but I want more horror. More of a bizarre and strange character in The Boy. I want that eerie feeling, the feeling that is so hard to create. I want more strange images combined with extreme music. I want more nudity (none in this movie!) and a lot more guts. Never be afraid to irritate people, that is my advice. As long as people hate you for being too much, that’s a good thing.

The most important scene in the film is the long tracking shot outside the store. It focuses on the car and then slowly reveals the store. That’s not great indie filmmaking, that is great filmmaking. I wanted to see more of that, scenes that really set the mood. The gore is nice, but there isonly one scene of real gory splatter-violence and I love that. It works fine and has some impact. The rest is okay, but not something special.

So, it’s shot on video, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. I personally prefer to work on DV. Alright, the movie could have been better, but it’s still a good work from Eric Stanze, Jeremy Wallace and the lovely actors. Buy it and support independent filmmaking.

Movie: 2 BITCH SLAPS
Picture: 3.5 BITCH SLAPS
Sound: 3 BITCH SLAPS
Extras: 2 BITCH SLAPS
Overall: 2.5 BITCH SLAPS

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