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A
HIGHWAY CALLED 301 (2010) IMMOKALEE U.S.A. (2008) "The
immense power of this documentary comes from Koszulinski's ability to show
rather than tell. This movie will haunt you for days." - Georgia Menides, Film
Threat Feb.
4th 2008 REVIEW
of
Silent
Voyeur at Bad
Lit Excuse me if I sound
a little disoriented. This may be a weird review. But I just had my head
batted around for the past few hours. Not that this was a three hour
movie, but when I was done watching Georg Koszulinski’s “Silent Voyeur”, I had to immediately
check it out again. This is a rare occurrence and a very pleasant
surprise, but there were was a lot going on this film that I don’t think
can be fully captured with one viewing. And I think that says a lot about
a film when it inspires you to want to see it again right away.
Here’s the lowdown. A naked man wakes up in the middle of the Florida Everglades. He has a wound on his head and is suffering from amnesia. He wanders around for a while, wondering what it is that happened that landed him in this situation, when he stumbles upon an old house. This is when he kinda starts to remember things. He remembers the truck parked outside as his. But when he takes a peek inside the house, he has no idea why a distraught couple is pointing a shotgun at a chained up man. Entering the house and seizing the shotgun, it is now up to our amnesiac to figure out just what the hell is going on here. And welcome to the bulk of our film. It’s a classic he said, she said conundrum as the distraught couple swear up and down that they are his friends and that they were all captured by the now chained man and his buddy who has already been shot dead. Their tale involves the three of them being brought back to the house where they were forced to perform disgusting acts before a videocamera with the threat of death hanging before them. But the chained man has a different story. He claims that the amnesiac was the conductor of this whole sordid affair as he was hired by three very powerful and wealthy men to make a snuff film for them. So the viewer is bombarded with these two conflicting stories that can change detail within a single shot. But in the end, all is made clear, it’s just one helluva trip getting there. Apart from the
gripping storytelling, “Silent Voyeur”, which was shot on film, looks
amazing. From moment one you’re drawn in, opening you up for this sick
tale if you’re able to stomach it. The cast also does a great job of
selling these twisted scenarios. “Silent Voyeur” is an experience and it’s
one that’s not likely to be forgotten easily. I hope I haven’t been too
vague here as I wouldn’t want to ruin anything for you, but I do hope that
this review has made you curious enough to check out “Silent Voyeur” when
it plays a festival near you. BLOOD OF
THE BEAST (2003) In “Blood of the Beast,” the Third World War comes in year 2012, ultimately killing off a third of the Earth’s population and rendering the surviving males sterile. Enter human cloning, which proves to be successful for a while, until the first strand of cloned humans turns in to zombies. The film opens shortly after this happens. We then follow a group of people blindly trying to find safety in a world quickly going mad. “Blood of the Beast” is at its best when it’s playing with narrative convention. The film starts off with the whole war and cloning back story being told over digitally altered archival war footage. Very cool stuff and the addition of a warped soundtrack helps quite a bit in plunging the viewer into this grim look into the future...while looking at horrors of the past. The sounds and music used throughout this film, in fact, are reminiscent of Throbbing Gristle aural warfare. Another example of Koszulinski’s experimentation comes towards the end of the film where our heroes are running from escaped convict zombies in the woods. The video turns to a night-vision black and white and the dialogue is replaced with occasional dialogue cards, allowing the creative audio design to grandstand once more before the end credits roll. However, the film does drag a bit when it plays like a normal shot on video production. A lot of walking around in the woods, bitching and moaning about the state of things occurs in-between the more creatively helmed segments. Still, this a memorable film that puts itself at the head of the pack of independently produced horror films. It’s smarter than most and even though it’s clear it was made on a micro-budget, it doesn’t come off as cheap. A creative and haunting output from a filmmaker who I’d like to see what else he has up his sleeve.
Set in the year 2031,
we find the planet with 98 percent of its population dead after a third
world war. Humans, being the enterprising creatures that they are, decide
to quickly repopulate the planet through cloning. However, all is not well
with this process and we find the protagonist (played by the director) in
increasingly desperate circumstances as a result of poorly behaved clones.
Koszulinski opens the film with an extensive
montage of archival footage of war and mayhem. This serves to provide a
great deal of exposition without heavily resorting to text to bring the
viewer up to speed. This is likely a case of necessity and lack of a
budget leading to creativity. Regardless, the use of archival footage
works brilliantly. He is also able to convey the dread and despair of the
characters at various points in the film through old film stock and
abstract images. The film was partially shot in the pine scrub of the
It's clear Koszulinski is not only a maker of films but also a student of the cinema and his influences range wide and deep. His understanding of narrative and how to break out of it leads to his use of techniques rarely seen today but common in an earlier era of silent film. The film is currently on the festival circuit but you'll have a chance to catch it in town on Sept 15. -Rick Orifez, Satellite Magazine
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