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Feb.
4th 2008 REVIEW of Silent Voyeur at Bad Lit For every hero and
visionary in Sometimes the twain are the same, with the pendulum of personality
swinging from opportunism (i.e., greed) to altruism. Think Walt Disney. Think
Henry Flagler. Think of all the hardy eccentrics, pioneers and
philanthropists that made Then think about heading
down to All Saints Cinema, 918 1/2 Railroad Ave. (in the Amtrak station
building), to catch one of two screenings hosted by the Tallahassee Film
Society of maverick filmmaker Georg Koszulinski's hysterical historical documentary "Cracker Crazy: Invisible Histories of the
Sunshine State." Koszulinski did his homework - he plundered
state archives for vintage images and footage to mix with his own original
footage in the 94-minute flick, which traces the Koszulinski will be in the house to answer
questions and talk about the film when the lights go up. It screens at SILENT VOYEUR 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 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.
As published in Volume 2,
Issue 9 of The Satellite - Local filmmaker Georg Koszulinski's latest offering finds him mining the depths of probably the two most difficult genres: science fiction and suspense/horror. Generally these genres combined with no budget means bad props and even worse dialogue and ultimately a waste of time. To his immense credit Koszulinski pulls it off in a surprising manner and provides us with a film worth watching. 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
- Chuck Boring www.einsiders.com |
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