Pulpmovies Reviews

Charlie Regels (Louis Iacoviello) once played the title role in a big budget adaptation of the comic -book, Kryptoman. As is not uncommon, the film fell through for lack of funding and Charlie abandoned his hopes of Hollywood stardom. Now, twenty years later, new talk has begun to swirl around completing the film and reuniting the original cast.

Charlie never told his ten year old son, Billy (Paul Butcher) about his failed shot at fame. So when Billy sees his father on the front cover of a magazine declaring the return of Kryptoman, he begins to suspect that his father really is a superhero. Obviously, such a discovery entirely changes Billy’s world and his attitude to his father changes entirely.

This relationship is handled beautifully in the film. Not only is the dialogue both natural and unforced, but both Louis Iacoviello and Paul Butcher really do bring their characters to life in a way that is both witty and warm-hearted. Also deserving of a mention is Jo McGinley who, as Billy’s mother, rounds out the family unit in a way that is utterly authentical. These are characters that you can believe in, understand and very quickly come to care about.

Both the script and the acting are very strong,. On top of this, the cinematography does a great job of setting the atmosphere. Everything is crisp and bright and this, combined with a soundtrack that often seems to channel Superman, really does convey Billy’s sense of being in his very own superhero story.

I’d have been very happy to spend much more time with these characters so, in some ways, it’s a shame that the film is as short as it is. That said, the film does achieve exactly what it sets out to do, which is to take an essentially simple idea and execute it beautifully.

The Legacy is a a genuinely warm-hearted and remarkably uplifting film. It is also a superb demonstration of just how much modern independent films are able to achieve.

One of the great strengths of independent film – possibly the greatest strength – is that the lower budgets and greater creative control enjoyed by the film-makers in this sector allow for some genuinely original stories to be told. It has been a long, long time since I have seen anything as original as Road to Victory, a sports drama that deals with ambition, choices, drugs… and impotence.

The film centres on Elliot (Mike Reilly, who also wrote and directed the film), a college football player looking to turn professional. That’s American football, this being an American film. Over the course of his training Elliot meets and embarks on a relationship with Anna (Julia Anderson), an erotic dancer. He already has a problem, but it is this relationship that brings things to a head and which forms the core of the film.

Elliot is unable to maintain an erection and this, inevitably, leads to a great deal of frustration for both Elliot and Anna and a constant feeling of humiliation on the part of Elliot. Although the couple stays together, Elliot’s ’situation’, as he euphemistically describes it, puts an immense amount of pressure on their relationship even as they seek, with increasing desperation, a cure for Elliot.

The plot itself is unique and I don’t think I have seen any other film that handles the subject of impotence in such a sensitive and adult manner. Not only does the narrative unfold in a manner that is both natural and realistic, but the strength of the characterisation is also a real asset to this film. Both Elliot and Anna are exceptionally well drawn characters with whom it is easy to sympathise as they go through the highs, lows, fears and frustrations of their relationship.

Clearly they care for each other but Elliot’s feelings of humiliation cause him to withdraw into himself. This in turn leads Anna to oscillate between showing genuine tenderness towards Elliot and feeling frustrated and aggrieved at his attitude, and her frustration comes out in frequent flashes of verbal cruelty.

What really makes the film stand out, however, is the central performances from Mike Reilly and Julia Anderson who both do a superb job of bringing real depth to their characters. And it’s through these performances that you get a very real understanding of the two central characters and of the fact that neither is entirely right or entirely wrong. These are simply two people struggling to cope with a situation that would test the best of us.

Road to Victory is a powerful and genuinely moving film and one that draws you in slowly and keeps you hooked right up to the end. Although the subject matter is certainly uncomfortable, it is handled with real sensitivity and serves to address a a deeper and more universal question: Just how much would you sacrifice to achieve your dreams. And would the sacrifice be worth it?

Adapted from the HP Lovecraft story of the same name, Beyond the Wall of Sleep is a tale of murder, madness and the terrors that lie beyond the world. The story starts with the incarceration of Joe Slater (Greg Cannon) at a mental institution. Slater has been plagued by bad dreams all his life and frequently wakes up ranting and screaming. Things came to a head when, in full flow, he attacked and killed a neighbour and was subsequently arrested and committed.

While Lovecraft’s 1919 tale is told as an account from a young intern at the asylum (and one that reveals a lot more about Lovecraft’s attitude to the poor than his thoughts of possible horrors from beyond the void), writer/director, Nathan Fisher sensibly shifts the focus of the narrative onto Dr. Kaufman (Jason Finley), the man assigned to Slater’s case.

This approach adds some much needed coherence to the narrative and also leaves Finley to carry much of the film. In this, he does a remarkably good job, putting in a strong performance as the doctor desperate to learn exactly what is in Slater’s dreams and where these dreams are coming from. As tends to be the case with Lovecraft, discovering the source of Slater’s dreams also leads Kaufman to a greater revelation that is both unexpected and unwanted.

Even with the change in focus, the story is much more about atmosphere than narrative and in this respect the film-makers do a remarkably effective job. The largely black and white cinematography not only manages to create a sense of menace throughout but also makes the few splashes of colour in the film that much more striking. The soundtrack also works well to enhance the atmosphere and generate a real sense of creepiness throughout.

While there have been several attempts to film HP Lovecraft’s stories, much of what he wrote is not particularly cinematic depending, as it does, on half-seen and half-imagined terrors from beyond the void. In this case, however, Nathan Fisher has done a remarkably good job of capturing the author’s vision of half-hidden and uncaring horrors from beyond the void.

Based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce, The Moonlit Road tells of the consequences of a brutal murder and the repercussions for the husband and son of the victim. Although the events are moved to the present day, the film is a remarkably faithful adaptation of two thirds of the original story.

Bierce’s story is told as a set of three accounts and the film largely follows this structure, starting with the account of James Harland (David Aaron Thomas) who is called back from his university studies to learn that his mother has been murdered. He abandons his course and remains at home to care for his increasingly bewildered father, Edward (David Fruechting).

The second account is told in voice-over by Edward Harland (Richard Derby Attwill), now at the end of his life and looking back at the dimly remembered events of his past. This part is where the film is at its strongest. Attwill puts in a great performance which, combined with some excellent cinematography and a great location, manages to be both moving and unnerving.

In fact, the cinematography is very effective throughout as are the locations. Many of these are either outdoors or shot at night, or both, and the low lighting combined with the exceptionally eerie soundtrack works well to generate a genuinely spooky atmosphere.

The final part of the film diverges from the original story somewhat and, while the changes are understandable, they do lead to some confusion as to what is happening. In the original story, the final account is by the victim and comes from beyond the grave and it is this section of the story that does much to clarify what is happening and why.

It’s understandable that writer/director, Leor Baum has removed much of this – it would very difficult to convincing present a testimony from a medium in a modern setting. In diverging from the original, he has attempted to add another element to the narrative in the form of a young family that eventually takes over the Harlands’ house. Unfortunately these changes obscure some of the clarity of the original story and, instead, cause some of the confusion that was elegantly avoided by Bierce..

Although, at times, it is not entirely clear how the various events are linked, The Moonlit Road is a very atmospheric retelling of Ambrose Bierce’s short story. Leor Baum certainly has a very strong feel for atmosphere and a striking visual style and The Moonlit Road is a strange and strikingly effective ghost story.

Sins of the Father concludes a trilogy of films, that started with The Tenement and reached its high point in Fear of the Dark, that centre on Light & Dark Productions returning villain, the Black Rose Killer. This time around, the story follows actor, Peter Jacobs (Richard Redmond) as he returns to the town of Fairview Falls in order to uncover the truth behind his family’s murder, and to see if he can get a book out of the events.

The film certainly has its moments and, in the same way that Fear of the Dark is a very different film to The Tenement, Sins of the Father is a very different film again and one that tries to further expand the story of the Black Rose Killer. It’s a shame, therefore, that it doesn’t quite come together. Part of this is down to the fact that this is the third film in a trilogy and, for all the changes of tone and narrative, we are now too familiar with both the characters and the past events.

The structure of the narrative also works against the potential atmosphere of the film. Sins of the Father is set in 2012, fifteen years after the events shown in Fear of the Dark, and nothing else appears to have happened since. Consequently, the bulk of the film’s running time is spent looking back at past events. This leads to an over-reliance on flashbacks and these undermine both the mystery and horror elements of the film.

While Peter is seeking to establish exactly what happened all those years ago, anyone who watched Fear of the Dark already knows exactly who did what to who and when. Even without this prior knowledge, there are no real surprises along the way and the relative ease with which Peter pieces together information that was all available to the police fifteen years previously leads to a film that really doesn’t engage as a mystery.

Looking back at past events also undermines the horror/thriller elements of the film. The events being discussed – and it is a very talky film in places – all happened a long time ago and the townsfolk have done a pretty good job of putting these things behind them. There is no sense of the killer returning, just a fading actor looking to get a book out of past events. Consequently, there is no sense of danger and no real tension for much of the film’s running time.

Things do pick up in the final half hour but not enough to redeem the overall film which suffers from the fact that the story is being told largely in flashback. This leaves us knowing that the characters telling us the story are going to survive long enough to tell us the story and it is this that, ultimately, undermines much of the narrative tension.

For a slasher villain, the Black Rose Killer did have a lot of potential and this is something that was very well exploited in Fear of the Dark. It is certainly understandable that writer/director, Glen Baisley would want to expand the story and explore where the character might take us. It is also commendable that he has tried to do something original with this character rather than simply rehash what has gone before.

Unfortunately what this has demonstrated, more than anything else, is that slasher films, as a genre, are very limited narratively. I will be interested in seeing where Glen Baisley goes from here, but I do think the Black Rose Killer has outstayed his welcome.