The Deed to Hell
The Deed to Hell certainly starts strongly with a man – riddled with bullet holes – staggering into a tattoo parlour. We soon learn that the man (Frank Franconeri) is called Andy and that this unlucky would-be robber has been the victim of the double-crossing Sal (Glenn Andreiev).
Andy isn’t the only person who has been double-crossed by Sal and, recognising that it’s time to get out, he leaves the country, heading for Europe. On the plane he meets Lynell (Shawna Bermender) who is heading to Paris in the hope of meeting touring rocker Zad Zolock (James Ian Rankin).
Lynell, we later learn, is having an affair with Vince (Roy Frumkes), the hen-pecked husband of harridan Anna (Wendy Marquez), a woman for whom keeping up with the Joneses is less of an obsession than it is a religion.
Rather than being a single linear narrative, The Deed to Hell gives us three interlinked stories all of which revolve around the same characters and themes. This approach is remarkably effective, primarily because of the script.
This is a very well plotted film in which the various narrative strands hold up very well, both as individual stories and as part of the overarching plot. Although there are a few jarring moments, these stories do fit together in a nicely consistent manner and connect to each other in a way that feels reasonably unforced.
It also helps, of course, that where it matters the acting is consistently reliable. Shawna Bermender puts in a very strong lead performance and Wendy Marquez’ does a great turn as the materialistic mother who can’t see how destructive her Behaviour is.
Also worth a mention is Frank Franconeri who, although he spends much of the film in a hospital bed, manages to bring real depth to his character – the first to have seen a glimpse of what lies beyond. And it isn’t pretty. Unfortunately, this brings me to the one real weakness of the film.
Although pitched as a horror film, The Deed to Hell is more a cross between a crime film and a dysfunctional family drama with some horror/fantasy elements thrown in. The problem here is that the horror elements jar a bit with the rest of the film and feel more like a religiously inspired addendum than an integral part of the plot.
That said, Glenn Andreiev has made a very ambitious film and one that does intelligently address some genuinely interesting themes of revenge, redemption, pride, avarice and the way in which our actions can cave unintended consequences for those around us.
This is the second of Andreiev’s films that I have seen and he is clearly improving as a filmmaker. The Deed to Hell is worth checking out if you get the chance, but I think his next film could be well worth looking forward to.
Wednesday 09 Apr 2008 | Paul Pritchard | Crime, Drama, Horror
