Swift shot: Fans of gory slasher exploitation films will line up for this one, might gather a cult audience, but mainstream cinema – this aint. Still, there was a raw intensity to the overall product that kept intriguing me. Give these film-makers a real budget to work with, and something tells me this film would be much better. The editing was my biggest complaint, at times I could understand the essence of what was being communicated, but the overall message was fuzzy and lacking focus – like a lot of the stylized shots.
I get it, this is a nod to the classic blood bath slasher films of the 70s, but using a real life menace to society, a little Romero veritas if you will permit. Taken in that vein (excuse the pun) it accomplishes the mission, but it isn’t entertaining, at least I didn’t find it that entertaining. It’s basically a play by play of the crimes of one sick puppy, Danny Rolling – who terrorized Gainesville area residents in 1990. Zachary Memos plays the dual role of Danny/Gemini – who may or may not have existed in Rolling’s mind.
Mr. Everything (Josh Townshend) shot, cut, directed, probably bled this film out of his wrists onto the silver screen for your enjoyment. But, that is what kept bothering me, should you enjoy this film? I’m still torn on that, because I really enjoyed the special effects on the murder scenes – but, I keep coming back to these were real victims. I was the one guy in high school who used to leave a party when my friends broke out the Faces of Death VHS tapes. I never felt right watching genuine end of life, taking a life, even a scumbag like Rolling, means something. So, to sit with my idiot friends talking about girls, eating pizza and watching some guy get set on fire while imprisoned in tires was not, and still is not, my thing. I prefer fiction, but I will give Josh credit for bringing some of the harsh ugliness this world usually keeps under a rock, with all the slimy things that you shouldn’t play with, to the forefront.
This film has a lot of potential, but gore alone cannot justify butts in seats. The character development is essential when you are telling a real story, and going back to Fiona Slater’s review, here, the scenes showing the tension in Gainesville needed more emphasis. And, the reach out and can’t touch someone sequence, cut it altogether, or make it more obvious that these were parents trying to call their kids, students at UF. I liked the artsy quality to the film, but it was a bit overdone, like the newscast all choppy and fuzzy, was that a metaphor for something I missed? Gainesville was not fuzzy during that time, they as a community were lethal, feral, shooting at anything that bumped in the night – chaos defined.
And, again, to allude to Slater’s review, what made Rolling so elusive was his attention to detail when cleaning the crime scenes, and yes, staging the bodies made him somewhat unique in the annals of true crime serial killers. With the excellent makeup and effects Townshend had at his disposal, this is where his strengths really lie, because those stabs looked and even felt real, kudos for that.
Overall, if you enjoy slasher films, wait til this is on DVD and just fast-forward to all the gory parts. If you like true crime dramas, you aren’t going to be sucked into the characters, which usually is key to any good crime flick. I don’t want to rip on everything in the film though, because there were moments were Memos truly became Rolling/Gemini – he just wasn’t consistent in his performance. Putting yourself in the victim’s shoes, or bed sheets, will effectively make your skin crawl – even one burly guy is dispatched by waking up with a friggin Ka-Bar jabbed into his chest. It gives a whole new meaning to rude awakening. I think Townshend will be a director to watch in the next few years, if he can get the interest of a decent studio with a solid budget, he can make a good film. But this first attempt falls well short of “good” – but indie junkies might disagree.
Incidentally, if you want to see the craziest interview, our very own H-Man interviewed Mr. Everything, Josh Townshend, here.
