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This movie was on my list for the past couple years, I had heard little things here or there about it, and I'm a fan of Henry Rollins, so I decided to watch it tonight. I knew it was a supernatural horror, but that was about it. The poster told me more about it than what other people said. The guy that played Warpath in X-Men Days of Future Past is a supporting character too, as is the guy that plays the villain Simon in the later seasons of The Walking Dead. But really, this is the Henry Rollins show, and that's fine by me.
Genre: Supernatural horror, drama, comedy
Director: Jason Krawczyk, David Warry-Smith
Length: 97 min
My thoughts and breakdown of the film will be in a spoiler down below in case you wanted to see it.
20 minutes in, I had no idea what was going on, other than learning a small amount about Rollins and his demeanor. He's a man that basically goes through the motions of life, and seems to live to the saying of "I'm gonna live till I die - no more, no less." It's not until a half hour into the film that you start to get a feeling that things are going to get real. Then, it does. Things go from zero to sixty real quick, and they don't slow down. Bloody, dark and violent, I was quite impressed by not only Rollins's performance, but also by the bleak but eye-opening portrayal of life and the daily grind as a whole.
It's admittedly difficult discussing this film without giving away its charms. There are some pretty significant developments and graphic scenes that I will mention in the spoilers because I didn't know anyone who had seen this, looked for threads on this on here and no one had made a separate thread about it, and don't even know how I first heard about it.
I give it an 8/10, it's a huge surprise and I'm thrilled at how much I enjoyed it. Some could find it dull, and I understand that, but I think the slow pace was important contextually. It's an odd and bloody gem that I'm happy I found.
The trailer:
Genre: Supernatural horror, drama, comedy
Director: Jason Krawczyk, David Warry-Smith
Length: 97 min
My thoughts and breakdown of the film will be in a spoiler down below in case you wanted to see it.
20 minutes in, I had no idea what was going on, other than learning a small amount about Rollins and his demeanor. He's a man that basically goes through the motions of life, and seems to live to the saying of "I'm gonna live till I die - no more, no less." It's not until a half hour into the film that you start to get a feeling that things are going to get real. Then, it does. Things go from zero to sixty real quick, and they don't slow down. Bloody, dark and violent, I was quite impressed by not only Rollins's performance, but also by the bleak but eye-opening portrayal of life and the daily grind as a whole.
It's admittedly difficult discussing this film without giving away its charms. There are some pretty significant developments and graphic scenes that I will mention in the spoilers because I didn't know anyone who had seen this, looked for threads on this on here and no one had made a separate thread about it, and don't even know how I first heard about it.
We see early on that he doesn't fear pain or bodily harm. Lately, I have been watching the show Supernatural, so I get a serious "something is wrong" vibe about him. He's not human, or at least not human anymore. The scars on his back made me immediately think of fallen angel, but whatever it is, it's not great. He seems like a drifter, probably because of his condition, that found somewhere to live and stayed there because it was comfortable. There's a scene halfway through the film where he explains to a character what he did for a living, and it's a great rundown of basically every kind of job a person could have. He's quite a jack-of-all-trades. Rollins does make a pretty great anti-hero.
Whenever he hears voices (usually because of his withdrawals), the way they mixed the sound accompanying my stereo system with voices coming from every angle, I hear and feel those voices too as if they were in my own head. That's not an admission of crazy, that's just good, effective sound editing/mixing. They were just loud enough to drone on, which added to some of the score which is also somewhat ambient drone at times.
That score, that can drone on, but actually meshes incredibly well with Rollins, as he has a very monotone and one-note performance that is well suited given his character. Other times, the score goes in a totally different direction. This film feels like a puzzle, and all of these pieces fit together into a well-executed whatever it is. Supernatural horror, drama, some even say comedy? The comedy really exposes itself in the second half of the film, and it's about as dark as it gets. His delivery really shines and amps up the funny parts.
The scene where she asks him about his past and his picture, and says "I don't believe that" to his response of "ok" was absolutely perfect for me. She counters with "how?" and he says "I dunno". She says it doesn't make sense, and he says that he didn't say it would. Brilliant. Skip all of the backstory and that stuff, it doesn't matter this far into the movie. Would we really care about learning the reason why a character is who/what he is for a film that has maybe 30 minutes left? Why waste the time? A simple few-word explanation that I won't tell you even in the spoilers is all we need, Rollins delivers it non-nonchalantly, and we move on. It's the way it's always been. Terrific.
Sometimes a movie or plot point doesn't need to be explained. It's rare, but usually it can be either because it takes too long to get there, or because it's a Macguffin element that either makes the character who they are and who they continue to be, or because it's something they need to pursue. Why does he do what he does? Because. Sometimes family matters, I guess.
If there were one takeaway, it's that the stakes aren't ever terribly high. Right when we get to know the real Jack, we're not concerned about his well-being and that he's not likely going to be in danger. Even the main villain, while he does have a solid knockoff Jack Nicholson-type performance, doesn't ever measure up as a threat to him. It's just a matter of time, and then it's over.
Whenever he hears voices (usually because of his withdrawals), the way they mixed the sound accompanying my stereo system with voices coming from every angle, I hear and feel those voices too as if they were in my own head. That's not an admission of crazy, that's just good, effective sound editing/mixing. They were just loud enough to drone on, which added to some of the score which is also somewhat ambient drone at times.
That score, that can drone on, but actually meshes incredibly well with Rollins, as he has a very monotone and one-note performance that is well suited given his character. Other times, the score goes in a totally different direction. This film feels like a puzzle, and all of these pieces fit together into a well-executed whatever it is. Supernatural horror, drama, some even say comedy? The comedy really exposes itself in the second half of the film, and it's about as dark as it gets. His delivery really shines and amps up the funny parts.
The scene where she asks him about his past and his picture, and says "I don't believe that" to his response of "ok" was absolutely perfect for me. She counters with "how?" and he says "I dunno". She says it doesn't make sense, and he says that he didn't say it would. Brilliant. Skip all of the backstory and that stuff, it doesn't matter this far into the movie. Would we really care about learning the reason why a character is who/what he is for a film that has maybe 30 minutes left? Why waste the time? A simple few-word explanation that I won't tell you even in the spoilers is all we need, Rollins delivers it non-nonchalantly, and we move on. It's the way it's always been. Terrific.
Sometimes a movie or plot point doesn't need to be explained. It's rare, but usually it can be either because it takes too long to get there, or because it's a Macguffin element that either makes the character who they are and who they continue to be, or because it's something they need to pursue. Why does he do what he does? Because. Sometimes family matters, I guess.
If there were one takeaway, it's that the stakes aren't ever terribly high. Right when we get to know the real Jack, we're not concerned about his well-being and that he's not likely going to be in danger. Even the main villain, while he does have a solid knockoff Jack Nicholson-type performance, doesn't ever measure up as a threat to him. It's just a matter of time, and then it's over.
I give it an 8/10, it's a huge surprise and I'm thrilled at how much I enjoyed it. Some could find it dull, and I understand that, but I think the slow pace was important contextually. It's an odd and bloody gem that I'm happy I found.
The trailer:
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