DIRECTOR’S CUT
**
Directed by Don Capria.
Starring Louis Lombardi, Tyler Ivey, Danielle Kotch.
Horror, US, 90 minutes, Certificate TBC.
Released in the US on 31st October by Screenbound International Pictures. UK release TBC
Say what you will about the slasher genre but at the least you can’t attack it for its prolific nature. From mystery driven pieces such as Mario Bava’s BAY OF BLOOD or Dario Argento’s TENEBRAE to the boogeyman driven likes of FRIDAY THE 13TH and the recent TERRIFIER series, it is this malleability that makes the genre so attractive to fans as well as burgeoning filmmakers usually attracted by the low production costs and high profit margins.
It could be argued that all you need to make a slasher film is a good location and a cast of victims, ready to be disposed of in whatever way imaginable. For his debut feature, Don Capria certainly has these two aspects locked in place and for the most part achieves something of more interest than your usual run of the mill low budget flick.
Purportedly telling the true story of rock band The Suicide Disease, a group of struggling artists struggling to stay together as they search for that elusive big break. They find themselves invited by a mysterious director who offers to shoot a music video for free. With cash running low, the band, consisting of vocalist Jay, drummer Juan, bass player Menace and guitarist John hop in their van to travel to the remote location of a vast crumbling mansion. Once there they meet their mysterious director, a wheelchair bound fellow who genially refers to himself as Mr. Director and his quiet but definitely not shy assistant Babs.
It soon becomes apparent that Mr Director is a very exacting and demanding artist who will go to punishing lengths to capture his vision. Why he has chosen this particular group, with all their inter-band issues, soon becomes apparent as his working methods become more and more alarming and The Suicide Disease unwittingly find their own lives in danger.
This is a film that takes its time, which may be too slow for an audience expecting something more full-on. Capria however has a good handle on his characters, managing to breathe more life into them than you would expect of a film of this ilk. By making his characters more sympathetic and interesting, it shows Capria’s skills as a writer and director, eliciting strong performances from his unknown but talented cast. What is also impressive is the convincing detail and interplay he brings to the lives of his unsigned band.
When the film shifts into horror, well after an hour, it rushes through what will have attracted its audience to the film in the first place. There is a motive at play here that seems quite obvious when paying attention yet also frustratingly underwritten, leaving the viewer slightly in the dark as to the exact reason why this is all happening. This leads to one unexplained plot strand and an ending that brings the film to an unceremonious and sudden stop.
Even with its languorous pacing there is much here to suggest that Capria is capable of achieving something more successful in the future if he focuses more on sticking the landing as much as he has with his keenly observed character work. It may not pull in a major audience but patient audiences, and genre completists, who like to see this particular genre stretched out in interesting ways may find something worthy within.
Iain MacLeod
