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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
FOR INSANE COLLECTORS ONLY, January 13, 2006
This review is from: Psychotic Tendencies: The Stranger/Mole/Jack's Habit/Nightmare (DVD)
Well, what should I begin with?.. I think we can't discuss movies presented here in terms of normal filmmaking, because all of them are obviously amateur and least to say rather weak. It seems to me they all are kind of student works, maybe they really are, I'm not sure of it. From this point of view Brentwood Home Video did a nice thing and let us get acquainted with flicks we would normally never see, because they would never get wide DVD-release at any studio. As I understand, it is Brentwood's strategy - just check their 4 movie sets or 10 movie sets. So their desire to popularize unknown films is meritorious, these pictures can be rather interesting for cinema-maniacs and persons loving underground films. But to say the truth most of them are just pitiful. Here we have four little indie projects:
"THE STRANGER": A movie by and starring Scott Crowell, about a drifter who calls himself "Nobody" and roams the roads of America philosophizing about our existence's eternal questions. But the main problem of the movie is that it's overly pretentious. The guy tells us copybook maxims and nothing that we don't know of already. It reminded me of Richard Bach's books which are trying to seem something more than they really are. "Nobody" tells us he'd like to create a magnum opus - his own "Moby Dick", "Sgt.Pepper" or "Citizen Kane", and in these words I can only see Scott Crowell's intent to create HIS own magnum opus. And this intent usually gives away a tootler, a graphomaniac. Unfortunately this movie is nothing more than an ambitious apology.
"MOLE": The only more or less worthy film in this box tells a story of a reporter who wants to make a material on subway dwellers - moles (those are people who were born underground and never saw the light). The only way for her to do it is to explore the depths of New York City subway herself. Some moments of the movie are pretty creepy but I permanently got a feeling it's too slow-paced. The cover says "Mole's" length is 70 minutes, in reality it's 50-something minutes and still I sometimes was bored. More action for this kind of a flick!
"JACK'S HABIT": The only thing I liked here was the acting. The characters are rather believable, actors did a very nice job especially Alec Rossel who also has written and directed this film. And in these fields he failed totally. The story of a guy who kills all the girls he finds himself in bed with is old and ineffective. The directing is horrendous, seems like the guy doesn't know where to put a camera and what duration a scene should be so that viewers wouldn't die of boredom. The technical aspects are just unspeakable: the whole thing is shot on video I guess, and there were no such thing as post-production sound recording, all the dialogs were recorded with a boom or even with a camcorder mike, hence half of them are totally indistinct. But I repeat, Alec Rossel has a huge potential as an actor, in the hospital scenes he was great as a doctor, I had a feeling I was watching a documentary.
"NIGHTMARE": Terrible movie on the same old story - people are being killed in a small town one by one, and everybody starts to suspect a wrong man. I'm happy I somehow survived this mess. The movie is terrible, it has nothing to offer, besides the image quality is absolutely awful - seems like the film was transferred from a VHS copy which was re-recorded three times before that.
This edition also contains a 22-minute horror short "CUT" and it's rather amuzing, though predictable. Guess my second star to "Psychotic Tendencies" was for "Cut" in particular and for what "Mole" tried to be. And maybe for Brentwood's effort to give film-freaks something unusual, some afters. Nice try!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DVD includes the Tabloid Witch Award winning MOLE., January 7, 2006
This review is from: Psychotic Tendencies: The Stranger/Mole/Jack's Habit/Nightmare (DVD)
This DVD set includes four films, including MOLE.
MOLE is noteworthy because it won three Tabloid Witch Awards in 2005. Best Horror Feature Film (Rich Mauro & Anthony Savini), Best Actress (Sam Tsao), and Best Supporting Actor (James Cox). The Tabloid Witch Awards are sponsored by the Hollywood Investigator, and were presented in November 2005 at Loscon 32, a Los Angeles-based science fiction convention.
MOLE seems inspired by THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, but stands on its own. MOLE is about the homeless (and sometimes psychotic) people who live in New York City's abandoned subway tunnels. The film plays upon the urban legend of "mole people" -- people reputedly born underground and living their whole lives underground (what would such people evolve into? the film asks).
In MOLE, an ambitious TV reporter leads two people (her cameraman and a guide) into New York's abandoned subway tunnels, seeking to interview the homeless people who live there. Some homeless men tell this reporter and her crew about the legend of "mole people" -- and soon thereafter these TV people get lost in the tunnels and are forced to confront the reality of "mole people" and their own fears and prejudices.
MOLE was actually shot in some of New York's abandoned subway tunnels -- a great example of "guerilla filmmaking."
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2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy this DVD to see the hard to find indie jewel STRANGER!!, May 28, 2005
This review is from: Psychotic Tendencies: The Stranger/Mole/Jack's Habit/Nightmare (DVD)
Although this is a 4 pack DVD set, it's well worth the purchase just to get your hands on the cult indie hit STRANGER.
This critically acclaimed dark little jewel is one of those sleepers that not a lot of people know about. Hopefully, that's about to change.
STRANGER chronicles the surreal journey of a no-named homeless drifter who meanders the back alleys, mean streets and lonely highways of this chaotic universe known as America.
Along the way, we get an in depth character study of the man and the manic mazes of his mind, and it ain't pretty folks!
Each frame is an angst splattered canvas of urban grit and grime, seedy bums, rednecks, kinky prostitutes, and well, you get the picture.
It's a seamless shadow world where every mundane highway sign is rich with metaphor, every frame filled with archetypal images that are as heavy with symbolism as they are with smoky hipster cool.
In one scene, the Stranger takes a whiz in an adult bookstore parking lot as a train zips by, a tattered American flag flapping in the background, and police siren screaming in the distance. It would take a 'Social history of American cinema' class half a semester to analyze that scene. And look out for a left turn ending that'll keep you watching this one over and over for years to come.
STRANGER is more than a shock schlock movie. There's more to it than the usual blood and guts shock cinema fare, but it's just as visceral and compelling in it's own jagged way. STRANGER is a thought-provoking, often disturbing and visually stunning piece of art... all be it a sick, twisted piece of art.
The critics seemed to agree:
"Aces! A great film." John Pierson - Indie Film Guru
"Humorous and disturbing. Subversive. Creates an effect that's hard to shake." NASHVILLE SCENE
"Epic and inspired." BIJOU FLIX
"Bile dipped celluloid." FILM THREAT
"A psychotic mix of Jarmusch and Bukowski." SHOCK CINEMA
"Enthralling! Expressive and accomplished filmmaking."
Amy Taubin - VILLAGE VOICE
I strongly suggest you purchase this 4 pack and experience STRANGER for yourself. It's the only way you'll get to see this piece of hard candy... anywhere. Warning: Not for the squeamish!!
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