Below Zero (2011)
Directed by Justin Thomas Ostensen
Furlong (Jack) sitting at laptop getting upset by the typewriter sounds he's hearing.
About a writer, Jack (Edward Furlong), who gets locked in a walk-in meat freezer in the boonies at the orders of his agent. He's supposed to be locked up for 5 days to help him get out of his writer's block funk. He sort of describes his writing methods as method writing (a play on the term method acting) so his involvement in his story of course leads his imagination of absorb him completely in some Inception-type action. He's in this disabled meat locker at a chicken-killing house, complete with meat grinder, meat hooks, and electric bath. Great fuel for a story right? So he type, but then his laptop is mysteriously replaced with a typewriter in his sleep. His ideas he writes and the film gets lived out in his vivid imagination. He writes himself in and kind of breaks the fourth wall doing so. I know this is a pretty weak description but it's a film about a writer writing a film, who gets sucked into his idea about a writer sucked into a writer writer a film so it's wiggly. As a character Jack goes between being him and a Frank, the enigmatic missing husband of the woman's chicken slaughter house he's staying at.
Anyway, the woman whose property he's being locked up at and her son come back (whether it's been 5 days or a night isn't clear) for Jack. In Jack's mind a million crazy things have happened in the time he's been in his room. But the main one being he's decided not to write. Instead Jack the Hack takes the girl's manuscript, which she left with him to try to get some feedback, planning to claim it as his own. When the girl comes in to give him coffee he steps out and closes her in the freezer, takes her son, and leaves her for dead.
This film got my interest because Edward Furlong stars in it. I like that he is a great actor that dabbles in drama and b-movies. I enjoyed him in American History X and Arachnoquake XD
In spite of my superficial reasoning, I was pleased with the film. It's got pretty bad ratings on IMDB, but it wasn't as bad as IMDB claims. It was definitely... different.
The editing is kind of second rate for the firs third of the film. There's a lot of little inconsistencies between camera angles and you notice em with some scenes cutting from one angle to the other. I really also hate that Jack's friend is eating when he get's the message from Jack that says he's in trouble. The friend calls the number back and mentions how his friend called and he's fracking eating?! What kind of friend is that? His homie has been missing for hours and he's just eating. Then the friend somehow finds the place with the phone number and ends up dying for Jack. Weird relationship... 'I'll die for you but I gotta finish this slice first.'
However Michael Berryman and Edward Furlong are in it so I forgive. Berryman is an amazing actor who has been in a good chunk of anything you've seen—The Lords of Salem, The Devil's Rejects, The Crow (2005), Spy Hard, The Crow, Tales from the Crypt, Star Trek IV and V, and tons more. He's got an amazing face. It's crazy awesomely distinct and riddled with amazing wrinkles and creases. The tight shots on him in the movie looked great.
Just look at those amazing features! On screen is where Berryman belongs. Thank you, Mr. Berryman, for being so awesome!
Directed by Justin Thomas Ostensen
About a writer, Jack (Edward Furlong), who gets locked in a walk-in meat freezer in the boonies at the orders of his agent. He's supposed to be locked up for 5 days to help him get out of his writer's block funk. He sort of describes his writing methods as method writing (a play on the term method acting) so his involvement in his story of course leads his imagination of absorb him completely in some Inception-type action. He's in this disabled meat locker at a chicken-killing house, complete with meat grinder, meat hooks, and electric bath. Great fuel for a story right? So he type, but then his laptop is mysteriously replaced with a typewriter in his sleep. His ideas he writes and the film gets lived out in his vivid imagination. He writes himself in and kind of breaks the fourth wall doing so. I know this is a pretty weak description but it's a film about a writer writing a film, who gets sucked into his idea about a writer sucked into a writer writer a film so it's wiggly. As a character Jack goes between being him and a Frank, the enigmatic missing husband of the woman's chicken slaughter house he's staying at.
Anyway, the woman whose property he's being locked up at and her son come back (whether it's been 5 days or a night isn't clear) for Jack. In Jack's mind a million crazy things have happened in the time he's been in his room. But the main one being he's decided not to write. Instead Jack the Hack takes the girl's manuscript, which she left with him to try to get some feedback, planning to claim it as his own. When the girl comes in to give him coffee he steps out and closes her in the freezer, takes her son, and leaves her for dead.
This film got my interest because Edward Furlong stars in it. I like that he is a great actor that dabbles in drama and b-movies. I enjoyed him in American History X and Arachnoquake XD
In spite of my superficial reasoning, I was pleased with the film. It's got pretty bad ratings on IMDB, but it wasn't as bad as IMDB claims. It was definitely... different.
The editing is kind of second rate for the firs third of the film. There's a lot of little inconsistencies between camera angles and you notice em with some scenes cutting from one angle to the other. I really also hate that Jack's friend is eating when he get's the message from Jack that says he's in trouble. The friend calls the number back and mentions how his friend called and he's fracking eating?! What kind of friend is that? His homie has been missing for hours and he's just eating. Then the friend somehow finds the place with the phone number and ends up dying for Jack. Weird relationship... 'I'll die for you but I gotta finish this slice first.'
However Michael Berryman and Edward Furlong are in it so I forgive. Berryman is an amazing actor who has been in a good chunk of anything you've seen—The Lords of Salem, The Devil's Rejects, The Crow (2005), Spy Hard, The Crow, Tales from the Crypt, Star Trek IV and V, and tons more. He's got an amazing face. It's crazy awesomely distinct and riddled with amazing wrinkles and creases. The tight shots on him in the movie looked great.
No comments:
Post a Comment