This film is independent in every sense of the word. Can you imagine
shooting a feature film entirely on a single Hi8 camera for a budget of
no more than $7000.00. Well that is what director Mike Prosser has managed
to do in this film. The film is available to purchase over the internet
at www.dolphinative.com and is well worth the price. I will take you on
a short road trip of the story, Prosser's style, my favorite sequence,
characters and the context of viewing the film.
The film opens on a bank heist. The four guys taking down the bank are
Dean, Peter, Josh and Zack. They elude the police and head for the Canadian
border, which is when they have car trouble. After a Dream sequence/"possum"
jumps in front of the car Josh crashes it. Josh's dreams begin at this
point in the film,we slowly find out about his haunted past. The four guys
leave the wreck in search of a phone booth, as they walk the road a car
drives up beside them, Al the driver gives them a lift to house with a
phone. The House is owned by the GATES family. After entering the house
the the tensions between the four rise and the The Dividing Hour moves
closer as Josh's dreams begin to amalgamate with reality. To tell you how
this film ends is the equivalent to scratching out someone's eyes with
rusty nails. It needs to be seen to be believed.
As confessed in an Interview on http://come.to/horrorfansanon Mike Prosser
is a fan of Sam Raimi, David Cronenberg, Clive Barker and John Carpenters
(earlier work.). The setting is very reminiscent of "Evil Dead"
the computer renovated 2 story to single story house made for the resemblance.
Also the attention drawn to the clocks was very Raimi in it's essence.
The way that the films scares come from within and projected external or
internally is something I associate with the Hellraiser films. The film
also plays on an extremely empty vastness of nothing without being stark,
which is something I'd put down to Cronenberg. With suspense that builds
in the background of the frame and out of the corner of your eye as it
does in Carpenter's earlier work. Not only these influences were present,
but there were also some very David Lynch characterization. The somehow
"another" America shone throughout the film. The movie seemed
to live in an American reality that is seldom shown or glorified. But essentially
what is noticeable most about Prosser's direction is his ability to trap
the films characters in URBANOIA hell as Carol J. Clover might call it.
Okay what sequence did I get the biggest buzz from. After viewing previews
from the web page I was expecting it to be hard to better the opening sequence
and subsquent robbery. But the truth of it was that I found myself, beside
myself while watching the dream sequence where Josh is a public toilet
cubicle conducting his secret business (not to give it away) while all
the toilet doors to the right of his are being kicked open, one by one,
the camera stays focused on Josh the whole time and I swear I did not breathe
until the door of Josh's cubicle swung open.
The four main characters were split down the middle with Peter (Brad
Goodman) and Dean (Greg James), and the two brothers Josh (Mike Prosser)
and Zack (Brian Prosser). Peter and Dean appear straight off to have a
long past together and the brotherly love thing is present between Zack
and Josh from the shaving scene on. The development of Zack seemed to dry
after he arrived at the house, he remained at that premature moment of
brother. Dean and Peter began to show their love hate relationship particularly
verbalized in Dean's monologue to Lewis Gates (Max Yoakum). The character
of Lewis evolves around mainly the action about him as he is a deaf, blind,
mute. Lewis's daughter Dawn (Jillian Hodges) plays up the country girl
image while remaining passive physically and persuasive mentally. The character
of Al (Jay Randall Horenstein) when on screen plays up an all American
good boy image. Essentially at the end of the film the characters have
to fit into one of three categories and by the end of the climax of the
film they arrive there.
As for the context of viewing this. Well I received the tape from Mike
Prosser and was unable to get the NTSC function to work on my VCR. So I
took it into to watch on the Griffith University Library Machines and had
to wear the headphones and keep my verbal reactions to a minimum. Nothing
interfered with the viewing of the film as I had completed my final exam
for this semester minutes before.
But the film still cast an "A" class shadow of Hollywood.
, 1998-1999.