Director Dempsey Tillman makes his mark with the supernatural short film Collector, which features Brad Renfro in his final role.

Background

Dempsey Tillman’s directorial debut, Collector is a haunting film of a man seemingly lost and alone, who wages a battle with himself and the forces of good and evil. Screened in over 40 film festivals, the short film has garnered 20 awards, including seven “Best Short Film” awards, two “Best Director” awards, “Best Cinematography,” “Best Sound Design” and four “Awards of Excellence.” Never before released to the public, the film, which also stars Matthew Boylan, will be available for download and on DVD on www.indieflix.com starting July 20, 2010.

Tillman says that Brad Renfro was driven to take part in the project because he felt he had a connection to the story and to the character. He wanted the opportunity to express a small part of himself through “Justin”. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the film will go to benefit D.A.R.E. at the Knoxville Police Department, which educates teens about the dangers of drug abuse. It was a cause close to Renfro’s heart, and where he was discovered as a young actor.

Collector is the basis for another of Dempsey’s next feature film project, The Almighty. A supernatural genre-crossing film also written by Dempsey, The Almighty tells the tale of a faithless man, Oscar Renfro, who is gifted with the ability to tear demons from the possessed. The movie combines the same cutting edge of the seat special effects briefly glimpsed in Collector and will be shot in 3-D. The lead character of Oscar was named in honor of Brad.

For more information about Collector, go to the Facebook Page.

Review by Bill Gordon

Dempsey Tillman

One of a growing number of young African American directors changing the field of filmmaking, Dempsey has worked with Hollywood’s most respected and successful directors, including Sam Raimi, Robert Redford, Rob Reiner, Antoine Fuqua, and Justin Lin among others. Said Grant Curtis, producer of the Spider Man franchise, “Collector showcases Dempsey’s ability to craft a story, direct actors, create an aesthetic, and ultimately deliver an experience that connects with an audience.”

Tillman, considered one of the top Video Assist men in Hollywood, is also credited with additional photography for 2009′s Land of the Lost plus un-credited re-shoot work on Rumor Has It and Dude, Where’s My Car. His talent also caught the eye of NBC Universal Studios through the Short Cuts Film Festival, and the Syfy channel, which resulted in a directing assignment. A native of Michigan, he has worked on over 30 blockbuster films.

The remake of 1978′s Piranha is coming in August 27 2010, and it’s coming in 3D.

Watch the trailer:

Piranha 3D is directed by Alexandre Aja, the man behind High Tension, Mirrors (the remake of Into the Mirror), and the remake The Hills Have Eyes. The movie also has an interesting cast, including Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd (Hey, it’s a Back to the Future party!), Richard Dreyfuss, Eli Roth, Dina Meyer, Ving Rhames, Jerry O’Connell, and Steven R. McQueen (Steve McQueen’s grandson).

Girls Gone Wild, Lake Havasu

Boobs and Blood? We'll be there!

The film was filmed in Lake Havasu, Arizona, which HFZ editor Bill G. has been to and he can vouch for being oppressively hot. He did go in the water there but saw no piranhas. Lots of RVs though.

Alien 3 Homage?

Below (2002)
Director: David Twohy
Starring: Matthew Davis, Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams, Holt McCallany, Scott Foley, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Chinlund

(out of 4)

OK, tell me the lottery numbers!

WARNING: Slight spoilers ahead

Below takes place during World War II, on an American submarine. Now, I tend to enjoy these kind of claustrophobic sea movies anyway (I’m a big fan of The Hunt for Red October), but I found Below to be a well-executed ghost story that manages to successfully balance a war-time drama/mystery with a supernatural haunted-house-style plot. Directed by David Twohy, who also gave us The Arrival, Pitch Black, and Chronicles of Riddick, the film works as a tragedy and gets a great performance from Bruce Greenwood. It also helps that Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) lent his writing talents to the project.

Captain Brice (Greenwood) picks up British survivors from a U-Boat attack and brings them on board the USS Tiger Shark. One of the survivors is a female nurse, Claire (Olivia Williams) whose presence obviously stirs up the crew in ways that she doesn’t appreciate. In one of the few scenes of comedy, the camera takes us through the ship as on crew member tells another about the “skirt” on board, which covers lots of variations on the word “female”, from “bazooomba” to “bleeder.” The scene works as both an introduction to the crew and a ship walk-through, not to mention making the crew out to be a threatening bunch (and these are the heroes). Fortunately, and in the movie’s favor, the possibility of an assault on the sole female by a crew who have been on a sub too long is discarded in favor of turning Claire into a competent detective, as she unravels the multitude of secrets held by the top officers on the vessel.

Well, he definitely needs a lot of dental work.

One of the secrets is that the original skipper – Captain Winters – was killed, the victim of a head injury and subsequent drowning. Then Claire learns of the incident where the crew fired on a U-Boat, killing the German crew. Things get hairy quickly as an enemy ship comes after the Tiger Shark, using depth charges and even grappling hooks. It soon becomes a game of hide-and-seek, but odd events start occurring that give the Americans a big handicap. There’s the strange noises, the inexplicable tendency for a Benny Goodman record start playing for no reason, the rudders locking up, and disembodied voices pleading to “go back.” But go back where? Claire goes snooping around and realizes that people are hiding things about where the ship has been, who they previously attacked, and what really happened to Captain Winters.

Below reminded me a little of Asian horror cinema’s penchant for comfortably fitting the real-life world alongside the spirit world. Its ghost is not the main antagonist, especially if you consider that it’s just trying to put things right from a karmic perspective. The reasons for the haunting are traced back to an unspeakable crime that is hinted at by the short scene involving Claire’s discovery of a copy of Macbeth inside the captain’s quarters. Another not-so-subtle hint comes from Wally’s (an amusing Zach Galifianakis) speeches about maledictions and their need to be satisfied – in this case, the captain needing to go down with the ship. I particularly enjoyed one crew member’s theory about the haunting – that everybody was already dead – something I detected as a slight jab towards recent horror’s tendency to keep following M. Night Shyamalan around.

Well... tell us the lottery numbers!

The main weakness of the film lies in the numerous jump-scares that are ubiquitous in stuff like this. It’s like there’s an unwritten rule in modern horror to have a character or image suddenly burst into frame accompanied by a loud sound effect. So while Below avoids one horror cliche, it embraces another, but it didn’t need them anyway – the most effective sequences in the movie are the quiet ones, like the sudden death accompanied by burning hydrogen – something that happens with a whisper, not a bang, and the collective breath-holding during an attack when a depth charge slowly bounces across the hull.

One thing that didn’t bother me was the deviation from the historical accuracy of WW2 equipment and warfare. Not being in the Navy myself, I found out afterwards that there are some factual errors and anachronisms. (The biggest complaint I have read is that the sub is way too big). In retrospect, I still say it’s no big deal – this is mostly a mystery and ghost story, not a war film. I was willing to put aside the belief that the sub would emerge intact after so many charges blowing up around it, and that the scuba gear used in the film was probably not available at the time, etc. But if you are looking for a realistic period-piece/submarine-drama, you should be checking out Das Boot. Otherwise, this is a skillful exercise about a boat with a curse, and it has a nice poetic final scene. I’m happy to see a ghost movie where the spirits make their move in more subtle ways – watching disembodied entities throwing people around rooms is just damn goofy.

- Bill Gordon

This is why barbecue grills are not allowed on Navy vessels.

Event Horizon (1997) 1/2  (out of 4)
Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jack Noseworthy, Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee, Peter Marinker, Holley Chant

Pandorum (2009) (out of 4)
Directed by: Christian Alvart
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue, Cung Le, Eddie Rouse, Norman Reedus, Andre Hennicke

He just saw Sex in the City 2

WARNING: SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD

Space horror amuses me so; it’s a perfect geek genre – a sci-fi/horror crossing that works wonders when Ridley Scott does it, but usually has mixed results otherwise. I don’t care – I enjoy most of them, from the inspired look of Bava’s Planet of the Vampires to the sleazy lunacy of Galaxy Of Terror. Lots of these flicks are fond of using their protagonists’ fears against them, which either proves that even in space man’s worst enemy is himself, or that most filmmakers just aren’t imaginative enough to think up a good alien monster. Event Horizon is Paul W. S. Anderson’s little foray into the evil dark corners of space and the mind of man, stealing a little bit from Forbidden Planet with a plot about manifestations of evil taken from your head. But Anderson wants to keep vague the forces behind it; the few glimpses we see seem to suggest Clive Barker’s interpretation of hell, which leads to my biggest complaint of the film – there’s too much cheese and not enough hell. Not to mention the fact that the flick steals from every movie imaginable.

Here, have some eye candy.

We start off with the crew of the Lewis and Clark, a rescue ship in the 21st century, sent out to meet up with the Event Horizon, a ship that disappeared 7 years before but has now magically appeared around Neptune. On board is the rescue crew led by Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) along with Dr. Weir (Sam Neill) who explains to everyone that the Event Horizon’s true mission was to test a special engine which opens up a wormhole to travel from one point in space to another instantaneously. Weir’s explanation isn’t that hard to figure out, but it’s way over the heads of our interstellar grunts who, like the marines in Aliens, are just there to kick some ass, sir. Speaking of aliens, the interior of the Lewis and Clark looks suspiciously like that of the Nostromo from the first Alien film, while a coming-out-of-hibernation scene feels like the second. Expect to see more references to other films, including Solaris, The Shining, and Hellraiser.

Forced visions of Matrix: Revolutions

Once our crew reaches the Event Horizon, they discover an empty ship, like a “tomb” as Captain Miller exclaims. Then, suddenly, the ship’s gravity drive (which looks like a combination of a Stargate and a gyroscope) opens up, sucking poor Ensign Justin (Jack Noseworthy) into its dark void and sending out a shock wave that damages the Lewis and Clark. Justin is retrieved, but he’s in a semi-catatonic state, sometimes mumbling about “the dark inside.” Justin wakes up just long enough to try suicide by blasting himself out of an airlock, rendering him a bloody mess, but he’s rescued by Miller before whatever is supposed to happen to an unprotected person in the vacuum of space happens. Soon after this incident, strange things start happening on the ship. People start hallucinating things, seeing people from their past, hearing voices, etc. The ship itself seems to be alive. One crew member suggests that when the Event Horizon made its first journey through the artificial-wormhole, it entered another dimension, and it brought back a “piece” of that dimension with it. You might be thinking of the Overlook hotel in The Shining, and after a scene with flowing blood, you’ll definitely be thinking of it.

The incorrect way to use a Stargate.

Things get weirder when they discover a recording of Event Horizon’s crew killing themselves in a crazed blood orgy shortly after taking their first trip through a singularity. Then Dr. Weir sees his naked, eye-less wife, who causes him to tear out his own eyes. From that point on, Weir is changed into some kind of powerful, supernatural being, who wants to take the ship and every one on it back to the “chaos” dimension. The best bit in the movie is also the most disturbing, as Weir forces a vision on Miller of his crew being tortured in the chaos dimension, a very close approximation of Hell. Here, we see that the film’s real heart belongs to Lovecraft; Hell is determined to be a very real place outside the boundaries of our universe, an alternate dimension of chaos where all hope is abandoned. (See From Beyond for something similar.)

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do...

OK, so the movie isn’t original (checkout that Carrie ending!), but at least Event Horizon has enough sense to look to the Cthulu mythos for some inspiration, even if it is only touched upon slightly. It’s too bad that much of the movie dwells in cheese – from the extremely corny dialogue to the comic relief character (Richard T. Jones) to Anderson’s by-the-numbers direction and use of techno soundtrack. (In his defense, this is probably his best film). I gather that the studio didn’t like the excessive gore or the disturbing realities of a Lovecraftian hell, which is why much of the movie’s nasty stuff has been trimmed, and the extra scenes regrettably lost. But Event Horizon is still better than it has any right to be, and I consider it a somewhat guilty pleasure.

Fine, young mutant cannibals

After the Resident Evil stuff, which has proven quite lucrative for Anderson (a fourth movie is coming out this year), he managed to take his producer skills to 2009′s Pandorum, which is similar to Event Horizon in a lot of ways, but also a smarter, more professional looking film. The Dr. Weir role – a protagonist turned antagonist – is played this time around by Dennis Quaid. Like the beginning of Event Horizon, Pandorum‘s opening titles set the tone – in this case, the 22nd century is truly dystopic, as Earth’s population has ballooned far beyond the capacity of its resources. A sleeper ship called Elysium is dispatched, with most of its crew and passengers put into hypersleep, to colonize an Earth-like planet called Tanis. Corporal Bower (Ben Foster), wakes up from hibernation to find himself alone, with no memory of who he is, what his mission is, or what happened to the 60,000 passengers of his vessel. After waking up Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid), they find they are unable to access the bridge, which would help explain their mission.

Artifact of the Gillette/Norelco Wars of 2132

As their memories start returning (very slowly), the two remember the affliction known as Pandorum, which is a condition brought on by extended periods of deep-space travel and hyper-sleep. Its effects include paranoia, hallucinations, and homicidal tendencies. Bower attempts to gain access to the rest of the ship, at first moving through small, dark vents filled with infinite wiring and tubing, which helps establish the feeling of claustrophobia (quite an accomplishment in a massive city-ship). Bower soon comes face-to-face with deadly humanoid creatures who kill humans for food. He also comes across human survivors Manh (Cung Le), who can’t speak English, and Nadia (Antje Traue), who kicks ass and has an awesome rack. After some violent confrontations, everybody decides to band together and try to reach the ship’s nuclear reactor, which must be reset by Bower or else the whole ship blows up, or something. (This part of the film isn’t entirely clear). In the meantime, Payton has discovered another survivor, metaphorically “born” in a body of wires inside a ship panel. The survivor calls himself Gallo (Cam Gigandet), and tells that during his time on bridge duty, they received a final message from Earth. The message wasn’t a good one – and it drove Gallo’s crew mates insane with Pandorum, requiring him to put them down, of course. On the other side of the ship, Manh, Nadia, and Bower encounter Leland (Eddie Rouse) who tells them the truth of what really happened to the Elysium.

I have an axe to grind with the guy who grinded his axe into my forehead.

Pandorum beings together threats both internal and external – in fact, the ending has our main character fighting both of these threats at the same time. The use of mutant-like creatures and the explanation of their origins strains credulity, but I appreciated the attempts to give them an appearance of an organized tribal society instead of portraying them as mindless zombie types. The plot of the film would certainly fall apart if you wanted to pull on any of its dangling strands, but I like the thing as a whole, imperfect creation, probably because it tries hard. It works best when it communicates that feeling of things closing in on you (confined in a pod with water closing in, Bower freaking out in confined spaces, one poor bastard coming out of suspended animation just as mutant cannibals overwhelm him) and I liked the ambition of its sci-fi storyline, which slowly peels off its layers of secrets in a manner similar to Dark City. I also enjoyed the feeling of doom subtly employed during the Earth flashback scenes and the general look of the ship. Attempts to infuse the plot with evolutionary theory are laughable, but the little touches save it, like Leland’s explanation delivered as poetry and figure drawings (think Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome) and the scene where a guy has to peel off his excess skin after being in suspended animation for a long amount of time.

Each day I tells the tell, about the knowin and the doin of the people of tomorrow-morrow land...

Pandorum doesn’t offer a supernatural threat from another dimension, but it does touch upon the corruption of man’s moral systems, which, along with the influence of his ego, give him delusions of grandeur. Give a guy too much power and strip from him the ethical boundaries of his known universe, and he becomes a rather cruel God. Pandorum is more effective in communicating this idea, and I think it’s the better film, but I liked how both movies draw a thin line between sanity and madness, having their heroes fight against chaos itself. Space monsters are scary, but so is the breakdown of reason and order.

- Bill Gordon

From my heart and from my hand / Why don't people understand / My intentions