(2001)
Dir - Richard Kelly
Overall: GOOD
Though it may not warrant any profound analysis on closer inspection and has ultimately proven to be a fluke for its creator Richard Kelly, Donnie Darko is a refreshingly singular work and one that is tailor-made for cult movie aficionados. Amazingly scoring a cast that is top-to-bottom recognizable and garnishing a significant enough budget to pull off its stubbornly head-trippy goals, Kelly delivered something right out of the gate that hardly ever gets green-lit by Hollywood executives in the first place. A period piece set in October of 1988, its fusing of teen-angst/coming-of-age high school drama with David Lynch-meets-Twilight Zone weirdness is fascinatingly messy. By design, nothing comes together in any spoon-fed, popcorn movie sense, but it remains just as ambiguous on further viewings, cleverly disguising itself as a film that is actually not that clever. While these can be seen as detriments if looked at cynically, (Kelly was after all a first time filmmaker, first time screenwriter, only twenty-six at the time, and almost completely inexperienced behind the lens aside graduating from USC), the results are stylistically captivating, intentionally funny, and well-performed by everyone on board.
(2003)
Dir - Robert Parigi
Overall: MEH
Producer Robert Parigi's sole writer/director effort thus far Love Object is in some aspects fun, but also a little underwritten. It is questionable if Desmond Harrington, (Quinn from Dexter), is miscast as a disturbing, social reject who is too work-obsessed and weird to get laid regularly since he is physically too dashing and bro-like. Still, maybe going with a textbook nerd in the part would have seemed too obvious. The story is plenty disturbing and kicks it into higher gear during its last twenty or so minutes, but Parigi plays with his format a bit by making the film almost fairytale-like at various times. This actually ups the odd and creepy elements even if the tone still stays somewhat comedic throughout. Udo Kier is amusing as an, (of course), pervy neighbor and Rip Torn, (of course), seems to be real life drunk during most of his line readings as Harrington's demanding boss. The plot ends up leaving too much out since it both introduces a few bizarre elements that go nowhere and Harrington's character is not really given any backstory at all and just sort of up and decides all on his own to be wacky. This may have been the point somehow, but it still leaves you questioning a few too many things.
(2007)
Dir - John Erick Dowdle
Overall: MEH
Before making the flawed yet effective found footage outings Quarantine and As Above, So Below, John Erick Dowdle's The Poughkeepsie Tapes happened. Originally done in 2007, this did not get out to the public to see regularly until seven years later, at which point Dowdle had achieved his reputation as a go-to, hand-held camera horror guy. Though this sub-genre is rather over-saturated by now, this example here does not suffer so much because it got shelved for so long. It instead suffers for two specific reasons. This is another "finished documentary", almost exactly like any pick-your-forensic crime shows. The "actors" interviewed often do a rather embarrassing job that quickly takes you right out of the movie as we should not be laughing at how hard these people are trying to disturb us. More detrimental though is that it is all rather too far-fetched. This is a great idea on paper; to do a documentary on a serial killer who has evaded capture and left hundreds of hours of evidence that the authorities still cannot use to piece together his identity. The premise is stretched enough to the point of being insulting though. The horrific scenes get a pass for being too torture-porn-esque since they rather have to be to work, but there is too much wrong elsewhere else.
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