(2002)
Dir - Lucky McKee
Overall: GREAT
The first feature May from writer/director Lucky McKee is quite an exceptional one; a disturbed look at severe loneliness and mental illness that also manages to be incredible touching. The sad, troubled arc of Angela Bettis's title character hinges on her fantastic performance which garnishes nothing but sympathy from the audience. Born with a lazy eye to an anal-retentive mother, May grows up utterly friendless and with the social skills of a confused toddler, her behavior gives way to eccentricities that only intensify as her "rough couple of days" wield increasingly heartbreaking results. By the time she inevitable snaps and temporarily gains a level of confidence that was previously unimaginable, we the viewer know at least in part what is coming and feel for her that much more, even as mayhem ensues. It is a tricky, gradual maneuver to pull off and McKee does it with nothing but sincerity and respect, even as darkly comedic moments and a lighthearted indie soundtrack give it a quirky tone that only seems to desperately mask the very concerning nature underneath it all.
(2007)
Dir - Adam Wingard
Overall: WOOF
For his sophomore effort Pop Skull, director Adam Wingard teams back up with screenwriter/producer/actor E. L. Katz and is still stuck with a minuscule budget as he was with Home Sick from earlier in the year, but the tone is more relentlessly dour than the idiotic buffoonery that was interjected in his awful, aforementioned debut. Unfortunately, the quality is just as rough though as the story focuses on Lane Hughes' obnoxiously self-loathing, pill-addicted loser who is simultaneously going through a break-up and suffering from supernatural hallucinations. He is surrounded by other people with insufficient acting abilities as well, with Brandon Carroll playing someone that is even more insufferably annoying than Hughes' crybaby protagonist. The film opens with an epilepsy warning that is justified considering how many sequences indulge in such an artsy strobing effect, but these and many other meandering montages cannot hide the vapid story and piss-pour production qualities. It is a noble effort of sorts considering how meager of a project it is, but it is also miserable and aimless, still coming off like an ugly, pretentious, terribly-shot, poor-man's art film.
(2008)
Dir - Eduardo Sánchez
Overall: MEH
For his third full-length, (and second solo effort behind the lens), director Eduardo Sánchez still manages to concoct a bone-chilling atmosphere and some highly freaky ideas, but the presentation is disastrous. Seventh Moon taps into the Buddhist "Hungry ghost" concept of the dead coming back to ferocious life during a macabre holiday tradition. The foreign setting that our newly married couple are honeymooning in proves to be a positively eerie place once the sun sets and miles upon miles of desolate landscape surround them. Outside of an opening title sequence, the movie gets right to the spookiness which turns into a relentless series of set pieces up until the credits roll. While this all sounds promising, Sánchez makes the absolutely detrimental mistake of shooting the entire film in a shaky cam, extreme close-up, unlit, hyper-edited style that makes it almost literally impossible to decipher what is happening within even a single frame. At least found footage, (which Sánchez popularized in his iconic debut The Blair Witch Project), scales the camera back and lets the audience get their footing at regular intervals. Here though, it just bulldozes in a claustrophobic, maddening manor to the point of being unwatchable. Whether it was done for budgetary reasons or in a deliberate attempt to create a panicked ambiance, the movie is ruined all the same.
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