MICROBUDGET MASSACRE 14:
The Based-on-a-True-Story Edition

With DARK CHAMBER, first-time director Dave Campfield delivers a surprisingly mature thriller. It’s an impressive no-budget film that manages to snare you with its’ intricate plot and well-developed characters.
Not a slavish adaptation of the Say You Love Satan murders, Campfield takes the case as a jumping off point for this solid suspense film that mixes Rear Window meets Rosemary’s Baby. Justin Besler (wearing huge crucifix – we know what team he’s on!) is shown studying for the police officer exam. He leaves Mom’s house (Desiree Gould from Sleepaway Camp) because she’s a drunk, and moves back in with his detective father, who has converted the old house into 4 apartments (and rented all of them out to weirdos, apparently.)
The Dad is tall and imposing, and it’s clear to us viewers, but not his son Justin, that Dad’s got some skeletons somewhere. First night there, Justin goes on a ride with Kayla, a freaky redhead who’s wearing a ring with a pentagram. Dad is busy busting The Black Circle, a bunch of teen burnouts with hoods who think they’re Satanists. Then Kayla shows up dead, and some hooded figures put a bag over Justin’s head and dump him in a shed, which makes him think there are more gang members still on the loose. His friends convince him to install a hidden camera in each of the apartments and spy on his neighbors from the van.
They look up to see a note that says, “stop watching”, and one of the friends gets jumped. After getting the van rocked by hooded dudes they move operation into Justin’s room in the house. They stuff flyers under all the neighbor’s doors that say, “I know what you did to Kayla” and wait to see what happens.
None of the neighbors is exactly what they appear, and we learn secrets about everyone. Vincent downstairs is an abusive garbageman and aspiring writer with a secret box under the bed lives with his girlfriend. There’s an old guy who like to hire “masseuses.” Also a confused and depressed girl who lives with her slutty sister (Felissa Rose, also from Sleepaway Camp). The film’s high-tech slant on Rear Window reminded me of Sliver, except it didn’t suck.
Who is really involved in the cult? And who’s watching who? I don’t want to give too much of the convoluted plot away, as that’s the joy of the film. Poor writing and silly characterizations hamper most movies of this budget, but this has an intricate plot and interesting characters. It keeps a tense atmosphere throughout, and keep you involved enough to not question the film’s logic. The story gives us plenty of red herrings, but also lots of foreshadowing. The cast is likable (I especially appreciated the scary dad, David H. Rigg) with character arcs and turns for each. Technically well done, it looks good and has fine sound and an effective score.
If you watch the extensive special features, you’ll get a thorough schooling in ultra-low budget filmmaking, as he shows the sets (his parents house), and how he got two or three different locations from each room, shooting from different angles and putting up fake doors. Not to mention the war stories of his troubled production, including running out of money and shooting over extended periods of time, and going through several DPs and sound guys (one got a virus that made him go deaf!) The film looks really good for all those sob stories, and makes me anxious to see what he can do with a few dollars more...
From the good folks at www.shock-o-rama.com.

You may remember the story of Linda Sobek, the L.A. model and ex-cheerleader that was murdered by a photographer. This DVD Reissue of the 1999 film chronicles that story. WHISPERS FROM A SHALLOW GRAVE (“Based on the true story that shocked the nation”) comes to us from Ted Newsom, the same director that made The Naked Monster, but is a complete departure from the campiness of that project.
The dead girl narrates it, with lots of flashbacks (color and black and white both) mixed with actual trial and TV footage. PG-13. She’s placed in some peculiar sort of after-life trial, which gives the excuse for lots of flashbacks, and also for negative attacks by the prosecutor (“How many sex partners have you had?”) She periodically breaks the fourth wall and addresses the viewers. Segments show the fatal ride out to the desert. After she’s dead, she appears in the interrogation room with killer Charles Rathbun (Gerald Brodin, who gives a consistently creepy performance throughout), and later egging him on in a suicide attempt.
With that questionable dramatic conceit and her narrator’s ever-presence, the success of the film unfairly rests on her dyed blonde head. Actress Trudy Jo Marie Keck is a bad reader and her delivery a bit monotone, but she grew on me. At first I was convinced that she couldn’t act, then I decided that the director was leading her astray and telling her to tone down. Things make more sense when you see that she is credited as both editor and producer.
The film portrays Sobek as a generous and smart girl with poor taste in men. “I want to love and be loved so bad,” says Linda. We see her volunteering to be a big sister, and being a good friend, etc., while it shows Rathbun being devious and violent. Ugly dramatizions show a long list of women who’d been abused by him, evidence that apparently was not allowed at trial. When his friends joke he was the last one to see her alive, he jokes that he did it, and they’ll never find the body.
There’s not much sex and violence until the end, which is fine, it’s more in the tradition of true crime picture, anyway. Has a dark and some might say tasteless humor that may not work for everyone. One scene mixes what look like they could be her actual autopsy photos with a photographer imploring her to “Give me more”, as if this was a photo shoot. The whole thing is a little awkward and only intermittently successful, but it’s an unusual and somewhat ballsy (or foolhardy) effort. The second half of the film after he kills her starts to drag, cause you know what’s going to happen. At least the real guy got life without the possibility without parole.
The DVD may be ordered from www.tempevideo.com.

2007 release GHOST ENCOUNTERS: THE QUEEN MARY is one of those ghost hunter documentaries you might watch if you caught it flipping through channels, especially if you came across the scenes with the hot blonde “sensitive”. Rawr! Einstein look-alike Peter James with his shock of white hair and dark brows and mustache, is easily recognizable to fans of this stuff from his TV show Sightings. POV shakicam and eerie green-tinted night vision are some of the techniques used, but it’s mostly straightforward medium (pun not intended) close shots. We follow the ghosthunters traveling throughout the recesses of the creepy ship as James relates stories of how people died in different places, and she reacts to their aura or whatever. James is well up on his ghost stories, having for years led ghost tours on board the Queen Mary until his death in 2007. That probably makes this the last project he was involved in before his death. James and friends interview a chef who’s seen doorknobs turning by themselves (complete with re-enactment.) He tries to channel a Captain Jones. He talks to a little girl ghost, and is answered with eerie high-pitched noise that sure sounds like something more than mere creaky joists and settling timber. James claimed The QM to be one of the earth’s most haunted places, and claimed to have personally met at least 150 of the ghosts. It’s obviously a site he held close to his heart. Maybe the ghost hunters should try to reach him on the other side on board the Queen Mary. Those that hate this stuff should stay away. Those who like it will wish for more.
Available from www.anthemdvd.com.

1996’s THE MANSON FAMILY seemed pretty solid with the historical details of the story, as I remember them from my past readings. It uses the plot device of a broadcaster who does a story on The Family. Some modern punky Manson followers send him an old tape of the Family. The story is related in a combination of many styles, all spot-on in their impression of the period film look and technique. This includes the early 70s scratchy old interviews and distressed home movies, and some modern jailhouse interviews with the older family members, and of course dramatizations. Periodically the film is interrupted to spy on the progress of the scummy punk gang, shooting up drugs and making weapons.
Director Vanbebber doesn’t waste much time, since he’s got so much to fit into the time frame, and gets right to the nitty-gritty. Documents all the major philosophies of The Family. (“The universe is one big fuck.”) One guy’s mustache looks a little fake in the jailhouse footage, but otherwise but aside from that, the details look pretty authentic. They really got the feel of the post-trial TV interviews down.
Charlie gets short screen time, which is fine, because it’s interesting to see a take on the Family that explores the other characters. Has a good layout of the power structure of the Family, perhaps better than I’ve seen in a film. Director Vanbebber plays Bobby Beauseloil. The actors all seem well suited to their characters, and play their characters both young and older, kind of funny if you realize that the film was made over a period of 15 years Actor Marc Pitman does a particularly good and creepy job as Tex. In addition to the usual exploitation movies, it’s reminiscent of films by Kenneth Anger, John Waters and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers.
Vanbebber also spends time to underscore the significance of several events in the de-evolution of the Family usually skipped over in Manson films, as Helter Skelter, Creepy Crawls, and talk of pigs and hate took hold. Terry Melcher passing on Charlie’s music and the murders of Gary Hinman and ranch hand Shortie being three good examples. The soundtrack plays cuts off the LIE album like Garbage Dump and Electrical Man.
Given the subject matter, do I really need to say this is violent and unsettling? It doesn’t linger on The Tate/LaBianca murders, but it sure does give them a dramatic rendering with red and green filters and devil horns. (“I’m the devil, and I’m here to do the devil’s business!”) Even today the murders remain shocking.
It’s not at all just a collection of re-enacted home movies; it’s a well-edited and ambitious feature about the people who usually get ignored. The subject matter is obviously of great interest to the director, and seems historically accurate as far as I can tell. Not a sycophantic homage to Charlie, either, and doesn’t rely on the “Charlie’s just misunderstood” defense. Presents the story, and let’s you draw your own conclusions. I also was tickled by the murder of the Manson poseur at the end.
Side note: when I returned it to Netflix, they suggested two films – The original Night of the Living Dead and the Marx Bros. comedy Duck Soup!
Distributed by Dark Sky Films, check out the official website at http://www.mansonfamilydvd.com/.

911 IN PLANE SITE is a September 11th conspiracy video from 2004 that at 74 minutes seems to be scratching the surface. What else is there to know? I’m not a munitions expert or anything, but the list of puzzling facts is long. Watching this, little evidence is presented, but many questions are raised.
Production is a suitably simple, with Dave von Kleist, radio host of “The Power Hour” (Yeah, I never hear of it either), sitting next to three TVs with lots of clips and discussion. Seemingly not erratic or wild-eyed, the host actually deconstructs how the term “conspiracy theory” is used to smear earnest investigation, and even turns it back on Bush, calling his linking of 9/11 and Al-Qaeda an example of conspiracy theory.
But most of this is rank speculation. Brings up the usual 9/11 stuff, like Building 7’s fishy collapse. What about the flash before impact with the towers? The “pod” under one of the planes? The curious size of the hole at the Pentagon crash site and lack of video footage? It shows the early footage that support indications of explosives, that were not repeated in later media coverage.
Seems to ask reasonably if the preceding facts have been shown, why hasn’t there been an inquiry, at least by the press? Answering himself, von Kleist explains that, for example, defense contractor GE owns Tom Brokaw and NBC. Fox is in the henhouse. In the film’s logic, if we see a cover-up might we not also assume involvement? Not sure I buy everything in this video, it is definitely selective with its’ info (other photos DO show aircraft wreckage at the Pentagon.) Sure, it has an agenda, but does point to a common sense conclusion: we’re not getting the whole truth from our government or our media.
Seek it out from www.anthemdvd.com.

-Hysteric Eric