Love him or hate him, one thing you can't do as a genre enthusiast is ignore Jim VanBebber or his work. And there really is very little difference between the two. Does this mean that VanBebber himself is a depraved corpse fondling madman? I can't say. Never met the man. Don't know if I would want to. But I DO feel that I know him, as do you if you've been able to track down any of his anti-social love letters to torture, pain, and anguish. For, you see, VanBebber is in his films just as deeply as each of these celluloid vivisections are lodged inside him. Never has one DVD package collected such a depraved yet repugnantly beautiful orgy of madness and mayhem as Dark Sky's new retrospective of this artist's career. And, yes, I mean the word artist, for this one man movie industry -- this writer/director/producer/actor/FX artist/cameraman -- doesn't simply tell stories, he makes us LIVE them. Live them with all the suspense, anguish, brooding, horror, arousal, dementia, and depression that haunt his morally ambiguous, down and out characters. Deadbeats and outcasts, victims and victimizers: these are the men and women in VanBebbers's dark and bloody world.
As this collection shows, VanBebber doesn't simply throw together a story or glop some guts on the sidewalk. While there is savagery and shocks aplenty in his privately apocalyptic visions, and the very condition of existence is peeled back to show the bleak wormy center, there is as much poetry as brashness in the introspective manner in which he combines thrills with themes that emphasize tragedy, despair, and that sickness which is the human condition. Love as well as hate and fear bleed from the images you're about to witness. Newcomers to this madness are in for a slap to the face. You'll find no sugar coating here, no moral guidelines or mainstream fluff. Fans can expect an extensive retrospective of this dangerous director's mind. Warts and all, this collection of foetus stabbing, rape, and madness presents a very different genre experience for those weaned on the polite horrors of old. This isn't escapist fantasy. If you're expecting to get cute with your date later on, don't watch these movies! Even horror fans may find this material too hard to handle. But isn't that precisely the point? VanBebber understands that horror is primal, and intends to evoke strong reaction. He accomplishes precisely that with these four discs, which feature The Manson Family (with a second disc of bonus features), Deadbeat at Dawn, and the short films My Sweet Satan, Roadkill: The Last Days of John Martin, Doper, Kata, and Into The Black. Watch out, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
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Ugly as only a hard look at life can be, Deadbeat at Dawn was VanBebber's first feature film, and put him on the map of the fear film geek amongst grind house devotees. Whereas much of the exploitation/crime genres have within the last few decades exchanged daring for political correctness, sensation for PG ratings sure to get the kiddie's money, this debut wears its harshness and on its blood-and-filth-drenched sleeve. Horrifying because it looks so very realistic, a pure mood of desperation elevates the rather simplistic story. And maybe simplicity is the point -- a full frontal assault of crime, revenge, and redemption without the gloss or hype -- the fundamentally disappointing bullshit -- of much modern movie making. VanBebber clearly wasn't aiming to make friends here. He crafts a vision of a man trapped in an inner city Hell of deadly deeds and missteps which forces him into a confrontation with a gang weaned on violence. This is seriously harsh stuff, and while cheaply filmed, the results far outweigh the home-grown budget. This is perhaps the best the film has ever looked, allowing home viewers to experience one of the most ferociously original and roughly poetic descents into madness ever portrayed on such a small budget.
Deadbeat at Dawn is a white knuckles hybrid of the crime, drama, and action genres with a healthy dose of exploitation enveloping it all. The conventions employed in these kinds of pictures are acknowledged by VanBebber with pride, but more remarkable (even at this early stage in his career, when he was still getting his chops) is his reinterpretation of them. The plot's simplistic, broad structure is perfectly suited to the simply defined characters and strong emotions. This is a cinematic tale of broad swipes, not intricate suggestion. Goose (VanBebber) is the leader of The Ravens, an urban gang of thieves and murdering bastards whose principle enemies are a rival gang, The Spiders. Danny, this gang's leader, is a larger than life caricature of practically every villain stereotype known to the movies -- but somehow he makes it work within the over-the-top context. While there is too much padding here, with the gangs spending an unfortunate amount of time going on about how vicious they are, the story trips into high gear when Goose quits the Ravens to live peacefully with the girl he loves. When he finds her murdered, he begins a blood-pumping, knife wielding journey for revenge.
Not a traditional horror film, Deadbeat at Dawn is horrific enough in its surface story, grim atmosphere and violence to certainly be considered in the genre. The horror stems from a realistic set of situations that spiral with terrifying anguish to even worse predicaments. Themes of hubris, arrogance, and revenge capture a classical Tragic feel, evoking pity and pathos in the audience for the titular 'deadbeat' who knows precisely what and who he is, and must accept his share of the blame for the death of his beloved. VanBebber's story might be small, and the plot limited, but it is effective, allowing the story to move at a quick pace while getting maximum suspense from minimal effort. Cheap photography and effects, lacklustre acting and sometimes unconvincing dialogue actually add authenticity to the experience. The grainy film stock and shaky camera exemplify a hopeless mood, and the city itself becomes something of a living persona. Fresh, feisty, and frenzied in both its energy and visual intensity, this is one of those rare pictures that infect you with enthusiasm despite its flaws.
Dark Sky features this transfer in 1.33:1. The images are surprisingly clean considering the low budget and suspected condition of the materials. Deadbeat will never look pristine but is vastly improved from previous copies. And while cliché, this IS one of those movies where the technological defects add something of mood to the experience. Audio in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is adequate if not excellent, with crackling and interference not overly distracting.
Extras are insightful and engaging, exploring the challenges of making the feature and its creator's state of mind. An eclectic bag of tricks, the most comprehensive segment is the lengthy Deadbeat At Dawn: Half-Desperate, Half-Crazy and Totally Dangerous. VanBebber examines everything from his key influences to his desperation, emphasizing the filmmaker's he drew inspiration from. He also reveals the frenzied determination that drove him to make the film, how he secured funds, and the emotional/physical toll that the project demanded. Other extras include Outtakes, a Still Gallery, and less intensive but just as entertaining Behind-the-Scenes segments.
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The second disc in the Deadbeat at Dawn package includes VanBebber's awe inspiring, deranged shorts -- those brutally raw yet carefully composed shards of madness that helped make a name for the young director while he was seeking support for feature length projects. These nihilistic mind-fucks of chaos, inhumanity, and debasement strip the human animal of all his culturally polite disguises, enabling us -- no FORCING us -- to see once and for all the spewing, no good, psychologically depraved animals we are. No one will thank him for this dubious gift, but the power with which he captures man's inhumanity to man, and the visual intensity with which he breaks taboos, is nothing short of remarkable. Roadkill: The Last Days of John Martin is one of the most intense and deviant pieces of celluloid to ever attack an audience. Minimal story and simplistic characterization only heighten the devastating effect. Visceral and uncompromising, this is Hell on Earth personified. Similar to his other efforts, both the story and delivery are angry. Neither condemnations or celebrations of violence, the director simply shows you what exists and dares you to make your own determination. The visuals are raw and repulsive, as is the manner in which it was shot, immersing the viewer uncomfortably close to the protagonist's madness. Featuring a serial killer loner who grapples with his ever-deepening madness in a house filled with rotting human remains and instruments of torture, the filth of his home is an appropriate metaphor for this man's festering insanity and degradation.
My Sweet Satan is every bit as much pessimistic as the above but displays a better sense of symbolism and social commentary, emphasizing VanBebber's ability to intertwine gruesome and violent content with psychologically penetrating subtext. This short, about a group of misfits who worship Satan, is a disturbing satire on the nature of the occult and religion, poking fun at the extent some of us will go to believe in/give ourselves to something 'greater' to ourselves. Or it can be seen simply as a hair-raising condemnation of our culture, its fixations with symbols, and youth itself. The important thing isn't that the kids worship the Devil, it's that they try to with no real metaphysical results. True horror stems from their blind faith . The Devil isn't necessary because there isn't anything he could think up that these sickos don't! The acid-trip inspired visions are inspired, and the fact that this was based on a true story only adds tension. Doper is the less intriguing of the bunch, a lacklustre story about a respected member of the community who also deals drugs. Better is Kata, a fragmented narrative centered around a man recalling the attacks of his enemies as he indulges in some kooky performance art. Of these Into The Black is the most visually arresting and visceral experience if not one of the best written.
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Some of the best horror films achieve their disquieting effects through subtlety, suggesting rather than showing their terrors. The Manson Family isn't one of these films, and obviously VanBebber doesn't hold to this theory. If anything, this Bastard of celluloid torture takes the exact opposite approach, throwing one's face into the gruelling violence and degradation of the crimes committed by the Manson clan. Standing proudly beside Henry and Last House On The Left as one of the few horror films that really intend to hurt and audience, this experience also leaves you hurt, ashamed, and doubtful about your own capacity for violence. Yes, this is truly a nasty experience, but also profound in both its themes and structure, with the fragmented, chaotic storytelling style mirroring (and reinforcing) the anarchistic madness of its content. VanBebber wants to make you question why it is you enjoy violent art. At the same time he forces us to take a serious look at the nature of both victims and victimizers. This is horror crossing boundaries of taste, delighting in barbaric images of sex and violence; it is just as easily a philosophical treatise on the human impulses that drive people to extremes of hate, loathing, and delusion. Lastly, it is one of the most ferocious, gut squirming pieces of film out there, a testament of the director's power as a visual stylist and narrative artist.
The Manson Family plays with the nature of storytelling as expertly as it jumbles the already subjective natures of right and wrong. The story is played out in chaotic fragments revolving around flashbacks, a twisted modern frame anchored in the present, and jolts of symbolically charged hallucinations. The plot is constructed to walk the tightrope between documentary and fictive retelling, with the modern skinhead gang who worship Manson serving as a bridge between now and the bloody events of the Manson clan. Perhaps the most potent achievement of this script is the declaration that the greatest threat to humanity isn't violence, per say, but the over-enthusiastic, infectious gang-mentality that proceeds it (the prime moving force behind world religions, governments, and friendly neighbourhood book burnings, when the call for 'family values' and 'a better world' reduce men to beasts). In the 'summer of love,' against a backdrop of the Vietnam war and generational conflict, Charles Manson (Marcelo Games) attracts a group of outcasts and college dropouts (representatives of the flower power movement), whose confusion and lack of purpose make them perfect receivers of Manson's exertions. Living together on the ranch of a blind man, these groovy kids quickly escalate from the joys of free love and drug use to violence. Charlie, seeing his dreams of being a popular modern philosopher and musician dashed, he uses his mental dominance over his 'children' to seek revenge against the world that, he believes, has oppressed him. The 'creeps' that the gang go on, stealing and wreaking the homes of the middle and upper class citizens nearby, quickly spiral into the most vicious and heart breaking atrocities ever committed (or at least the most documented). Grooving to the tune of The Beatle's Helter Skelter, Manson urges the Family to spark off a war race by murdering innocent people in homes nearby, and blaming it on minorities in blood-drawn messages on the wall.
Critics who claim that this film's lavish, drawn out violence is irresponsible miss the point. While there are buckets of blood, semen, and tears spilled in this portrait of Hell, the violence is used as a tool to emphasize the very real pain (both physical and mental) of death and torture, not a celebration of it. This is violent death as it is in the real world, folks: dirty, messy, and wasteful. Something that stains the culprit just as much as the victim. This brings us to another point, the manner in which VanBebber explores the pain of the killers as much as their prey. The members of the Manson Family are repulsive and to be hated for their actions but they are also to be pitied (if not forgiven) for the social and familial problems that drove them to follow Manson into the inferno to begin with. There are no heroes here, and while there is human evil to be certain, VanBebber wisely shows their more tender and self deluded sides as well, which culminates in a much more disturbing experience, reaffirming the ambiguous and unsolvable question of why some people act as they do. More profound is his decision not to preach. If the violence isn't glorified (as it is in many Slasher films), neither is it milked for moral causes. VanBebber just lets it play out as it did in life, allowing violence to be independent of moral judgment. Scary stuff indeed.
This isn't a movie made to appeal to anyone but the director's sense of truth and aesthetics. Daring the rage of a critical establishment that is woefully prejudiced towards the genre (and often just as ignorant about its value), the director cares not a bit for the dictates of political correctness. Perhaps the most scathing and harshly poetic aspect of The Manson Family is the manner in which VanBebber intertwines the 'family's' past with the vicious group of adolescents who are embarked upon their own self-destructive path. A disturbing parallel is drawn between the crimes of the past and the bloody vistas of the future, and the depiction of maddened youth was prophetic in its nightmare vision of children giving into their animalistic natures -- something that can be seen in any daily newspaper. Religion, politics, family structure, drugs, sex: each of these universal concepts are butchered as boldly as flesh. VanBebber not only captures the shock and repugnance of the Manson Family's actions but, in addition, the twisted religious/political views that led to them. This isn't simply art house butchery or mainstream 'bogey man' theatrics; this is art that uses a story to evoke emotional reaction while dishing out truths universally applicable to the human condition. If you walk away feeling dirty, wondering where the line between innocent and culpability, art and life, right and wrong is, then VanBebber has done his job.
The Manson Family is, without doubt, the crowning achievement of this collection. The two disc special unrated edition does it justice in a Fullscreen transfer that is careful to retain a grimy, low budget 'documentary' feeling, which in turn represents the 'period' piece atmosphere. If the print is scratched and grainy, this is one of the few times when it was purposeful. The Dolby Digital soundtrack roars alive with disturbing grunts, growls and screams. There is no interference and the score, dialogue and sound effects operate seamlessly. The Dolby Digital 2.0 track isn't as proficient but gets the job done.
Supplements for this mind-screw are extensive, intelligent, and entertaining, providing an impressive degree of context for the film, the genre, and VanBebber. Two Theatrical trailers start things off on Disc One, followed by an insightful Stills Gallery. The second disc is where things get serious, with a trio of lengthy documentaries. "In the Belly of the Beast" takes a 73 minutes look at Montreal's FantAsia Film Festival from 1997, wherein we focus on 'outsider' filmmakers struggling to receive critical recognition, peer understanding, and fan support for their off color wonders. Their struggles, heartaches, and ambitions are wonderfully and intimately shared with us -- as are the fickle and often ignorant reactions of both fans and critics alike when presented with a movie that doesn't simply follow cookie-cutter mentalities. The most impressive and detailed feature here, as well as the most accomplished look at VanBebber's creative struggles and personal world view, is "The VanBebber Family." Produced by the boys at Blue Underground, this 76 minute piece is thorough, philosophical, and bodes no bullshit. Interviews with cast and crew reveal how thankless and daring the work on this film was, particularly for VanBebber, who comes across as both no-nonsense and intelligent, dedicated to his craft. An Interview With Charles Manson rounds out the disc, pieced together from various sources. Both darkly funny and scary as hell, it's hard to believe this man inspired such atrocities. Nutty as ever, perhaps the best thing he can teach us is how very insensible violence truly is.
Review by William Simmons
| Released by Dark Sky |
| Region 1 - NTSC |
| Not Rated |
| Extras : |
| see main review |