MR BUTTONS

Alternative cinema has been going through something of a resurgence of late, and there is no evidence to suggest that it will slow down in the immediate future. The inimitable Shane Ryan has merrily shocked the horror underground with his unique brand of shocking cinema; Amateur Porn Star Killer is a malevolent classic and Big Boobs, Blonde Babes, Bad Blood is a collection of some of his more surreal cinematic efforts. August Underground and August Underground Mordum need no introduction if you like your realistic blood 'n' guts. Not many films have managed to make me feel nauseous and indelibly filthy over the years, but these two snuff-wannabes have done exactly that and more. Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino have both seemingly brought violent cinema back to the mainstream with Hostel and Grindhouse.

It seems obvious to me that we are entering a new era of violent/horror entertainment and I have my own convictions on why this is happening - but more on this later. The western media have already begun to take notice of this increase in extreme cinema, condemning it as nothing more than torture-pornography. This condemnation, however, is a pathetic exaggeration when you consider the previous wave of violent cinema over thirty years ago. Nevertheless, if you happen to remain curious about this so-called genre of torture-pornography (which in my opinion does not exist), David Quitmeyer is a name that may be of some interest to you.

MR BUTTONS

Quitmeyer is contemporary underground filmmaker who has directed an obscure and shocking flick that contains torture (at least to a degree) and pornography. Slaughter Disc is the film and Caroline Pierce is the star. I wrote a review about this in April 2006 and was somewhat ambivalent by what I saw. I did praise the film, but it somehow perplexed me over what it wanted to be. On one hand, it was porn; on the other, it was horror. It was a film that that swallowed me whole and spat me out as if I was something rotten. The experience was somewhat terrifying and abnormally erotic, but I suppose this was what Quitmeyer had in mind when he directed the film. However, it is only now that I realise how clever and pioneering Slaughter Disc really was, especially after discovering Shane Ryan's Amateur Porn Star Killer and Jose Sombra's Knight of the Peeper. Not only have these three films been shot over the past two years, but they amply verify that a genuine underground/horror film renaissance is underway. These films can be quite brutal and not many people will find themselves having a predilection for them. With Shane Ryan (www.alteregocinema.com) and David Quitmeyer (www.steelwebstudios.com) leading the pack, underground/horror filmmaking is making an enormous comeback.

The extreme content found in Slaughter Disc is given a sideways glance in Mr Buttons. This 24-minute horror flick relies on a swollen atmosphere of dread and suspense to stimulate the viewer, not blood and sex. Although we do get to see some of the red stuff, there isn't enough to satisfy the extreme gorehound. Nevertheless, Mr Buttons remains a disturbing horror film that pleasantly spanks you with psychological horror! Just be very careful what you wish for…

Crystal is a good-looking goth girl attired in a black robe and wearing black make-up. She is a sinister witch of the left-hand path, engrossed in wicked sorcery and having no compunction in using it to curse an entire family. While hiding inside a dense forest to avoid prying eyes, she slices off one of her fingers and vocally charges it with devilish incantations. Reciting from a magical grimoire and calling on the creatures of the underworld to do her bidding, she wraps her severed finger inside the nose of a spooky-looking clown doll. She then puts the doll inside a large box and posts it to Mr. Ridgecrest - a former lover who seemingly forgot to mention that he was married. All she has to do now is to figure out how to post the doll without giving away her identity.

MR BUTTONS

In the meantime, Mr. Ridgecrest has a very impressionable daughter called Kelly who has just turned six-years-old. On the day of her birthday, Kelly receives a present from her Grandma through the post. The present is wrapped in a rather large box and has a birthday card attached to it. After blowing out her candles and making a wish, Kelly opens the box and pulls out a smelly clown doll which has a long, pointy nose. Kelly immediately falls in love with the doll as though it was one of her best friends, even going as far as to name it Mr Buttons after being charmed by his pretty button-eyes. But the horrible smell coming from the doll's pointy nose is almost too much for her family to bear.

One day, Kelly's mother threatens to throw Mr Buttons away after unsuccessfully trying to get rid of the horrific smell. Kelly panics and sprays the doll with perfume, wishing the smell to go away. Lo and behold, the smell suddenly disappears, but only after Mr Buttons mysteriously twitches his nose.

The alliance between Kelly and Mr Buttons is now complete. Whenever Kelly makes a wish in the presence of Mr Buttons, his nose twitches and her wish instantly becomes a reality. However, Kelly fails to realise that her wishes are the cause behind some appalling acts of slaughter. Kelly's life then descends into horrifying madness. Mr Buttons takes possession of her mind and subsequently grants her wishes with deadly consequences. The final 12 minutes or so is horror filmmaking at its finest!

The overall acting is relatively good, especially the female actresses who played Kelly over the course of her life. Criston Mitchel as the father was convincing, too. The editing of the film was crisp, keeping the film suspenseful and reasonably concise. Considering Mr Buttons was shot on a $2,500 budget, the production value was much better than I anticipated. Credit must be given to David Quitmeyer for using what he had when filming this short film and creating a belting masterpiece in the process. And yes, Caroline Pierce does make an appearance…but inside a girly magazine.

Although Mr Buttons does not contain the brutality found within Slaughter Disc, it does convey a macabre tale. More importantly, however, is the crucial message behind the film. I have always firmly believed that you should be very careful what you wish for in life, but Mr Buttons hammers this message right through your skull and leaves it imprinted on your brain. David Quitmeyer has a devastatingly macabre imagination and it is extremely good at shocking you. Mr Buttons is undoubtedly his greatest attempt at filmmaking yet. Good horror is undoubtedly making a comeback, and Mr Buttons is very good horror!

As I said before, I have my own hypothesis on why there has been a sudden increase in violent/horror cinema over the past few years, especially the more underground, radical stuff. Everybody knows that telling stories of supernatural terror is about as old as humankind itself, but it was not until the birth of the printing press in the year 1440 that the horror genre became a teeming merchandise. The first wave of graphic horror books appeared in the 1790's with the rise of the English gothic novel. These ghoulish novels, although tame by contemporary standards, wallowed in all thinks macabre and grim. Many literary historians have attributed the rise of this genre to the widespread fear of being invaded by Napoleon - even the Marquis de Sade agreed when he ascribed the gothic novel to the "inevitable result of the revolutionary shocks which all Europe has suffered." It would appear that people alleviated this fear and "revolutionary shock" by reading bloody and blasphemous gothic novels, especially in Britain. Rather than being a victim to rational fear and terrifying menace, the public decided to be frightened by an irrational menace as an alternative. The alternative was the ghosts and ghouls inside the pages of the gothic novel. Matthew Lewis' The Monk became a highly controversial novel in 1896 and is still shocking people today.

The next epoch of horror literature was the Victorian ghost stories of the 1890's. Some of these stories were bloody and frightening; most were complete rehashes of what was written before. These stories skyrocketed in the year 1889, one year after Jack the Ripper mutilated five women. His murder spree became known as "The Autumn of Terror". Jack the Ripper, perhaps the world's most notorious serial killer, stubbornly lingered in the mind of the late Victorians and detrimentally affected their psyche. No longer were monsters mythical and demonic beings promulgated by the Bible and other religions, but genuine human beings willing to commit atrocious acts of slaughter against their fellow humans. As with the 1790's, the public alleviated their fear of rational terror (in this case, Jack the Ripper) by gorging on Victorian ghost stories. Nine years after "The Autumn of Terror", Bram Stoker introduced Count Dracula to London. Victorian Britain was a very spooky place.

MR BUTTONS

The next epoch of horror novels started to appear in the 1950's and showed tentative signs of declining in the late 1980's. Stephen King, James Herbert, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, Peter Straub and Dean Koontz have all wrote terrifying horror novels, most becoming international bestsellers. People flocked in their hundreds to witness the undeadly horror in Night of the Living Dead, the demonic forces in The Exorcist and the psychological terrorism in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Perhaps this is not surprising when you consider the ongoing conflict in Vietnam, the height of the Cold War and the unprecedented increase in serial killers such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and The Hillside Stranglers. Once again, the public alleviated their fear of what was happening in society by reading graphic horror novels and watching explicit horror films at their local cinema or drive-in theatre. In addition, we must not forget the sudden increase in science-fiction films during the 1950's after the alleged UFO crash at Roswell in 1947.

Could it be that we are entering a new wave of violent/horror entertainment, perhaps due to an increased threat of terrorism and the possibility of big brother spying on our every move? What is the connection between the tortures of Abu Ghraib and the facsimile tortures of today's horror cinema? Many critics have already noticed the connection, but they have also made the erroneous contention that violent/horror cinema is perpetuating real-life tortures. Maybe we watch these films because we want to witness for ourselves the sinister element of the human mind, or the supernatural horror that terrified us when we were children. Perhaps we are fascinated with these underground films because we can observe a murder and watch a monster while remaining in completely safe environment. In the process, we alleviate our own fears and vicariously satisfy our darkest desires. These films are like specimens of poisonous animals, impaled on stakes and put beneath the lens of a microscope. We sometimes watch in disgust, we sometimes watch with delight; but at least we feel secure knowing that we have come to no physical harm in watching something horrific.

Mr Buttons avoids extreme violence like an evangelical Christian shunning the Satanic Bible, but it embraces an atmosphere of suspense that is sadly lacking in so many contemporary horror films. Mr Buttons is a terrifying concept sure to plague your mind long after the credits have rolled! Mr Buttons himself makes Pennywise the Clown seem like Ronald McDonald!

Mr Buttons was released via the independent film circuit in early 2007. The film should be included on the forthcoming Tales from the Carnal Morgue: Volume 1 DVD sometime this year. When the DVD is released, I shall return with an extended review discussing the disc by delving into the other treasures that will be provided. Until then, stay sick and bookmark the Steel Web Studios website! 10/10!

Reviewed by Pryce


 
Released by Carnal Morgue
Region 1 - NTSC
Not Rated
Extras :
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