That Alien, Sound (dir. Brando Topp)
One of the more innovative films at this years PUFF comes in the form of a sci-fi rom-com/coming of age story about a young woman who becomes possessed by an otherworldly force. To be more specific, it’s about a young woman whose body is inhabited by a now-sentient sound wave. I’ll explain: While listening to some tunes on her headphones, Micah (Mia Danelle) suddenly screams like a banshee and drops to the floor, unconscious. Upon waking, it is revealed that through some amalgamation of magic, science, and emotional congruence, a sound wave has possessed her body, and is thrilled to be experiencing sentience for the first time. This, of course, is not easy for Micah’s friends and family to believe. To them, it seems their beloved Micah is suffering some sort of mental break. But Micah — I mean Sound, as she prefers to be called — insists that this is not the case. Small signs indicate that the young woman might be telling the truth. For one thing, Micah is a vegetarian, but Sound is enjoying one of her father’s famous cold cut sandwiches. Curious…
The film rests upon the stellar performance by Danelle, who embodies the childlike wonder that a newly “human” entity would certainly exhibit. It’s easy for those around her to become enchanted by her joy, even if they miss their loved one.
It’s a charming and delightful tale with a script that uses Sound’s perspective to wax philosophical on a multitude of human experiences. There are some remarkably thoughtful musings on family, identity, self-ownership, and even consent — but the final twenty minutes or so muddle the thematic threads en route to an unearned finale that doesn’t really work. It’s a small complaint, but it was a shame to see such a strong script whiff the landing.
Bystanders (dir. Mary Beth McAndrews)
One of the more controversial subgenres of horror is the rape-revenge movie. It’s a genre fueled by gendered violence, and in recent years, women have contributed to the subgenre in new ways, subverting the imagery and structure inherent to the form in an effort to reclaim the tropes in a more progressive, less exploitative manner.
Bystanders makes a valiant attempt at eliminating any chance that a misguided viewer might find the inciting incident titillating by removing it outright. Pulling focus away from the rape portion of “rape-revenge” and instead focusing on the intense catharsis that the latter concept tends to deliver. It would be a shame to spoil the mechanism of revenge that occurs in Bystanders, but it’s a novel concept that deserves a much better script and stronger production.
I don’t say this to denigrate the film for having a low budget, but instead to plead to the powers that be to give productions such as this one more money to work with. It’s clear the filmmakers care and are operating from a point of legitimate inspiration, but the limits imposed by the budget are felt at every turn. Wooden acting, flat direction, and an overall production design that give a rushed “kids shooting a movie in their backyard” vibe do significant damage to a film that I’m sure, with more resources, could’ve been an indie classic.
That said, there’s a crowd out there that will go nuts for this movie, and I hope it finds them and nets the filmmakers plenty of future opportunities.
All You Need is Blood (dir. Cooper Roberts)
16-year old Bucky (Logan Riley Bruner) wants nothing more than to be a filmmaker. He and his best friend Vish (Neel Sethi) spend their days shooting VHS movies in the hopes of one day becoming arthouse auteurs — ya know, the respectable type of filmmaking, as far from low-brow horror as possible. But Bucky’s pretentiousness has to be put in check when the greatest special effect imaginable falls right into his lap…I mean backyard.
It’s a meteor, and with it comes an infection from beyond the stars — an infection that makes quick work of turning Bucky’s dad into an actual zombie. And if you’ve got a real live (dead) zombie, you might as well make a horror movie. All You Need is Blood follows a madcap race against the clock as Bucky and friends try to utilize their (mis)fortune to make a high-art zombie movie before the submission deadline of a local film festival, while also doing their best to stem the spread of the zombie infection.
It’s a charming, high energy comedy that, despite never really taking its plot seriously, tells a touching story of friendship and the pursuance of one’s passions in the face of dissent. Logic can be thrown out the window in exchange for a freewheeling good time, complete with goopy effects, clever references, and one of the sickest (and funniest) creatures to grace the screen at PUFF. It’s the type of movie that makes you want to make a movie of your own, not just because it calls back memories of adolescent creative projects, but because it’s a film about how the process itself is the reward.
It’s also features grand comic performances from both Mena Suvari and Eddie Griffin, two people who should be in more movies, if you ask me.
