Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Her Name Was Torment





HER NAME WAS TORMENT
Writer/Director:Dustin Wayde Mills
Starring:Allison Egan, Brandon Salkil, Jackie McKown, Dustin Wayde Mills
Availability: DVD Available at http://dmp.storenvy.com/
Rating:


    What can I say about the cinematic magician that is Dustin Wayde Mills?  First of all, the pretentious prick needs to quit going by his entire name.  Dustin Mills should do just fine, don't you think?  In all seriousness, though, the man, in only a few short years, has already built himself an eccentric, quirky filmography that is anything but conventional.  It's no secret that I find him to be the greatest director working in the indie scene right now.  His past two features, The Ballad of Skinless Pete and Kill That Bitch, were simply fantastic movies that showed Dustin moving away from some of the sillier themes of his earlier flicks into places much darker and more sinister.

    Not too long ago, Dustin had talked about how much he wanted to try to make an experimental film.  Naturally, as an enormous fan of the experimental format myself, I was totally into the idea.  After getting a few fans to throw a little money his way, he started crafting this, definitely one of the most unusual films he has made.  In a lot of ways, I see this almost as the film a lot of people expected Kill That Bitch to be.  It's a dark, haunting, and at times quite nasty little sleazefest.

    There's a woman being interrogated about a series of murders.  We cut to several scenes of the same woman, wearing a grotesque mask, and torturing an unnamed man, played by Mills regular Brandon Salkil.  The torture comes across as almost ritualistic, and is later revealed that there may be some otherworldly force behind what the woman is doing.  That's really about all the plot you're going to get here.  Now, keep in mind that movies made in this style aren't centered on trivial things like plot.  Experimental cinema is something you experience.  It's a director throwing caution to the wind and daring to do something different.  Is this experiment a successful one?  For the most part, I'd say it turned out to be very fucking successful.

    Dustin is a man who truly understands how to craft a film that manages to be thoughtful, compelling, and completely unlike anything else you've ever seen.  There are moments in the film that might bring to mind the works of Jorg Buttgereit and Andrey Iskanov, but Dustin's mind works in a totally different, though no less deranged way.  His style is far less intense than Andrey's, and he doesn't have the nihilism of Buttgereit.  There are elements of extreme horror in Her Name Was Torment, but you sort of feel Dustin could have gone further in that area.  Now, this isn't a knock against the film at all.  Dustin has never been about the extreme side of horror, so to see him tackle material this twisted at all is quite surprising.

    The majority of the film is shot in grainy black and white that calls to mind early Japanese cyberpunk, though far less spastic in nature.  It looks terrific, and the atmosphere it helps create is wonderfully chilling.  This is a film that haunts you.  I should also point out that Allison Egan, the actress of this piece, gives quite the performance.  There's a scene between her and a corpse that was definitely more than a little jaw-dropping, and watching it, it occurred to me that I was oddly turned on by what was going on in front of me.  Is that wrong?  Probably.  Do I care?  Not one fucking bit.

    Crumpleshack Films, the production company name associated with this film, is meant to be a place where Dustin can make these odd, quirky, sleazy little gems.  He's still devoted to his work with DMP (Dustin Mills Productions for those not in the know), but he wants to tone down his DMP stuff, and leave his more fucked up ideas for the Crumpleshack films.  So, essentially, Dustin has developed multiple personalities, and now has to have two production companies to satisfy each one.  There's something really wrong with this guy, and I hope someday he gets the help he needs.

    Now, is Her Name Was Torment on par with his one-two punch of The Ballad of Skinless Pete and Kill That Bitch?  Not quite.  Still, though, I'm not saying this is a regression at all.  This is a tightly paced 50 minute mindfuck that shows Dustin trying out some new ideas, which is something I always welcome from any filmmaker.  It's a film that definitely leaves you wanting more, and there is talk of a sequel if the response for this film remains high.  I definitely recommend this bad boy.  Few directors are doing this sort of thing with as much intelligence and skill that is displayed here.  If this doesn't sell you on it, keep in mind there are boobs, which I think we all can agree is always a wonderful thing.

    Also, before I close this review, I feel inclined to give a shout out to Nick Gootee and Jason West, the two men who made invaluable contributions to the film, and without whom the movie might not have been made.
https://www.youtube.com/user/IZOtheSLAUGHTERER  Here's a link to Nick's Youtube channel.
http://www.vultravideo.bigcartel.com/  Here's a link to Jason's store for Vultra Video.  Really cool stuff if you're a VHS collector.

    Until next time, my fellow freaks and weirdos...



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