The Hornet's Sting and the Hell It Caused (2014)

(out of 5)



The Hornet's Sting and the Hell It Caused (2014)

directed by:  Dustin Mills
starring:  Joni Durian, Allison Egan, Minnie Grey, Dave Parker
Format:  Personal Collection NTSC:  Region 1 Client List Edition

         Dustin Mills is on top of his game.  He is probably the most creative and imaginative independent filmmaker out right now for many reasons but it's his style  of shooting and writing that grab me the most.  Yes he's a great innovative fx artist but the further he goes in this business the more and more I just love seeing his camera work and finding out what new story he has in store for his viewers.  Nothing Dustin does is ever boring or mundane or even repetitive.  From the titles of his films all the way through the dialogue his writing is just off the wall and never predictable.  Dustin takes ideas that have been done over and over and adds a twist of lime to make everything that much better. 
     Here we have the "A" typical torture porn movie which is a term I hate to use but it paints the picture pretty well so there you go.  I myself have waded through the many indie films of this kind and grew tired and bored of it long ago.  For some putting naked women up on screen getting tortured becomes boner footage for most of their viewers no matter how those viewers try and rationalize it and it makes a quick buck. I may be in the minority but you need much, much more than that to impress me when it comes to making movies of any kind.  And well here comes Dustin Mills to do just that.  When I found out the small details I did of Hornet's Sting I was on the fence waiting.  I mean Her Name Was Torment was definitely similar but in my opinion it was far more of an art film and this is definitely a torture and humiliation film.  I'd use the words "and nothing else" after that last sentence but with Dustin there is never "nothing else". 

     I will not get into a lot of spoilers here as I try and never do but let's just say the characters get tortured and photographed by a very cruel and merciless person donning a red skull mask forcing people to do a variety of things for a book of "clients".  Is there much to the story here?  Nope and neither does there need to be.  Mills brings us to the very brink of modern independent filmmaking and goes a step further by creating a pink madness I will never forget.  I watched this three times the weekend I received it.  It was that impressive.  The acting was on point in every case most especially with Joni Durian and Allison Egan.  In a lot of the torture films I have seen the case is the director did not care at all about the acting abilities of his performers just whether or not they had nice bodies for the viewers to look at amongst the blood.  Well in this case we have both which is what I always prefer.  Art isn't art in my opinion when it has no soul, no intelligence, and Dustin whether he realizes it or not always provides intelligent cinematic creativity. 

     So without babbling on too much more and ruining the whole thing my recommendation is to snatch this puppy up.  Dustin really has raised the bar with independent filmmaking, no one and I mean no one works as hard as this man.  Proof is in not just the quantity of his productions but for me the quality at which they are produced.  And to add to that no one is like him, the only filmmaker I can think of that is would be Frank Henenlotter.  If anyone deserves more credit and recognition in the indie business it's Dustin Mills.   So go get stung and enjoy it.