Film: Needle
Year of production: 2010
UK Release date: 13th June 2011
Distributor: High Fliers
Certificate: 18
Running time: 90 mins
Director: John V. Soto
Starring: Tahyna Tozzi, Jane Badler, Travis Fimmel, Michael Dorman, Ben Mendelsohn
Genre: Drama/Horror/Mystery
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Australia
Language: English
Review by: Kevin Ilett
John V. Soto follows his debut, the 2009 mystery thriller Crush, with another Australian feature, the supernatural horror film Needle. The flick won a best makeup gong at LA’s Screamfest 2010, followed by a few more awards at the British Horror Film Festival.
The film will win no awards for its storyline, however. Set on a university campus, seemingly populated entirely by mumbling, confused-looking Calvin Klein models, the plot focuses on the mysterious deaths surrounding Marcus (Travis Fimmel), his love interest Mary (Tahyna Tozzi) and his friends: the jock, the nerd, the black guy and the sexy lesbian couple.
As each member of the group is killed off in bizarre circumstances, Marcus must uncover the truth around a supernatural death box (think the Lemarchand boxes in Hellraiser) which appears to be at the centre of the mystery and the re-emergence of Marcus’ suspicious, estranged brother Ben (Michael Dorman). As Marcus gets closer to the killer, he must also travel deeper into the darkest parts of his family history…
Horror has always been a genre with self-esteem issues. Ridiculed and reviled in equal measure by the mainstream, it’s an industry which is nevertheless a fertile breeding ground for potential talent. Inexperienced teams can obtain funding and distribution for their horror project because, if it ticks certain boxes, there will always be a market for the product. Horror films sell on the promise of sex and violence (in other words, basic human needs).
Whilst this offers fantastic opportunities for new talent to gain experience, the market is flooded with films so remarkably, so blandly average, because you don’t need a good idea to get your film made. Expectations are so low in horror that bad films win awards and critical faculties are repressed or even rendered irrelevant. Needle is a good example of such low standards. There’s such a void of originality displayed here, such an amateurish level of acting and production that in any other genre Needle would never have come even close to existence.
Needle is essentially a US-aping teen slasher, with the gimmick being that instead of a masked madman killer, we have a wooden box voodoo doll being operated by an unseen antagonist. The main problem here is that this motif removes all potential excitement, tension and surprise from proceedings. No-one gets chased, no-one jumps out at anyone, there are no iconic killer visuals and no opportunities for the victim to fight back. All the killer has to do is insert a photograph of his victim into the box, stab a doll a few times and, hey presto, job done.
Now, if you’re going to go with such a dull, predictable and unoriginal premise, there are still avenues open to the clever horror director to raise the film above the mire. Firstly, the film could rely on an ironic tone, with witty, knowing dialogue, tongue-in-cheek twists and clever nods to older, better films. Admittedly, this approach was already overdone by the time Scream 2 came out in 1997, but it can still raise the odd smile during a bad film. Unfortunately, Needle is utterly straight-faced (apart from a cameo by John Jarrat as a heavy-drinking coroner) and entirely humourless; its serious tone jarring absurdly with the ridiculous plot and terrible acting.
The other redeeming feature could have been the kills, an area of potential artistry, imagination and delicious invention. A bad horror film’s sins will always be forgiven by fans if there are fun kills to be had, but, again, Needle falls short. Despite winning the aforementioned makeup award, there is nothing special or inventive to be found here, just dullness repeated.
The only strand of interest to be found in Needle is in Michael Dorman’s portrayal of Ben, Marcus’ mysterious brother. Dorman plays the unhinged forensic photographer with a wild abandon and off-kilter glee, a cross between Nic Cage’s Bad Lieutenant and a stoned surfer dude. Ben’s bizarre and inappropriate behaviour is never explained and this idiosyncrasy, whether intentional or not, is strangely amusing.
Apart from Dorman, however, there’s a real lack of verve to be found in Needle. The acting is predictably wooden, but it often appears that they’re not even trying. Whole sequences are mumbled in an offhand, embarrassed fashion, potential subplots are forgotten or ignored and the denouement is offensively stupid even for a film this bad.
Needle is a poor film, which will be quickly forgotten. Its mild success up to this point is a damning indictment of the inexistent standards in the horror industry. KI
No comments:
Post a Comment