*full disclosure: a screener of this film was provided by writer Mark Diestler.
Director: Jack Gastelbondo.
Writers: Jack Gastelbondo, and Mark Diestler.
Tagline: "The Past Never Dies."
The Inner Room is a film from first time feature film director Jack Gastelbondo and writer Mark Diestler. The film deals with a relationship falling apart because of a lost child, at a very slow pace. The use of characters is sparse, with two primary and two minor. Arguably, there are a few more minor charcters, but this lack of a diverse cast creates for an uncomplex script. The plotline, if you are cynical reviewer, can be broken down pretty quickly: are the visions caused because of the lack of medication or because of a haunting? However, Gastelbondo seems happy to experiment with filmmaking with the inclusion of blue and washed out filters, along with other filmmaking techniques. The slow pacing really drained...
Director: Jack Gastelbondo.
Writers: Jack Gastelbondo, and Mark Diestler.
Tagline: "The Past Never Dies."
The Inner Room is a film from first time feature film director Jack Gastelbondo and writer Mark Diestler. The film deals with a relationship falling apart because of a lost child, at a very slow pace. The use of characters is sparse, with two primary and two minor. Arguably, there are a few more minor charcters, but this lack of a diverse cast creates for an uncomplex script. The plotline, if you are cynical reviewer, can be broken down pretty quickly: are the visions caused because of the lack of medication or because of a haunting? However, Gastelbondo seems happy to experiment with filmmaking with the inclusion of blue and washed out filters, along with other filmmaking techniques. The slow pacing really drained...
- 9/28/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
The Inner Room PosterThe Inner Room is an independent horror film from director Jack Gastelbondo (Scare Tactics) along with writers Mark Diestler and Alan Dague-Greene. The film focuses on one woman's loss of sanity, as she stops taking her medication. A lot of strange things begin to take shape, with men emerging from bathtubs and shadows speaking in the forest. All the hallucinatory fun takes place in the first trailer for the film below. Also, a release date has been announced for April, 2011.
The synopsis for The Inner Room here:
"While visiting a cabin with her husband, Julianne becomes disturbed with horrific visions which question her sanity" (Trailer).
Release: April 10, 2011
Director/writer: Jack Gastelbondo.
Cast: Jessica Duffy, Marty Lindsey, and David Dalton.
The trailer for the film here:
The film's fan site:
The Inner Room on Facebook
Sources:
The Inner Room on Trailer Addict
Another independent film that this reviewer...
The synopsis for The Inner Room here:
"While visiting a cabin with her husband, Julianne becomes disturbed with horrific visions which question her sanity" (Trailer).
Release: April 10, 2011
Director/writer: Jack Gastelbondo.
Cast: Jessica Duffy, Marty Lindsey, and David Dalton.
The trailer for the film here:
The film's fan site:
The Inner Room on Facebook
Sources:
The Inner Room on Trailer Addict
Another independent film that this reviewer...
- 9/1/2010
- by 28DaysLaterAnalysis@gmail.com (Michael Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
The Zodiac Killer was California's Jack the Ripper, a serial killer who operated briefly in a limited geographical area, then vanished into history without his identity being discovered. Like our old friend Jack, the Zodiac has inspired his share of movies about his legend and lore including the original "Dirty Harry". The latest, "The Zodiac", takes an unusual angle and perhaps for this reason has sat on a shelf since it was made in 2003.
The film directed by Alexander Bulkley, which he wrote with his brother Kelly Bulkley and the help of Zodiac expert Tom Voigt, focuses most of its attention on the fictionalized family of a small-town cop, who is handed the impossible assignment of capturing the elusive killer. While three separate sequences of Zodiac murder are shown in fairly graphic detail -- almost gratuitously so for the kind of movie this wants to be -- "The Zodiac" is no crime thriller, but rather a police procedural in which the cops make absolutely no headway. The filmmakers essentially box themselves into an almost existential situation where nothing happens other than the unraveling of intimate relationships under insurmountable stress.
There is perhaps a small audience awaiting this ThinkFilm release, comprised of Zodiac obsessives and true-life crime fans, but its boxoffice outlook is nearly as bleak as the policeman's futile pursuit.
On a limited budget, Bulkley does a fine job of situating the story in a definite time and place. Images of the moon walk, Nixon, Vietnam and Black Panthers flicker across TV screens. Period details in the rural communities of the North Bay Area read convincingly without calling too much attention to the cars, hairdos and clothes.
From the first official killing on Dec. 20, 1968, of two teenagers at a desolate lovers' lane near Vallejo to the murder of a cab driver in San Francisco on Oct. 11, 1969, we watch the slow disintegration of the family of investigator Matt Parish (Justin Chambers) of the Vallejo Police Department. Their lives unravel as pressure from his chief Philip Baker Hall) to solve the crimes mounts and Matt loses himself emotionally in all the ciphers, codes and clues the murderer uses to taunt the police and press.
His young son, Johnny (Rory Culkin), soon emulates dad, collecting his own Zodiac memorabilia, news clips and clues in his bedroom where he develops his own theories about the astrological nature of the crimes. Wife Laura (Robin Tunney) turns into the cliche of the cop's wife, worried half to death yet unable or unwilling to turn the home into an oasis of peace for her husband.
Bulkley often shoots actors in tight shots as if to indicate danger lurks just outside the camera frame. Nothing ever comes of this either. Scenes showing the Zodiac Killer (Marty Lindsey) in his lair and even at three crime scenes are, of course, speculative. The only journalist (William Mapother) seen covering the case is portrayed as smarmy and smug as he reports -- quite accurately -- that the police are clueless in the matter. This is the cinematic equivalent of killing the messenger.
Few films have ever ended on such a low, anti-climatic note as "The Zodiac". The actors invested enough angst and desperation in their characters for them to deserve some sort of resolution to the family's dilemma.
While letters from the Zodiac continued for a number of years, claiming credit for 37 victims, he is linked conclusively to only seven, of which five died. Voigt's Web site, ZodiacKiller.com, makes a fairly convincing case that a man who died in 1992 was the killer.
THE ZODIAC
ThinkFilm
Shadow Machine Films/Myriad Pictures
Credits:
Director: Alexander Bulkley
Screenwriters: Kelly Bulkley, Alexander Bulkley
Producer: Cory Campodonico
Director of photography: Denis Maloney
Production designer: Jack G. Taylor Jr.
Music: Michael Suby
Costumes: Stephanie Portnoy
Editor: Greg Tillman
Cast:
Sgt. Matt Parish: Justin Chambers
Laura Parish: Robin Tunney
Johnny: Rory Culkin
William Mapother: Dale Coverling
Bill Gregory: Brad William Henke
Jim: Rex Linn
Frank Perkins: Philip Baker Hall
Zodiac Killer: Marty Lindsey
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 96 minutes...
The film directed by Alexander Bulkley, which he wrote with his brother Kelly Bulkley and the help of Zodiac expert Tom Voigt, focuses most of its attention on the fictionalized family of a small-town cop, who is handed the impossible assignment of capturing the elusive killer. While three separate sequences of Zodiac murder are shown in fairly graphic detail -- almost gratuitously so for the kind of movie this wants to be -- "The Zodiac" is no crime thriller, but rather a police procedural in which the cops make absolutely no headway. The filmmakers essentially box themselves into an almost existential situation where nothing happens other than the unraveling of intimate relationships under insurmountable stress.
There is perhaps a small audience awaiting this ThinkFilm release, comprised of Zodiac obsessives and true-life crime fans, but its boxoffice outlook is nearly as bleak as the policeman's futile pursuit.
On a limited budget, Bulkley does a fine job of situating the story in a definite time and place. Images of the moon walk, Nixon, Vietnam and Black Panthers flicker across TV screens. Period details in the rural communities of the North Bay Area read convincingly without calling too much attention to the cars, hairdos and clothes.
From the first official killing on Dec. 20, 1968, of two teenagers at a desolate lovers' lane near Vallejo to the murder of a cab driver in San Francisco on Oct. 11, 1969, we watch the slow disintegration of the family of investigator Matt Parish (Justin Chambers) of the Vallejo Police Department. Their lives unravel as pressure from his chief Philip Baker Hall) to solve the crimes mounts and Matt loses himself emotionally in all the ciphers, codes and clues the murderer uses to taunt the police and press.
His young son, Johnny (Rory Culkin), soon emulates dad, collecting his own Zodiac memorabilia, news clips and clues in his bedroom where he develops his own theories about the astrological nature of the crimes. Wife Laura (Robin Tunney) turns into the cliche of the cop's wife, worried half to death yet unable or unwilling to turn the home into an oasis of peace for her husband.
Bulkley often shoots actors in tight shots as if to indicate danger lurks just outside the camera frame. Nothing ever comes of this either. Scenes showing the Zodiac Killer (Marty Lindsey) in his lair and even at three crime scenes are, of course, speculative. The only journalist (William Mapother) seen covering the case is portrayed as smarmy and smug as he reports -- quite accurately -- that the police are clueless in the matter. This is the cinematic equivalent of killing the messenger.
Few films have ever ended on such a low, anti-climatic note as "The Zodiac". The actors invested enough angst and desperation in their characters for them to deserve some sort of resolution to the family's dilemma.
While letters from the Zodiac continued for a number of years, claiming credit for 37 victims, he is linked conclusively to only seven, of which five died. Voigt's Web site, ZodiacKiller.com, makes a fairly convincing case that a man who died in 1992 was the killer.
THE ZODIAC
ThinkFilm
Shadow Machine Films/Myriad Pictures
Credits:
Director: Alexander Bulkley
Screenwriters: Kelly Bulkley, Alexander Bulkley
Producer: Cory Campodonico
Director of photography: Denis Maloney
Production designer: Jack G. Taylor Jr.
Music: Michael Suby
Costumes: Stephanie Portnoy
Editor: Greg Tillman
Cast:
Sgt. Matt Parish: Justin Chambers
Laura Parish: Robin Tunney
Johnny: Rory Culkin
William Mapother: Dale Coverling
Bill Gregory: Brad William Henke
Jim: Rex Linn
Frank Perkins: Philip Baker Hall
Zodiac Killer: Marty Lindsey
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 96 minutes...
- 3/17/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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