David Nolte

10 June 2013

FAMILY DEMONS. Eerie & atmospheric. A GREAT debut!!!

Mixing with the A-list in Adelaide is always a treat, thoughadmittedly, being called A-list in Adelaide is akin to being bestice-skater in Ethiopia. What does it really mean?? Thanks toon-the-rise director/producer Ursula Dabrowsky, Mel (aka RECYCLOPATH)and I were invited the the cast and crew screening of her new filmFAMILY DEMONS at Adelaide's MERCURY CINEMA.I must say that I have become severely jaded where genre films areconcerned and didn't hold out high hopes for this low-budget, indierelease. It takes something out of the ordinary to hold my interestthese days, one too many installments in the SAW series has all butsapped the life out of me. But I was pleasantly surprised to find thatUrsula has crafted a nifty, original and effective film that maintainsinterest for most of its 80 minute running time.In short it's about abuse and the ghosts that never leave us, in everysense of the term.Newcomer Cassandra Kane is excellent in the lead role as Billie, thetortured teen who ends up with blood on her hands and a terrifyingspectre following her every move. Kane really will be an actress toreckon with in years to come and given her young age it's all the moreimpressive that she carries the whole film.The supporting cast are all good, with special mention going to KerryReid as Billie's alcoholic, abusive and downright unpleasant mother.The film, for the most part, belies it's low-budget and is beautifullyshot.And, credit where it's due, it contains a twist that I certainly didn'tsee coming. Rare these days when everything is telegraphed within aninch of its life.So Kudos to all involved. It's exciting to imagine what Ursula can comeup with with a decent budget. Let's hope it's not too long till we findout.

10 June 2013

Complete waste of time

This movie is so bad I just had to warn people about it. I don'tusually give reviews unless a movie is so lousy that I feel others needto be warned not to waste their time on it.First off, writers should always do a little research before theywrite. It states at the beginning of the movie that this takes place ina "small conservative town" called Adelaide. Well anyone with theability to google knows that Adelaide is the 5th largest city inAustralia with more than a million living there.And what is it these writers hate so much about small towns anyway?Maybe they should get out more and see the real world.Next, this is not original at all. It has all the stereotypes you couldthink of: the alcoholic abusive mother, her scrawny disease riddenboyfriend, the mean bully boys who want to rape any woman they see andthe simpleton daughter who can't fend for herself even though she looksabout 20 years old. Oh, and also the hero boy who wants to take heraway from it all.Here's the spoiler: Finally she gets fed up with the abuse and beatsher mother to a pulp with a hammer, then buries her in the back yard.But wait... maybe she just imagined that. Maybe she killed herboyfriend instead. We don't really know. The rest of the movie she'shaunted by her mother's ghost, ends up pregnant and becomes just likeher mother. It's so stupid it makes me laugh just thinking about it.And to top it off, the acting is terrible. Most of time the leadactress is standing there staring wide-eyed into space. It's like theyfound these people on the side of the road and asked if they wanted tobe in a movie. Hope they at least gave them a box lunch.Sorry, but this is a total waste of time and effort. Not even slightlyscary.