Roadkill (1994)

Not even a pittance of hope here

I first caught snippets of this one through a Necrophagia music video and didn't realize I had already seen another by director Jim Van Bebber just prior, which made me search out "Dead Beat at Dawn" and think the guy should have done more with the down, dirty and depraved talent he's got. This is along the lines of a really seedy version of "Eraserhead." The picture quality of "Roadkill: The Last Days of John Martin" makes it seem much older than the '90s, though it still adds a certain washed out grime and includes an atmosphere that feels surreal with strange and abstract music. This 14 minute film is nothing short of a nightmare as there's no resolve, just pain and a kind of dehumanization that comes with chills and sweats when the credits roll.

Enter a dwelling that any "flip this house" money maker would save the investment and move on as it looks like one of the nastiest hellholes imaginable. Never mind how someone could feel so at home there. A homeless man in a third world country would even be put off with the trash, rats, nonsensical writing, blood and even human skin masks on the walls. If they could make a special smelling device for the cinematic experience, then I'm sure it would implode in on itself with this one. Though he miraculously has a shower and a razor to keep up a regular front on the outside. This is like a roller coaster, you anticipate the risk beforehand, live the danger when riding by building to a culmination, and then finally the experience ends but with a plethora of sensations rather than a narrative story to tell afterwards.

John Martin is a loner, a cemetery stroller, a raw animal muncher, a binge drinker, an excessive TV watcher and who could forget a maniacal cackler. The beginning setup shows you just how crazy and unlikable he is until he steps out of his depressive dwelling and puts on the nice guy act when he meets two unsuspecting people who need a lift after their car conks out in the middle of nowhere. It creates an unpreventable trap with predator and prey to account for, but not a hero in sight. Not to mention the audience has no way to stop it and is given no way out, so you look on just to witness how far he takes the depravity that includes some gore and unsensual nudity. Even in the survival-of-the-fittest animal kingdom certain species will have competition among themselves, though they'll still form pacts to hunt outside species. This, on the other hand, has one antisocial human using cunning manipulation on desperate human beings for a sadistic gain. It shows that you can't let your guard down for anyone, because people aren't always who they seem, and with some much more worse than others. Just as you'd see a lion interact and go out on a hunt in a documentary, this is essentially the before and after of how a psycopath named John Martin stalks. Except in a way that's as filthy and disgusting as you can imagine to get that insider's look without holding back.

What makes this effective as a short is it gets right to it, no prancing around, no letting up with the oppressive feeling, no explanations so as to keep up the mystery and morbid curiosity, just a candid look at the sadistic and detestable. The experience is essentially more about those sometimes unexplainable emotions, rather than a constructive story to follow. So as a longer piece it most likely wouldn't have worked as it might have desensitized or lost the focus of viewers, but as is it packs a severe punch to the lower gut.

Rating: 8/10

Director: Jim Van Bebber
Stars: Mark Gillespie, Marc Pitman, Maureen Allise
Link: IMDB

My Sweet Satan (1994)

He served and died for his master...or so he thinks

The first time I saw this 19 minute short prior to finding it on DVD was around the early 2000s in a heavily bootlegged VHS tape through a fellow metalhead due to the soundtrack having a few extreme metal bands. At the time I thought it was just a low-budget exploitation piece but little did I know that it was based on the real life case of a 17 year old kid from New York named Ricky Kasso. In the film he's known as Ricky Kasslin and lives in Dayton, Ohio. Jim Van Bebber, who would go on to do "The Manson Family," would not only direct and write this but also step in as the main performer with drawn-on tattoos and a wild haircut--that looks in the way of Anthony Kiedis in "Point Break"--to show for his efforts at portraying this fractured individual who left a small stain on this Earth.

What works about this film is that it takes the perspective of multiple sides as to who was involved. There's enough room that a viewer can decide if they want to completely lambaste any and all involved, or be sympathetic, or possibly both. The devil worshipping aspect is brought a little closer to home and I'm sure can put a lot of people on edge. Yeah, occultists in old Hammer films with black robes and a certain precise order to their shadowy practices is one thing, but having an unsupervised kid running the streets and hanging out in local cemeteries is a lot more unpredictable and closer to your backyard. Except the film isn't mainly about that per se--even if it didn't hold back on the "praise Satans"--as it didn't try and show it was an epidemic that needs to have something done about it. It was a special set of circumstances that probably won't happen in the same way again. This is more about a delusional, misguided and rebellious kid who makes up his own rules and takes what he does to the absolute extreme, which ultimately leads to his end. Whether it would disobeying his parents and living on the streets, destroying property, fighting, doing excessive drugs, and then the main clincher being a quick but still brutal torture and murder over a prior dispute. One way of looking at it is he only lived 17 years on this Earth but lived it up by breaking whatever rules and deemed morals he could. He'll never see tomorrow, but what more does tomorrow hold in store for him?

The production values aren't stunning but this makes it a little more realistic that there are all unknown actors, real locations and natural mistakes. The acting is the equivalent of the public broadcasting channel for all those that are just used to fancy Hollywood movies, and the picture quality looks like somewhere in the '70s despite obvious trends in the '90s running rampant. Regardless of what comes out of their mouths everybody still looks the part. The atmosphere in this short essentially captures what was apparently going through Kasslin's head. The story is pretty straightforward but there are still various shots and snippets of dialogue to get a feel for his demeanor, motivations and lifestyle. There's some narration overtop to explain what the people were thinking at that time and how they would have done it differently after the fact. It goes to show how someone can get caught up in something without even realizing what they're doing because they're so directly in the moment.

Rating: 7/10

Director: Jim Van Bebber (Deadbeat at Dawn)
Stars: Jim Van Bebber, Terek Puckett, Mike Moore
Link: IMDB, Real life story