A lot of film-makers cut their teeth with short films and in such short space of time have to leave an impression with the viewer. With shorts you can get a fragment of something wonderful, a slice of something that could germinate later on into a full blown feature, or for the most part you get instantly forgettable efforts whilst all well and good for the filmmaker and their practice don't leave too much a lasting impression on the youtube viewer or festival goer.
Leon's Broken Mind is no such film. For it's short running time director Bazz Hancher has made a sledgehammer of a film that will be an endurance to those viewers who aren't exposed to their cream of exploitation fayre - and even to those who are it will come as a shocker!
Hancher really takes no prisoners as we follow mentally ill Leon who has visions of his dead abusive father and rents out video nasties which urge him to commit murder, and beyond!
The horrific scenes build and build in extremities until it reaches a particular scene that you won't be forgetting for some time. Richard Rowbotham gives a bold and commendable performance as Leon and should be applauded for his daring portrait. It is with this film and his other appearances that he really shows some versatility as an actor. Kudos to Hancher for pushing the limits with a short film that for my money would be worth buying on a disc alone. Luckily it comes with 3 other shorts, all with something grim to offer the viewer but none of them quite living up to the sickness of Leon's Broken Mind!
Gorehounds and lovers of the real deal in underground cinema get your hands on a copy of FILMS FROM A BROKEN MIND from White Raven Films.