Nickolasecook Reviews

Headspace (2005)

Headspace

[10 October 2006]

Headspace Independent film has changed so radically in the last fifteen years that it's almost impossible in most cases these days to get a feel for the raw power that independent cinema once provided. HEADSPACE has got that rawness, but with the sense of professional productions values that usually only a large studio can provide. And in a decade of useless sequels and remakes of the classics of horror, this movie is a welcome breath of fresh air to the ailing genre.

From the very beginning, in a menace-laced prologue of a seemingly insane mother (played by Sean Young) going on a rampage against her husband (played by actor/director Larry Fessendan) and two sons, it taps into the sense of unease associated with familial secrets. Admittedly, the prologue is a bit of a red herring, but does add to the overall tone of the film, so its obvious misdirection can be forgiven.

After a nastily sodden matriarchal death, we flash ahead to contemporary NYC as a young man sits for a chess game with a sardonic older man in the park. This is our first clue that there might be a connection between Alex (played by stage actor Christopher Denham) and Harry (played by a brilliant talent, Erick Kastel) about which we know nothing.

Later Alex seeks help from doctors (played by Dee Wallace Stone and William Atherton) about his agonizing headaches and his sudden ability to speed read and know secrets about people he's never met before.

The mystery deepens when we find out that Alex sees demons in his nightmares…and they're soon coming through to the real world.

Enough said, or else we might spoil the experience of viewing this excellent film.

The strengths of HEADSPACE far outweigh the weaknesses, but while I'm discussing them…let me say it does suffer a bit from the MTV sickness. You know what I mean, right? You know…those video montage flash-cut editing tricks. I've always found them annoying. It does nothing for the narrative in most cases, and tends only to call attention to the director, not the story. It's when HEADSPACE loses these childish pretensions of mock style that it becomes a truly good horror movie.

The musical score keeps a surprising balance and unity to the narrative, blending seamlessly into the background, despite the jarring rock music thrown in as an afterthought. Without the rock music montages this might have been one of the most perfectly constructed musical scores for a horror film since THE SIXTH SENSE. It was subtle and winding, like a Harold Budd/Brian Eno album for film.

And I don't usually commend an editor because I feel the less conscious we are of the editing the better the editor has done his/her job. But I've got to give some kudos to Elwaldo Baptiste for his condensed style of editing, especially when it comes to trying to fill in all the background we need for the story. It couldn't have been an easy task to get two movies worth of stuff in an hour and half film. But this came off pretty well in the end product.

The special effects are real, folks. No freakin' overused watery CGI crap here. Used sparingly, but to great effect to the end product, I found the only letdown was actually seeing the creatures full on. They suffered a bit from the rubber suit syndrome. But still it does work very well up to that point. Creepy cinematography helps keep them in shadow and just out of focus.

There's a complexity to the story that the packaging belies. Trust me. Don't go by the pathetic synopsis that the packaging provides, or else you're never going to watch this film. And any horror fan should definitely see this. It's not a prefect movie by far--what with the scattered midstream story, the frustrating red herrings tossed in as an attempt to obfuscate an already convoluted narrative, and the useless sex scene thrown in for those who can't seem to find a true demarcation between horror and sexual taboos. But if you can set those minors flaws aside, you'll find a diamond in the rough with HEADSPACE. I'm definitely going to be looking for more from Andrew van den Houten in the future. I think if he can get a few more years of film-making under his belt, he might have something powerful to say in this genre.

--Nickolas Cook

This Hollow Sacrament (2006 Video)

This Hollow Sacrament Review by Nickolas Cook

[9 August 2006]

Review of "This Hollow Sacrament" By Nickolas Cook

Director: Greg Stechman

It takes a true talent to find an original voice in the overdone serial killer sub-genre in cinema. And Greg Stechman is that talent. His debut film, "This Hollow Sacrament", drags you kicking and screaming into the depths of hell and doesn't let you up for air.

The film follows the story of a tortured ex-soldier, now police detective, as he and his partner attempt to track down a bizarre series of disappearances, and subsequent, brutal slayings of young women.

Let's talk independent film for a minute. A major studio doesn't have any control over it, so you don't have to worry about the slicing and dicing by untalented boobs that wouldn't know a good shot from a beaver shot, but because it's an indie, the funds are very restricted. Every dollar has to count. It's a financial, and career, risk for the fledgling director, for he/she is putting it all on the line. All around they're a gamble. The sad state of today's indie cinema is that most sink into obscurity under their own weight of dull unoriginality, usually somewhere along the first three minutes into a film, showcasing the utter lack of talent and vision. "This Hollow Sacrament" is stamped with Stechman's bleak vision of people whose lives have been subjugated by lost dreams, selfishness, and just plain evil. And despite its obvious indie limitations, there's a lot to praise here. Stechman has vision and talent, and knows how to use music to set the tone, although some of his choices seem a little out of place for their accompanying scenes. I'm talking about the thrash metal background in particular, which doesn't do much those scenes, except downplay their importance to the narrative. The editing plays a major part in pulling this narrative along, especially during the violence sequences, where it helps the camera set a tone of impersonality for the audience to absorb the essence of the terrible acts of violence. However, there are a few key scenes that seem a bit over-cut, and they don't allow the dialogue to play out naturally. As it's only two scenes in particular that it becomes obvious, it's hardly noticeable. Stechman's knows how to frame for effect. He uses color and sound, but it's usually in conjunction with spacial and lighting harmony. These elements are especially well done in the sequences involving violence. The characters are given time to unfold and expose their weaknesses. The highlight is the killer, scene for scene, best delivery and best acting chops. The biggest issue I had with the film was the dialogue. There are some scenes that come off a bit rusty. Whether this is because they needed extra takes to get a more natural flow from the actors, or the actors may not have been able to deliver the dialogue convincingly anyway, who knows? Some of it will jar you right out of the picture for a moment until it segues to another sequence. Also there's some awkward parallel footage of soldiers in Iraq used for the story that doesn't come off as well as one would think the director hoped it would, footage that's not justified until the end of the film, and even then, not to any degree of solidity that made it imperative viewing. But let's talk about the violence in "This Hollow Sacrament"-- because I think that's going to make or break the success of this film. It is unrelenting, clinical, bloody and in your face. The drill scene may be one of the most grueling scenes I've ever sat through. I almost vomited when...never mind...You'll have to wait to see it for yourself. Stechman knows how to make to hurt for the viewer, giving us just enough characterization to create empathy for his victims. This is not the cartoonish violence of Friday the 13th. It's more in line with Bergman's "Virgin Spring", or Doug Buck's gruesome work, as it tends to make your skin crawl. My final word on "This Hollow Sacrament" is that Stechman shows a spirit of 'getting there' in this independent film, one that I think he may just capitalize upon to even greater success in his next feature film.

--Nickolas Cook 08/09/06