- Written, produced and directed by Ryan Cavalline
- Starring
- Scott Surra
- Rich Williams
- Nathan Assalone
4th Floor Pictures kindly sent me a copy of 3 Evil Tales, their flagship anthology video. Since there really is no connection or framing device between the three segments, I’ll go ahead and give each its own mini-review. Each one was written, directed, and produced by (and features) Ryan Cavalline, the one-man-band behind 4th Floor.
Dead Body Man
The plot: An unlucky traveler whose car breaks down knocks at the wrong house for help — the crazed nutcase inside thinks that God has given him the mission to feed other people human flesh, and his neighbors are only too happy to buy it from them.
Technical: Shot on video (as were all the segments), then subjected to some process which reduced the picture quality slightly but broke up the smoothness of normal video. (My guess is that it’s some inexpensive Film Look process, but I know barely anything about the technical end of video.) Oddly enough, two scenes in the middle of the story were done without whatever process was used on the rest; the result is jarring. Lighting is adequate throughout, though in some outdoor night scenes it’s obvious that the light in question is mounted on top of the camera.
Artistic: In general, the storyline leaves no room for real development in the timeframe allotted, but the spark here comes from the crazed redneck (players weren’t listed by role in the credits, but I’m thinking that’s Ryan Cavalline himself), who mutters to himself about his divine mission throughout. Also evident is director Ryan’s sense of pacing throughout — when our hapless victim enters the house, the first thing he notices is a bewildering collection of crucifixes in different styles — a fact which the camera lingers on lovingly.
Deviant
Plot: A junkie college student buys a new drug called “Devil’s Foot” from a fat slob who turns out to be the devil; a mildly psychedelic fight for the student’s soul ensues.
Technical: Worst of the three, in terms of visuals. All scenes take place either in a dimly lit night exterior, or in a murky college dorm room — nothing is ever really given a chance to spark or stand out. On top of that, several of the cutaway edits (”Look! That gun wasn’t there before!”) don’t work as intended.
Artistic: Also worst of the three. The audience figures out that the fat slob is Satan about 20 seconds before the student does, and I thought, “Now that’s a nifty interpretation of Satan — a fat, annoying guy who happens to be the Lord of Darkness.” But then Satan started talking in pretentious, “You cannot escape me, mwah-ha-ha-hah” lines which the fat guy just couldn’t pull off believably. On top of that, the whole middle of the story is taken up with the student, back in his apartment, discovering a gun on his floor, and then finding out that a couple was shot to death the night before (while he was apparently wandering in a drug-induced haze). Despite the attention paid to it (in the form of a long conversation), it really has no bearing on the story at hand.
Day of the Axe
Plot: Years ago a twelve-year-old slaughtered his family and was put in an institution. Now an adult, he escapes and starts slaughtering people with an axe while wearing a Halloween mask. (Yeah, I know it’s an obvious ripoff of — or homage to — Halloween, but the big difference here is he does his stalking in daylight, in the snow.)
Technical: I read on some website somewhere (damned if I know where) that this film started out as a bunch of buddies fooling around with the camcorder. Despite that, it actually has the best look of any segment. Snow on a sunny day is hard to photograph, but they pulled it off well; it gives it a real zippy look.
Artistic: There’s not much room for plot again — “Psycho kills several people until stopped by intended victim” — but the whole thing is done with a spark that conveys enthusiasm. Also, the whole “blood spattered on the snow” trick (which just about everybody tries, and it comes off looking cheesy) worked well; again, Ryan the director paced the editing so that there was some real visual impact.
Bottom Line: The first and third segments showcase some of Ryan’s talents well; I would love to see him apply those talents to something of feature length (with good lighting on the interiors!). Who knows, we could have the next Sam Raimi here. (And wouldn’t the current Sam Raimi be pissed.)
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