Writer: Scott Reynolds
Released: 1997
Labels: Psychological|Chiller|1990's
Simon is a confessed serial-killer and an inmate in a brutal psychiatric hospital. He is visited by criminal psychologist, Dr. Karen Shumaker, and together they begin to explore his past and examine the state of mind that drove him to kill. As Simon tries to convince her that he doesn't need to kill anymore, the boundaries of what is real and what has been conjured from his disturbed psyche become terrifyingly blurred.
The Ugly is always going to suffer from the label "interesting" but that is what it is, a movie full of unusual ideas and experimentation. The story is actually pretty familiar, a serial-killer gets inside the head of those that try to understand him. What is not so familiar is the way in which the story is visualized. The filmmaker confounds the viewer with a bold yet limited use of color (almost exclusively red and blue) and with the same courage of conviction avoids garishly red bloody scenes, there is plenty of slashing and bleeding but the blood shown is inky black! The movie pitches back and forth in time as we get to know of Simon's violence and the reasons behind it, these flashbacks seem to blur into scenes of the present with ghostly images of his mental "visitors".
Much like the rest of The Ugly, the conclusion leaves you wondering if you are witnessing "reality" and as a result is a little disappointing.
For a low-budget (and only Scott Reynolds second) film there is much to be admired here and although it's not always coherently laid out, if you like your movies with quirky characters, an imaginative use of sound and cinematography and more than a pinch of the surreal (think Lynch or Kubrick) then this is certainly worth a watch.
Related Picks
No comments:
Post a Comment