Josh Bell
The ambitions of this week’s fringe VOD releases include two crass set-ups for unlikely sequels, two sweeping political statements grounded in personal stories, and one exploration of sexual identity via thriller cliches.
King of Killers (VOD and select theaters September 1): As a writer, Kevin Grevioux is best known for creating the Underworld franchise, and since then he’s been chasing similar success with other original genre properties, in movies and in comic books. Grevioux’s directorial debut is “based” on a graphic novel that doesn’t actually exist, an allegedly upcoming release from his Darkstorm Comics. The poorly paced movie plays like the haphazard prologue to a series that hasn’t been properly planned out, with sketchy world-building borrowed from influences like John Wick and Wanted. Grevioux’s grandiose ambitions are at odds with his minimal resources, and the supposedly epic battle between a team of assassins and the mysterious villain Jorg Drakos (Frank Grillo) takes place mostly in empty corridors and storage rooms. Latter-day Kickboxer star Alain Moussi is dull and wooden as the upstanding hero, and the fight scenes are perfunctory, even with B-movie action stalwarts like Moussi, Georges St-Pierre, and the towering Grevioux himself. Grade: D+
8 Found Dead (VOD and select theaters September 8): The rise in popularity of vacation rentals has done wonders for the horror genre, and 8 Found Dead follows higher-profile movies like Barbarian and The Rental in generating suspense from unsuspecting people booking a stay at a home with danger lurking inside. Director Travis Greene generates only minor suspense, really, in part because of an ill-advised non-linear structure that reveals the deaths of most of the main characters before they occur onscreen. Two couples plan to meet up at a luxurious house in the middle of the California desert, each arriving at different times only to encounter an older husband and wife who claim to have booked the home themselves. Tim Simek and Rosanne Limeres are suitably creepy as the alternately ingratiating and hostile guests, although there’s never any question about their true intentions. The would-be victims are largely annoying, and the movie just marks time until returning to their inevitable killings. Grade: C
American: An Odyssey to 1947 (Select theaters September 8; VOD September 12): As a documentary about the early career and political activism of Orson Welles, director Danny Wu’s film is straightforward and informative, if a bit dry. As a larger statement about American society in the 1930s and ’40s, it’s less successful, awkwardly weaving in the stories of two other figures with dubious connections to Welles. While various talking-head experts comment on Welles’ childhood and initial forays into theater and radio, Wu abruptly switches gears to describe the contemporaneous political landscape, and he later introduces Hiroshima survivor Howard Kakita to present his own life story. After an hour, Wu also brings in the story of Black World War II veteran Isaac Woodard, which relates more closely to Welles but still dilutes the focus more than adding to it. The individual pieces are all interesting, but they’re clumsily integrated in a documentary that doesn’t quite have the sophistication to achieve its lofty artistic goal. Grade: B-
Ariel: Back to Buenos Aires (VOD September 12): What starts out as a sultry, tango-infused drama about two adult siblings rediscovering their Argentinian roots jarringly shifts into heavy social commentary as the characters learn about their family’s possible connection to Argentina’s prior military dictatorship. Cristina Rosato radiates passion and sensuality in the tango scenes, while Raphael Grosz-Harvey mostly just mopes as her troubled brother. The Canadian-raised siblings travel to Buenos Aires to explore their past, which involves a group that tracks down children who were stolen from imprisoned activists in the 1970s and ’80s. Writer-director Alison Murray inelegantly mashes together two tonally divergent stories, and all the sexy dancing and vibrant street scenes seem irrelevant as the devastating family secrets come to light. The two elements connect via a laughable coincidence that undermines the emotional power of both siblings’ stories. There are some lovely images of Buenos Aires and strong performances, but Murray can’t fully do justice to any of the subject matter. Grade: C+
The Latent Image (VOD and DVD September 12): It’s not surprising that director and co-writer Alexander McGregor Birrell adapted The Latent Image from his short film, since he really has to stretch the material to fill out even a slim 83-minute running time. It takes place entirely in and around a remote cabin where aspiring author Ben (co-writer Joshua Tonks) has isolated himself to work on his novel. His concentration is interrupted by the arrival of a clearly sinister stranger (Jay Clift), who claims that his car broke down nearby. The interactions between Ben and the nameless interloper are meant to straddle the line between kinky foreplay and dangerous menace, but they mainly just make Ben look stupid for trusting this obvious killer. Birrell overloads the movie with cheap, irritating dream/hallucination fake-outs, which serve only as repetitive padding. Ben’s emotional arc about embracing his sexual identity never thematically connects with the stock home-invasion plot, leaving the chemistry between the lead actors as the only real asset. Grade: C
