Dweller

It is difficult to articulate the sheer awfulness of DWELLER, but I will try.

The film opens with an outer-space starship battle. The cut-and-paste special effects would look obsolete in a 1980s video game. One vessel is struck by a laser, and plummets to Earth, somewhere in the woods near Ottawa, Washington. An astronomer, Trevor (Jeff Dylan Graham) decides to check it out, much to the chagrin of his boss, Ben (J.H. McBride). (Ben: "If you call me here again, you're fired." He is on a cell phone.)

The alien spacecraft is not easy to track down, but the alien therein has no problems tracking down unsuspecting victims in the woods. Soon, he/she/it claims a hiker and a videographer. The "special" effects in the death scenes are difficult to describe. The actors playing the alien's prey are made to loll around in the leaves while a graphic that vaguely resembles spermatozoa burning through a high-school film strip is superimposed over them. There are few things more horrifying than death by static cling in broad daylight.

Eventually, what passes for a plot is introduced. A trio of bank robbers has just pulled off a $100,000 heist, and they hightail it to the woods. They are not the brightest assortment of ne'er-do-wells, which the actors try in vain to play for laughs. There is much infighting and eye-rolling. Little do they know that death by rejected Weather Channel graphics awaits them, as well. There are even a couple of superfluous black-and-white dream sequences to keep things uninteresting.

It is rare to find that special cinematic turd with no redeemable features, but this dingleberry is hanging around as the second feature on the double-sided, two-disc set known as SLEAZY SLASHERS. It is the "b" side of PSYCHO SCARECROW. 'nuff said.

Suggests that those who live by the sword, are bound to die by it, as well. Dweller opens in a baptism of violence, as three ex-cons pull off a gruesome, blood-soaked armed-robbery on a small downtown bank. They kill everyone before tearing off in a stolen car towards the false-shelter of the forests of the Pacific Northwest, just a few hours down the highway. High above the Earth, in the vast expanse of space, two rival intergalactic armies light up the blackness of the cosmos in a violent, laser-filled battle. It is during this violent skirmish that one of the saucers is damaged and veers off awkwardly towards Earth, in desperate need of repairs.

After driving long into the night, and experiencing some unexpected car trouble, the three tired crooks stumble upon a small empty cabin in the woods and decide to retire until they can make the necessary repairs to thei r vehicle. It isn't long before one of the cons (John Polonia) senses that all is not well, and that someone, or something, might be lurking in the forest around their makeshift cabin.

The film decides to take a sharp, and very calculated, turn in direction, switching from a bloody Arthur Penn-like gangster film, to a creepy, man versus the unknown, sci-fi outing. The music and cinematography all work to ratchet up the tension to an exhausting level. The trio find themselves stuck inside the claustrophobic confines of the ramshackle cabin, as the forest outside begins to take on a menacing texture with each pass by the cabin window. This, of course, gives way to an interesting character study of the three thugs as it becomes clear that all is not right around them, and the relationship between the three quickly disintegrates into a downward spiral of distrust, cynicism and violence. By film's end, I was wondering who was going to stab who in the back first... literally. Their demise, although predictable, is dispatched accordingly by the degrees of the various character's inherent malevolence. Jake's fate, although non-violent, and somewhat ambassadorial in tone, is clearly the most disturbing of the three.

Everyone is great in the movie, which features several significant names in the B-film universe including Leslie Culton, Jeff Dylan Graham and Matt Satterly - all of which appear in brief, but important roles. The most notable performance of the cast belongs to star Jon McBride, who is given the chance to play against type for a change, something that he hasn't been accustomed to doing in his nearly decade long film career. In Dweller, McBride offers up an unforgettable performance as the sadistic, sociopathic, misogynistic bank-robber, Jake. He is truly mesmerizing here. Jon was also a co-director, writer and editor on the project and his hard work is rewarded as this might just be his finest film to date. For myself, when I think of Jon McBride, I think of Jake. A testament to his ability as an actor.

There is at least two black and white sequences in the film; a dream, and a flashback, that feel somewhat out of place, but actually work in a quirky kind of way. The unforgettable flashback sequence, involving John Polonia stabbing to death a grocery store clerk after he has been caught perusing a store's aisles after hours, is very effective, as it gives the audience a grisly reminder of just what they are dealing with these three thugs.

This film is destined to become a cult-classic if it can find an audience. Last I heard, the Polonia's were having trouble finding a North American distributor. All I can say is, if you get the chance to watch this, don't pass it up. Dweller truly is a micro-budget treat.