Fang

Well written script about a subject that, on some levels, something we've all felt, struggled with and have experienced. The mental illness journey that the main character endures is fascinating, eerie and real.

The relationship between the elder parent and him depicts a clash of something he must do out of necessity and love vs wanting the responsibility of it all to end. The mother actor was very good in portraying her own slip with reality.

But when he breaks, he breaks hard into an abyss that he could never escape....though he tried. You have the relationship building, suspense and even a bit of gore.... something for everyone!

FANG is a great, compelling film that is both a body horror film and a psychological horror film. The main character, played by Dylan LaRay, has some autistic tendenceis and pretty miserable life. He has a terrible job with a horrible boss and he lives with his mother, who has serious physical and mental problems. She suffers from Parkinson's Disease and her condition is rapidly deteriorating. Lowry gives one of her greatest performances, able to change her mood and tone very quickly, as when she gets angry. She can be a monster at times, but at other times can be a good mother. After Dylan gets bitten by a rat, he starts growing fur on his arms, and this is where the film becomes a gross Cronenbergian body horror film.

The acting is first rate- in fact, I am still angry at Dylan's boss for being such a jerk. LaRay is incredible and gives a strong emotional performance. He evidences some traits of schizophrenia and through his art and comic book drawing, he has created a new universe for himself, as he does not seem to fit in this one. His acting is great but Lynn Lowry steals the film. I have been a fan of hers for my entire life and this is one of her most serious and intense roles. At times, she is truly evil and tyrannical, at other times she is weak and vulnerable. At all times her acting is superb and realistic.

There are several other things that elevate this film to a modern classic.

First is the beautiful cinematography, and second is the editing, which is innovative and realistic and propels the story forward. The chemistry between the two leads is great and when the kid and his mother are arguing things get really exciting.

According to IMDB, this is the first full length film from director Richard Burgin. This is hard to believe, because the film is so well made that I assumed while watching it that the director had more experience. He is definitely someone to watch and I look forward to his next film. With its harsh look at autism, schizophrenia and Parkinsons Disease, this film does a great job at capturing these illnesses in its characters, and fans of psychological suspense (and body horror) are sure to enjoy this great film with its realistic performances of degeneration, angst, frustration, anger, and jealousy.

I saw Fang at a festival in Madison and was blown away by this dark, twisted, but very entertaining movie which blends surreal body horror and domestic psychological dread, with a mother/son dynamic so dysfunctional, it rivals Norman Bates' maternal bond in Psycho. It helps that both performances by mother and son are electric and delightfully unpredictable, each tick and quirk feels earned. They are compulsively watchable and so is the film. I really felt transported into a subjective dreamscape that unravels into a nightmare. But despite some really immersive visuals and sound design, Fang never loses focus on its characters, keeping it grounded despite the fantastical premise. It's hard to believe this is a debut low-budget feature because it's already got such a distinct authorial voice and is so well put together in all aspects. It looks and sounds incredible and really sucks you in!

Trying to get through his troubled life, a young man living with his sick mother and a live-in maid comes to believe that an encounter with a rat living in the house is slowly turning him into a rat-like creature and must keep the secret from others while carrying out his miserable existence.

This was a somewhat flawed genre effort. Among the better aspects at play here is the genuine sympathy elicited throughout here as this tries to make us care for what's going on. Seeing how his mother's mental and physical decline is occurring right in front of him with the quips and comebacks that manage to be forgotten about seconds later, the living conditions they're in or the overall issues he faces at work all combine together to paint a very endearing portrait of him long before he begins to undergo the psychological breakdown associated with the supposed transformation. Getting this aspect added to the mix only furthers everything established until then by taking the idea of the stress associated with the situation and applying it to the transformation that only ends up furthering his own mental snap. This is all quite fun and really helps to give this some likable factors for the most part. There are some issues to be had with this one. The biggest drawback to this one comes from the rather over-the-top means this takes to try to showcase his horrible living conditions that aren't rife with cliché upon cliché. Featuring tons of work to build up how his work life is a complete waste with a dead-end mentality and a jerk of a boss, disrespectful co-workers and no shortage of back-talk from his senile mother, this part of the film is incredibly easy to see where it's going and not offer up any kind of surprises which makes it all quite repetitive and frustrating. That carries over into the rest of his home life as dealing with his mother's instabilities and how that all takes a toll on everything around him creates way too much of a dead-end portrait that it becomes unbelievable even before taking the transformation into account. The unfortunate side-effect of that clichéd build-up is the film's other pretty overwhelming issue in that there's not much in the way of genuine horror going on for a large part of the running time. While running through the clichés of his troubled work and chaotic home lives gives a great sympathetic turn for him just on that basis alone, hardly any of it is terrifying or thrilling which is pretty problematic while waiting for things to get crazy regarding the belief that he's undergoing the physical change. Rather than give us the potential that something he's saying is supposed to be true, we're forced to take his word for it due to the generally underwhelming attempts at injecting a horrific atmosphere into these moments. That also causes the film to run on way too long for its own good and stretch out a running time it didn't need to, all of which drag this one down considerably.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

Wow!

The performances here are first rate!

Dylan La Ray, as Billy Cochran, and Lynn Lowry, as Billy's mother, Gina Cochran, bring strong skill, believability and nuance to this small but important film. Jess Paul, as Myra Valenti, Mrs. Cochran's caretaker and Billy's friend, also delivers a first rate performance.

Billy Cochran is a lonely 23 year old whose dad died young. He works a mind numbing job at a meat packing plant and comes home to a dingy Chicago apartment, where he tends to his aging, ailing mother. Once free from work and home responsibilities, Billy likes to draw, building elaborate alternate worlds and species in his art-notebook. But Mother is never far away, and yes, there are shades of Psycho here, as Billy's creative time is constantly interrupted by Mom's extreme neediness.

As Billy's mother slips ever deeper int late stage Alzheimer's she becomes emotionally abusive. This emotional and verbal abuse, along with a plot device that I won't mention so not to reveal any spoilers, cause Billy to begin his own slow slide into despair.

Dylan's ability to show us Billy's growing torment is truly remarkable, and Gina is simply stunning in her seamless switches through a massive range of human emotions, sometimes all in the same scene, with a face that goes from sweet and maternal to twisted and sinister at the flip of a switch.

Mood and tone are ominous, pushed along by very creepy soundtrack. Setting and locations are gritty urban rust, and Billy's transformation into something "other" seems all too real.

My only beef would be with the hard nosed boss. I believe this plot line could have been better developed. That said, this is an indie horror film on a budget, there's never enough time/money for everything; concentrating on that which matters most is what works.

Fang is a worthy film from Richard Burgin, an important new writer/director. I look forward to seeing what he does next!