The Welder

I was fortunate to watch the premiere of The Welder at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. Directing, screenplay, Cinematography, Cast, location, suspense, humor, love, passion, betrayal, blood and more .. all "welded" into one brilliant film.

I love the original screenplay and the fact you still get nods and references to horror cult classics it's a plus !

Without giving away any spoilers, the director/writer pays tribute to classic horror films and does a great job! Vincent De Paul does a great job playing a creepy guy with a hidden agenda. If you're looking for a on your edge of seat horror film, give this film a look and you won't be disappointed.

I've been a fan of genres films since I was a kid; I grew up watching horror and thrillers like Scream, Candyman, Silence of the lambs, Dusk till dawn, and so many others. I'm a fan of slashers and gore, but also really enjoy when a film lets me in on the characters backstory. I think this is one of the reason The Welder resonated with me. It wasn't scary in the traditional sense, I wouldn't compare this film to the insidious franchise or Hereditary for example; I feel like those films fall squarely in the horror genre category, The Welder is different. It combines elements of Body horror, thriller, drama, and heck even a pinch of that delicious camp we all loved from the 90s. With those ingredients combined, The Welder really delivers in more ways then one. Firstly, since there is such an intimate cast, Director David Liz and co-writer Manny Delgadillo were able to really develop each character like an onion, with many, many layers. This allowed me to really understand who each character was and why they were doing what they were doing; which in turn helped me understand the film on a deeper level. Another thing I liked about the film was the acting. It was a cast of unknowns, but they were so good. Camila Rodriguez (Eliza) and Roe Dunkley (Roe) really sell their relationship and I really felt for Roe when.... Actually, no spoilers here, watch the film. Camila is a beautiful, young, and Latina actress who has so much talent she is most certainly not going to remain unnoticed for long. Roe is so good as well, he reminds me of a mix between young Will Smith and John David Washington. Vincent De Paul (Dr. Godwin) plays an amazing villain, who turns out to be more of an anti-hero. Mr. De Paul was excellent, his deep and honest portrayal of Dr. Godwin was moving and expertly executed; you can tell he is a seasoned performer, such a phenomenal actor. Cristian Howard (Don) plays the perfect Igor (Frankenstein reference), with his expertly executed depiction matched with his piercing green eyes he really created a magical mood which I haven't seen in a horror film for a long time. The thing I liked most about the movie is it's message of unity. Although there are scares, blood, sparks, and cut off limbs the overall message is one of togetherness. Like their tagline reads: We're all Red inside. In a way this movie is certainly trying to teach it's viewers a lesson, almost like a warning to society: Sometimes when you try to fix things, you inadvertently makes things worse.

The actors and motivated team members demonstrated superior technical ability in this type of horror film. The producers work of exceptional quality. The movie takes the time ton fully demonstrate the scope of the project and displays a keen attention to detail. Characters, scene, costumes are firing on all cylinders to make the horror film a worth repeated viewing. Is a horror film that depicts what happens when a man is introduced to the pain of loosing a love one. The main characters find themselves getting into a world of trouble that they never expected. A legendary performance in this film as a female lead.

Alright guys, so this one over all... was rough. However, keeping in mind that this was INDI indi... it should be judged as such and was not unsuccessful on all fronts.

Plot wise, we were lacking here people. It had me engaged very loosely for about the first half but started to fall off after that. Felt like someone just went "yo, but like, listen... what if there was a dude who did this and that cause of this relevant issue and like... yeah, gnarly" when in actuality it was a kinda lame... or at least the execution of the reveal/main concept really let it down. I was just barley holding on until this point and it was a bit of a let down, so after that it was just about finishing the movie out.

I passed this trailer a few times and something brought me back to it even though I did not have high hopes. I think one of the big positives is the atmosphere created here. It sets quite the spooky tone and has a great location to do so. Sometimes that was a bit negated by jumpy cuts, silly zooms and bad angles that brought you out of the fantasy at times. The only shots that really stood out were some lovely drone shots.

Another thing that drastically took you out of the fantasy was the acting. Home girl that played the main character did a pretty decent job. Could have used a bit wider range of emotion but by far the best. I saw a lot of potential in the boyfriend having some really natural and relatable moments, however a lot of his delivery was stilted and uncomfortable to watch. Quite honestly, everyone else...plainly... was bad and we don't need to harp on that.

This was riding on a 4 for me for about 2/3s but unfortunately the third act dropped it down to a three. As I said, still not completely unsuccessful. If you love very indi horror you might enjoy, but all in all probably wouldn't recommend to most.