Trash Fire

It's hard to rate and review this film. It wants to be a dark comedy, but then tries to be something much more serious and emotionally disturbing as it dives into horror, yet springs back again here and there... and even some of the horror elements are quite funny.

I'd have to say this is much more of a dark comedy drama with a lot of tension and negativity. This is not a Romance/Comedy or even your typical Horror comedy. The comedy is much more situational and mostly stems from the interaction of emotionally disturbed people who loathe one another.

That said, this wasn't a B-rate production. There are some very talented actors with very believable characters and some enjoyable moments with the dark humor. It's quite twisted, but well-made. So, I give it a 6 because it never bored me and though I cringed a lot, it was enjoyable enough to deserve a positive rating. However, I doubt it has much replay value.

I wouldn't recommend this as a must-see to anyone, but if you love dark comedies and/or twisted horror and have some time to kill, I think this would entertain.

Trash Fire is such a remarkably odd film, thriller? romance? comedy? horror? It truly does have it all.

Starring Adrian "Entourage" Grenier it tells the story of a young couple struggling to stay together, partially because the guy is a bit of an a-hole (Yet oddly I related to him more than I've related to a character in years). In an effort to build bridges they travel to spend time with members of his highly religious family, but things take a dangerous turn.

Notably the performances are fantastic especially Grenier, the script is first class and some of the best writing I've seen in months and the concept behind the movie is solid (Though simple).

It's a tale about relationships, redemption and the lunacy of religion. It still surprises me how 80% of the US identifies as Christian yet the vast majority of the time when religion is presented as subject matter in movies it's shown as either dangerous or "Wacky". This always pleases me and demonstrates a firm grasp of reality by those who write these things. The inclusion of Christianity into the tale which evolves into an antagonist is fantastic and really helps the film no end.

Trash Fire though very oddly constructed is a very enjoyable film hampered only by the questionable finale. I don't think the ending is bad, but had it been better so too would my rating.

Regardless this is very enjoyable stuff for those seeking something that little bit different.

The Good:

Some incredible writing

Great characters

The Bad:

Weirdly put together film

Ending could have been better

I'm not sure how this could be billed as a horror in an older day it would have been called a tragedy I guess 'horror' is the dumbed down description or for the sake of pigeon holing.

The first scene did make me laugh(as much as one person can laugh when watching a movie alone). It is a black comedy surrounding dysfunctional relationships.

I enjoyed it finding the script decent and the acting good enough not to distract. The camera-work, post-processing and lighting was well done for a film that had a small budget feel, on a technical aspect it reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. The quirkiness of the script delivered by the characters is what makes the film worth a watch. A film for types that like nothing more than escaping for a weekend to film festivals, Not entirely certain this will have mass appeal for the college-age demographic. I'd say a film for a mature audience and I don't merely mean 18+.

It's a very dark, twisted movie, that delivers a few shocks, and keeps you totally entertained. It's hard to find a huge level of sympathy initially for Owen, but when you meet his grandmother your sympathies switch to him.

It gets better as it gets going, the first half hour or so is quite slow, you feel like you're caught up in a melodrama, but when the switch comes, it's very good.

Very well acted all round, however it's Fionnula Flanagan that stands out I thought.

Rather good. 8/10

Richard Bates Jr's first film "Excision" was a film that stuck with me for a long time after I watched it, it was very unique and incredibly bizarre. So when I saw that Bates had a new movie coming out I was pretty excited to see what else he was capable of. While not nearly as memorable as Bates' first film, "Trash Fire" does have a bit of dark charm and was an interesting experience.

The first thing that really stuck out to me in this film is the fact that just about all the characters are unlikable, everyone is somewhat of a jerk and everyone is pretty judgmental/critical of others. This wasn't a bad thing though, it actually worked pretty well and went smoothly with the premise of the film. As unlikable as all the characters were they were also very interesting, and were the best part of the movie in my opinion. Our main character "Owen" (played but Adrian Grenier) is mean and dismissive to just about everyone he meets and even when he's trying to be nice he still comes off as a dope. But once we learn more about Owen's family it becomes clear why he is the way he is, and that he may actually be one of the more normal people in his family.

The story was alright, although it had a bit of a "Lifetime Movie" feel, but the dialogue really sets it apart from the overly simplified movies that come on that network. The conversations that the characters have throughout the film are actually pretty engaging, something you rarely ever see in a horror film. It's a good thing that the dialogue was well done because there is a lot of it, people who are not fans of dialogue heavy films will definitely be put off for the majority of this. I thought it worked though, and I found myself intrigued to see what the characters would say to each other next.

Another thing that I think is important to point out is that this definitely isn't a traditional horror movie, in fact I've seen a lot of people make the claim that this isn't a horror movie at all. I would disagree though, while there isn't a masked mad man running around or a spooky ghost haunting people, "Trash Fire" does have a overall tone of horror and the final scene definitely creeped me out and left me with an uneasy feeling. It was refreshing to see the genre approached in a different kind of way.

This won't be for everybody, but I enjoyed it, like "Excision" it was fairly odd and a little quirky. Worth checking out for people who don't mind a lot of dialogue and a bit of a slow pace.