Trash Fire

I came across this movie on Netflix and figured hey, why not? I had never heard of the film but I recognized the cast. Turns out this slow burn of a movie is well worth your time. The film is almost two in one, the first half is a well written drama about a young man (Adrian Grenier) and his girlfriend and the very real problems they face. So often in movies the characters in relationships have fake problems that no one ever experiences (I'm looking at you How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days). This couple has problems that I would imagine many viewers can relate to, enough so that it may be uncomfortable watching with your significant other. Grenier retains a bit of the Vinnie Chase charisma but it almost drowned in his apathy to...well just about everything. I found this part of the movie engrossing and realistic. I enjoyed all the side characters we meet here as well.

Trash Fire then transitions into a Southern Gothic melodrama as our two leads travel to meet Grenier's family. This is the meat of the movie and the tone changes dramatically from the relationship drama we first experienced to something darker. I hope people check this movie out, the low IMDb scores likely reflect the difficulty in putting this film in a genre. It isn't a horror film, it isn't a drama in the traditional mode and it isn't a crime thriller. It is likely fans of all those genre's might check this out and may be disappointed because it resist categorization. However, if you approach the film without preconceived notions I feel you will become immersed in this world. I found the ending somewhat abrupt and unsatisfactory for several of the characters, but let's face it, most movies end badly these days. Aside from that, it was time well spent with this little indie film. I gave it an 8 because I felt my time was well spent watching it and I would pass along a recommendation for others to check this out.

When Owen is forced to confront the past he has been running from his whole adult life, he and his girlfriend, Isabel, become entangled in a horrifying web of lies, deceit and murder.

Can we talk about Fionnula Flanagan as Violet and AnnaLynne McCord as Pearl? I had never heard of Flanagan until a year ago, and she has been knocking it out of the park with her genre performances. So great to have her on board. And McCord, wow. One genre hit after another. I don't know how "we" got her into our camp, but it's great to have her.

The blend of horror and comedy is great, too! The comedy is dark, dark humor which works well. The horror aspect is really more about building tension. This is not a jump scare or gore-filled movie. And that suits me just fine.

Or was that mad? Whichever one it is, there is not always a clear or just one answer to that question. The movie is not really here to make friends either. A. Granier is really someone who is not very likable most of the time. But can you blame him? That's after you see where he came from or what he had to "suffer" (some call it childhood).

Family matters ... sometimes it matters too much. So much that you lose sight of other things. And both our male and female lead can attest to that. But while it is not about winning any popularity or beauty contest it also does not pull any punches. It may get ugly, but it is coherent for the world it portrays. Not an easy watch and not for the squeamish either. But different in a good (read: bad) way!

Pretty much faultless adult movie. Right from the off, the characters are deeply dark yet colourful. There is a thin line between and love and loathing that the film tightropes, almost skips, nonchalantly. I never felt disconnected for a single moment of its bizarre, unfolding world - with characters so well developed, I could smell them from the screen. I couldn't fault anything about it, right down to it not lasting a second longer than it needed to. Wonderful, original film making.

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+.