Chaos

I viewed Chaos at the 2005 Flashback Weekend horror convention in Chicago. The Q&A session with the writer/director David DeFalco, producer Steven Jay Bernheim, and actor Sage Stallone was, strangely enough, before the film. After seeing the movie, I have a hunch as to why. DeFalco and Bernheim were very adamant at pushing this film as the "scariest and most brutal film ever," one of seemingly hundreds per year that reaches for that title. They then proceeded to bash the film they openly admitted influenced Chaos, Wes Craven's horror classic The Last House on the Left, calling it "unrealistic" and "hard to watch," to the point where there was an obvious change in the dynamic of the audience. Because DeFalco, who considers himself a "true horror fan," pushed so hard for people to like this film, I feel obliged to push the other way.

Chaos is by no means an original film. I've seen this movie made countless times with only slight variations on the plot. It does, however, have a few brutal, almost redeeming scenes that do make it worth seeing if you are a true "grindcore" or exploitation movie fan. Both of these, the first in particular, are what the movie will most likely be remembered by. They are both particularly well done, especially with the realistic looking blood and gore effects and the reactions of the female leads. This is, however, my last positive comment on the film.

Each character has been given a set of stereotypes that they must stick to, and none of them transcends their limitations. The girls in Chaos are as mindless as the girls in any other slasher or horror film, which is disappointing after hearing for half an hour about the "realism" of the movie. The police are the most generic characters in the movie, and the Sheriff's racism is extremely played out. Even the parents, an inter-racial couple that you'd think would be the least definable, stick to their stereotypes.

Chaos (the main "bad guy") and company are introduced in a completely unnecessary opening scene that does nothing but establish their characters as low-grade criminals. For a character that is supposed to come across as an example of the ultimate evil (he calls himself the devil at least once), Chaos is shown as a petty thief.

There are a couple inconsistencies in the plot, specifically timing issues. At one point, what seems to be a several minute walk for one group turns into a ten minute car ride for another.

Additionally, the ending feels entirely tacked on. I know that I wasn't the only person in the audience who laughed at the audacity of the director, after placing so much emphasis on realism, to include such a slapstick, somewhat comedic, ending.

In the end, I left the theater bewildered, but for all the wrong reasons. I usually am not so picky about "realism" in horror movies, but after hearing the director make such a point about it, I felt compelled to judge Chaos on it. I really want to believe that DeFalco has what it takes to make a good, original movie, because I saw potential in a few short moments. Unfortunately, after hearing the director speak so openly about this film as not only being his masterpiece, but set to trump The Last House on the Left, a film that has become a staple in any horror fan's collection... well, I'm not too hopeful that we're going to see anything too original from him.

Later this year will see the release of Eli Roth's Hostel, another film billed as the most brutal movie ever captured on film. Maybe a truly original "grindcore" film really is around the corner, but I'm not holding my breath.

Chaos is a film that sets out to show evil, and it succeeds. It shows brutality, torture, death, and rape (in that order) via explicit imagery. Wait, though, because that's not a compliment. The filmmakers have hence patted themselves on the back and continue to congratulate themselves by constantly regurgitating "most brutal movie ever" with every other breath as if repeating it enough makes it true (it's not, and it won't).

Congratulations, you've shown evil … now what are you going to do with it, DeFalco? The answer is nothing. Thus, Chaos ultimately contains nothing beyond its desperate bid to shock its audience. And therein lies the reason not to see the film, and it gives me very little to criticize.

Imagine two grown men, purchasing a new computer, opening the box then declaring, "Mission accomplished. It's installed." What is an obvious step that's not worth the time of most intelligent human beings to mention since it goes without saying, is the stopping point for DeFalco and Bernheim (the director/producer of Chaos). Watch the featurettes on the DVD as these men persist that they've reached a revelation that any idiot figured out way back when Ingmar Bergman made Virgin Springs.

The film is essentially a carbon copy of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left with minor alterations (translation: this exploitation has already been exploited … where are the shocks again?) Girls go out, get involved with the wrong people, find themselves trapped, and suffer at the hands of monsters in human flesh -- and suffer greatly, they do. The two positive changes from Last House being: 1 a relevant title (but did we really need a character named "Chaos"? Oh wait, a Wrestler wrote this … nevermind) and 2 the police are no longer complete incompetent idiots. Bland, racist nobodies, sure.

The meaningless changes? Inconsequential details -- names, exact methods of torture and/or death, number of villains, races of the characters, a pointless new intro to the villains.

Now the negative changes: 1 - the opening crawl laughably out of place on this film, a film that actively seeks to exploit the sufferings of other human beings. Watching, I was reminded of a staple gag to the comedy genre -- you know, the scene where a character is warned in such extreme detail that the audience gets a kick out of said character's silent reaction. This film is that joke, and we are the characters being warned.

Negative change #2 – the film's ridiculous ending is another joke straight out of a comedy. After the Last House chainsaw moment, the father of the victim has Chaos at the business end of his shotgun. In bursts the cops! They raise their guns, issue a warning, and when the father refuses to respond they blow his brains out. After which the wife grabs a gun off one of the cops and shoots the sheriff. The deputy wrestles the gun away. Chaos picks up the father's shotgun and shoots the deputy, and he's in control again. I literally laughed out loud at this scene. Cut out the gore, and this could be a scene for the next Pink Panther film with Steve Martin.

As I said, the film sets out to show evil and, indeed, on the most shallow level evil things happen in the film, complete with effective gore that non-horror fans may have trouble stomaching.

According to DeFalco and Bernheim, that appears to be their entire agenda. To which, I would pose the question, "So, why should I get a picture of evil from you two, when I can go across the horror aisle and get better pictures of evil, more pictures of evil, along with some intelligent observations, commentaries, philosophies, artistic interpretations about said evils for the exact same price?"

Why would I want to buy a t-shirt from you two, when I can get a frickin' car from someone more intelligent?

I saw this movie for a free at a screening, I wouldn't see it again if you paid me. This film has the worst acting, the worst dialogue, and the most senseless plot I've ever seen. The premise of the film makes a piece of garbage like House of Wax look like a masterpiece. The movie aims to shock and teach with it's brutal "true to life" story of two girls looking to score "E" at a rave in the woods. The obvious abduction, rape, torture ensues, including a nipple being caught off and fed to it's original owner (at which time at least half the viewers got up and left the theater). Personally though I was not as offended by the grotesque senseless violence as I was by the fact that I felt my intelligence was being insulted by the film maker who claimed the film had some sort of message and redeeming value. It was the quality of a subpar B horror film and an after school special mixed. Without an ounce of reality included it was sick, twisted and pointless all together, without ever making an ounce of sense either. Movies like Cannibal Holocaust and Ichi the Killer contain more blood and guts than this film but don't strain to make it over the hour mark while offending everyone in the audience. Not that they are quality films either, but at least they don't claim to teach me anything! OK, I'm rambling, but I'm upset that free passes were given out for such a horrible film and that a major chain of theaters like Emagine would show this garbage, AVOID THIS FILM AT ALL COSTS!

One day, a wrestler (count the number of the letters in his name and you will still come up with a higher number than his IQ) decided to plagiarize Wes Craven's mediocre debut from the 70s... and in less than a year he vomitted out this "film", a horrifyingly dull attempt at offending and probably "shocking" everyone. A very failed attempt, needless to say. Wrestler, keep this in your "mind" (if you had one): one can only offend and shock when one represents something. A mosquito won't offend me, a worm won't shock me... why should I react any differently to a sad attempt by a pathetic subhuman wrestler? Just ignore him and in time he will die, alone and forgotten, and hopefully with "Chaos" being the only "film" he'll ever have made.

But that is still not saying much about this film. I'm not even sure where to begin. I guess I'll start with the "message" at the very beginning. As others have already said, it was a very lame attempt by the filmmakers to justify the content of their little film. Very lame. If you're gonna make a somewhat violent film about rape and murder, then just make the film and leave it at that. There was absolutely no reason to try and pretend that it was made as some sort of message to parents and kids about being safe from murdering rapists. They could have just said, "don't walk through the woods with a stranger while trying to score drugs" and not even bothered with trying to make a film out of it. While it is not the worst movie I have ever seen, or even the most disturbing for that matter, it is not worth watching either. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Some people can't resist the temptation to see what all the "controversy" is about (myself included), but I can assure you it's not as disturbing as some would have you believe and it's just not really worth the time. Pass.