American Antichrist

I've written about the films of Dakota Ray before and they are among my favorites to write about. It all started with my viewing of American Scumbags. I was super entertained right from the start. I suppose I could use a more elegant expression such as "immediately engaged" or "quickly my interest was piqued," but while those are accurate expressions, "super entertained" fits the best. The phrase is just like the film itself: fun, down to earth, and wearing its style right on its sleeve. There was a refreshing quality to the viewing experience and so I eagerly checked out Ray's other work. This journey recently led me to his latest project American Antichrist. I had no worry in my head about whether it would stack up to Ray's other films because I had developed that trust throughout my viewing of his filmography. It turned out that my lack of concern was warranted because American Antichrist was every bit the entertaining blast that I was expecting it to be.

American Antichrist is told in a vignette-style which right away I already love. Think anthology, but with a more free-flowing and intertwined style. The stories all take part in a world gone mad, a dreary, desolate wasteland of sorts. We begin with a character played by Dakota Ray himself. This character is a serial killer, surrounded by the skulls and corpses of those he has taken from this world. The headlines say that he has died from a drug overdose, but what the papers don't know is that he's returned. Returned to wreak new havoc on the world and open the portal between this world and the world of fire below.

Thrown into the mix is a young drug addict (Meg Lacie Brown) in desperate need of a fix. However, the road she takes to get it puts her in the vicinity of a shady individual (Nick Benning) who has sinister connections. One of those connections involves the making of a certain type of underground film that the actresses don't walk away from. We are also introduced to a religious fanatic (played by L.B.) whose faith in the bible has taken a dark turn. It leads him to go after the homeless with the scripture in his head and murder in his eyees, using a mixture of bloodthirsty tactics.

The film moves fluidly, complimented by a rocking score from Fallow. The scenes are accented by the songs as well as great special effects from Dakota Ray and Sebastian Oak. There is a consistent tone throughout the movie's running time and each segment fits together wonderfully. It left me with a solid impression, balancing the various topics and events well.

All in all, I was completely satisfied with my viewing experience of American Antichrist. It's exactly what I wanted it to be and contains every bit of the flair and uniqueness I've come to expect from Dakota Ray's work. He has clearly honed his skills but has also kept the fresh "hitting the pavement" style that I've come to appreciate from his work. Not only do I recommend the flick, but I also cannot wait to see what Ray and company come up with next!

American Antichrist is one of the most recent offerings from auteur director Dakota Ray, a Native American film-maker from Denver. As with the majority of his experimental movies, Ray is responsible for most aspects - he produces, directs, shoots and appears in many of them. Antichrist was filmed in six months in 2018, and shares many traits with the director's existing filmography - dark, sinister visuals; nihilistic themes and characters; and a brutal metal soundtrack (in this case from the band Fallow). As with all of Dakota Ray's output as a film-maker, American Antichrist will not be for everyone. Many people may struggle to get through the opening frames, as the cumulative effects of the nightmarish visuals, arthouse-style experimental approach to narrative, non-linear story and punishing soundtrack will deter some almost instantly. Stick with it though and there is definitely talent on show here.

American Antichrist is basically composed of a series of loosely linked vignettes - each being introduced with a title card - and a framing story which introduces us to Ray himself as a serial killer, recently resurrected from the dead following an accidental overdose and now acting as host to an evil supernatural entity, which we can assume is the titular Antichrist. During the course of the vignettes we meet characters such as twisted drug peddler Chris (regular Ray collaborator Nick Benning), religious fanatic Benjamin (Larry Bay), desperate junkie Crystal (Meg Lacie Brown) and snuff film-maker Sid (Damien Rimmon). Most of the characters interact with each other in some way, the main thing they have in common being their willingness to commit acts of utter depravity and inhumanity.

I think you will need to be a certain type of person to like American Antichrist (we Brits would call it a "Marmite" movie - much like the weird yeast-based foodstuff, many people will either love it or hate it - not much room for middle ground); it is definitely not an easy watch. Much of the (very short at 49 minutes) movie comes across as a kind of Glenn Danzig heavy metal fever dream, with a kind of woozy, hallucinatory visual vibe that is deliberately disorienting. There are many uses of religious iconography and desecration, with angels and demons aplenty and scenes of crucifixes being vomited on; as well as scenes of animal abuse and death, self-harm and drug use (it's fair to say this isn't The Waltons). It is definitely the kind of movie you will feel dirty after watching, though you won't quite know why.

Surprisingly, the movie is fairly light on actual gore - this could be down to budgetary restraints (American Antichrist is definitely in the micro-budget category, being made for a reputed $10,000) but also a conscious decision on Ray's part, as the visuals have a deeply unsettling quality as it is without cheap blood-letting. The sound design in particular is brilliant, with weird, distorted effects combining with Ray's own hellishly deep voice-over to produce an almost unearthly feel. Oddly though Ray does seem to love himself a good video wipe, with many scenes transitioned by various types; George Lucas would be proud.

Unfortunately we don't really get much sense of the characters in the film, in part because of the very short screen time each has; but depth of character doesn't really seem what Ray is going for here, being more interested in using his obvious ability to use the tools he has to create a horrifying alternate reality. Darkness and menace drip from every frame, along with a pervading sense of hopelessness. The actors all acquit themselves well though, each character feeling very much at home in the pool of iniquity Ray has created for them to wallow in.

The individual viewer's tolerance for arthouse/experimental film making will probably determine how much they get from this film; enjoyment doesn't seem quite the right word, as it seems unlikely many people would truly enjoy what's on offer here. If you're open-minded enough though you may well appreciate the skill with which Dakota Ray has brought to life a truly horrible, desolate world and populated it with human flotsam. Compared to his earlier works such as Satan's Coming For You and American Scumbags there is obvious progression and increasing skill as a film-maker on show; American Antichrist still feels more like a show reel or a series of loose scenes rather than a cohesive movie, but there is definite talent on show here and it will be interesting to see what Dakota Ray comes up with in the future.

August Underground, Vomit Gore, and Where The Dead Go To Die are gold compared to this. I have no clue what i just watched. There's zero plot, zero acting, zero good effects, zero everything. I just watched people do drugs, and worship evil for 49 minutes. This thing is 49 minutes, it felt like 3 hours passed.

I really can not find any positives to this "movie", if i can call it that. I really wish i could say anything positive. Oh, the female actress looks nice. That's the only positive i can give this. What plot? What acting? You need a script in order for there to be a plot and acting?? And this clearly had zero plot when making.

I am not upset, because i am already used to sometimes watching stuff that make zero logic, like Where The Dead Go To Die, and Vomit Gore, but both of the films i just listed are gold compared to this thing. I really have nothing else to say. I was hoping to watch something interesting from this, but when i started the movie, i just believed that i'll get something like August Underground or Sunken Danish, which neither are good, but atleast have a plot.

Don't let any biased negativity from a certain film "reviewer" by the name of Mrramone420 deter you from watching this film. Mrramone420 has a grudge against the director/star of this film (Dakota Ray) who apparently bruised the inflated ego of Mrramone420, who has since tried to slander Ray and this film by trying to tarnish Ray's reputation publicly online in Facebook groups and by posting a pointless, long winded, pathetic, negative (and quite frankly stupid) video "review" of this film on his YouTube channel. Mrramone420 is not even qualified to watch movies, let alone review them-and this is apparent in his IMDB review of this film because he cannot even spell the word auteur correctly-I mean come on! If you're going to try to use big words, at least make sure you spell them right, because it makes it hard for us to take you seriously when you are trying to pretend that you are a film critic! Not to mention that Mrramone420's style of film "reviewing" is insufficient, narrow minded, pathetic, fat headed, annoying, ignorant, and pompous. Anyone in their right mind wouldn't trust his opinion regarding cinema, let alone let his opinion dictate what movies you should or shouldn't watch. In conclusion, I think that everyone should watch American Antichrist for themselves and formulate their own opinion, instead of letting some unprofessional, wannabe, pathetic excuse for a "film critic" dictate whether they watch it or not. Mrramone420 is currently taking a self imposed hiatus from "film reviewing", and hopefully this hiatus is permanent.

American Antichrist is the fifth full length film From Denver indie film genius/auteur Dakota Ray AKA Dakota Bailey. (The Acid Sorcerer, The Rise and Fall of an American Scumbag) The plot of this film is very dark, abstract, and Ray has stated that a lot of this film's content is left up to the viewers interpretation. A great majority of the film follows a glorified serial killer (played excellently by director Dakota Ray) who dies of an accidental drug overdose, but is resurrected and possessed by an evil entity. Other characters in the film include a serial killer/ religious fanatic named Benjamin, who is on a mission from God to kill those he deems as unholy! Then there is the deviant, skateboarding drug dealer Chris (played by Dakota Ray regular Nick Benning) who lures in a desperate drug addict name Crystal who has just escaped rehab and is willing to do just about anything to feed her addiction. Now let me start off by saying that I've followed Ray's filmmaking career since he released his first full length feature, the SOV My Master Satan: 3 Tales of Drug Fueled Violence back in 2016, and ever since then, I've followed his work closely, and I love how with each film he makes, he continues to grow and evolve as a filmmaker, actor and artist. In all honesty, I consider American Antichrist to be Dakota Ray's best film yet! American Antichrist retains Dakota Ray's signature style of filmmaking, but dramatically breaks new ground! Elements from Dakota's past films are here, such as the film being divided into individual chapter/segments are evident, but Americans Antichrist possesses a very malevolent, supernatural, advant garde edge to it that none of Dakota Ray's past films have ever had! I've quite honseslty never seen anything like it in my life! The film definely has an Anti-religious/Satanic feel to it-yet it is though provoking-making the viewer question what is good and what is "evil". I'd only recommend this film to anyone who is open minded as I'm not the first to admit that Dakota's films are not for everyone or those easily offended-but if you go into any of his films with an open mind-you may find yourself in love with the films that this dark auteur consistently releases!