Methodic

Very low budget effort from a director who has made a name for himself in fanfilms. Frankly, this is more of the same, a thinly veiled remake of Halloween. Why, when given the chance to do something original he fell back on the tried and true is a mystery and a bit of a shame as there is considerable talent on display. Even casting a family member as the lead worked out as she is one of the better actors in the film.

The reviews here are suspiciously high, I have to assume they are from friends and cast members. (Ironically, I found out about this film due to a feud the director is having with another filmmaker who does the same astroturfing!) Knock it off guys! My advice to Mr Notarile would be to do something entirely new. he has shown he can make a good film based on the ideas of others, now take that and do something we haven't seen!

Let me start by saying, this film is not what you think it is. Despite all of it's thematic references to John Carpenter's Halloween, Methodic is NOT a rip off in any way. Methodic writer and director, Chris R. Notarile takes all the wonderful elements and themes that we've grown to love from Halloween and all other late 70's - early 80's horror movies and has woven them into a brilliant tapestry of suspense, horror and drama.

Methodic starts slow. If you're looking for a popcorn body count movie with mindless wanton slaughter of moronic horny teenagers, this is not the movie for you. Methodic is instead incredibly story driven. So much so that there are actually moments in the film that if you don't pay attention to, it is very certain you will not understand something later on. I like this. I find it rare these days, especially in independent horror movies where people actually need to pay attention to a movie. Usually the story is simple, intoxicated coeds get taken out by a silent masked maniac.

Now granted, Methodic does sport the classic silent masked killer stereotype, but fortunately, with very good reason. The Dollman is instantly classic, from the look of his mask right down the (no pun intended) execution of his actions. I would also like to bring up the wonderful gimmick deployed with this film, and by that I am referring to the "basher" term used to distinguish the film. Believe it or not, Methodic actually is the first basher film and that's actually a pretty clever thing to do. In a world where everything is being remade, its always refreshing to see something new come along. I predict we will be seeing more "basher" movies as time goes on. Let's just hope they are on par with this film.

And now down to the technical "stuff". This is Mr. Notarile's directorial debut, sort of. Apparently he has a large number of short film credits to his name, but I believe Methodic is his first feature. Not a bad way to start a career if you ask me. For a first time feature director with what appeared to be a very large cast, I think things were handled more than admirably. I won't lie, some of the acting in the film was a little on the campy side, but I suspect that is usually the case with most low budget horror films. The shots were great. Most of the film really gave off a larger than life feeling and though it was limited, the action and the killing scenes in this film were very fun and intense.

As for performances, most of the cast and more importantly, those playing the main characters, were very convincing. I enjoyed the natural flow of the dialog as well as some of more candid moments between characters, specifically the stakeout scene with Dan and Colin and the "chick flick" scene with Lana, Melissa and her husband. Great stuff.

All in all, Methodic is a wonderful first film and great gateway piece into what looks to be a very promising career from Chris R. Notarile. I wish him well and cannot wait to see where he goes and what he does next.

I found this movie to be pretty good for being a low budget. Methodic to me is basically a halloween "Michael Myers" movie, It felt that way to me. I enjoyed watching the actors work their magic to make this movie deceit but overall I give it a 10 for allowing me to watch the entire movie with turning it off. I especially enjoy Rachel Robbins performance. Director Chris R. Notarile keep up the good work and look forward watching more of your films.

I think this movie begs the question, "Should points be given for effort?" The verdict's still out.

But let's start with the good -- Understanding that this script started as a treatment for a Halloween remake, I'll forgive the similarities and say that the script and dialog is actually pretty well executed. Sure there are a few issues with line delivery in spots, but the script as a separate entity isn't horrible.

Second, the music was all completely on cue and built the scenes nicely. It wasn't overused and it never detracted from any of the scenes.

Third, I mean -- talk about indie, talk about zero budget. This is what it looks like, folks. A film like "Ink" (which is certainly a class well above this), was made for $250,000. There's a huge difference between zero and $250,000.

Where this movie really misses the mark are with issues related to budget but also some missteps by the director.

Without using any real camera lenses the framing had a lot of issues. This would have been an easy solve for a few hundred bucks by slapping a 35mm adapter on whatever consumer HD cam he used for the project. I'm assuming it was in the realm of an HV20 or some lesser model. Had this been shot on any kind of DSLR or something with an adapter, some of the framing issues would have been solved. I saw attempts by the director to set up interesting shots, but when you're using a jitty camcorder with no lenses, it's nearly impossible unless you're manufacturing a DOF by having objects or talent always in the foreground, which isn't possible throughout an entire film.

Lighting was another huge issue, and being that lighting can be solved using foam board and halogen work lights, I'm going to have to stick it to the director on this one. There are some basics of lighting that need to be studied before this guy's next feature (or fan) film.

"Crossing the line" -- that's what it's called when you move your talent from one side of the screen to the other mid-scene. This happened too many times. It's a rookie mistake and it's utterly confusing to the audience when it happens. So, to the director: If your actor is on the right side of the frame in a scene, that actor must stay on the right side of the frame throughout. If you want to move between two mid-range shots but don't want to cut from one mid-range shot to the next, then do a quick wide shot and then come back to your second shot.

Next is color correction. This, of course, can still be linked to budget. But something as cheap as Magic Bullet Mojo ($99) would have given your scenes a more cohesive blending and would have given your camcorder footage a more filmic appearance.

Location colors. This is probably the easiest thing to slip by the indie filmmaker. While you're probably going to have to use friends and family's locations to shoot your film, you CANNOT allow white walls to be in your film. Obviously the hospital is a different animal and most of that will have a blue tint when your color correction is done anyway (assuming you go the Blockbuster route), but when you're indoors you have to paint those walls. If it's a friend's house, paint the walls and then re-paint them white again if that's what they need. Go watch Amelie with the sound off. Watch the frames. Aim there.

Last...I know it sucks and I know the director knows it...but sound was a big issue. Not sure what kind of mic was used. At times it sounded like the mic was on-camera which is just the worst thing I can possible imagine for a narrative piece.

I can see how much work and effort was put into this film. There was some decent acting, a workable script, good pacing and at times some real effort went into framing certain scenes. But having lackluster audio, an amateurish understanding of talent placement in a scene (as it pertains to audience clarity) and a camcorder with no added glass for DOF, the director left us with a highschool-level product performed and written by adults.

I want this director to get better because he has passion for all levels of filmmaking. I gave the movie 5 stars for potential.

So, to the no-budget director of this film: 1) Pick yourself up a DSLR or HFS100 w/ JAG35pro or better (Panny and Sony just came out with 5K cams that are game changers) 2) Get some Sanken COS11D lavs and an NTG3 with an Edirol44 or Fostex FR2LE w/ Y XLR splitter cable 3) Grab a PRO AM 250 crane/jib 4) Magic Bullet Looks (or Mojo) And if you can, try to find someone who wouldn't mind training as your sound guy/girl. You're gonna need one.

But kudos on your first effort. Your gal was completely solid in the lead role.

Good luck!

I was invited to see a private screening of Methodic the other day and WOW, what a cool idea for a movie. I've read what everyone else has posted and I think they're pretty spot on with how the movie was. It's no joke that it starts out as a slow place, but it totally pays off in the end. Chris Notarile and Brandon Slagle wrote the script which was based on a remake script Chris had made for Halloween. And when you watch the film, at first you're thinking to yourself "okay, where is he going with this?" Then about half way in, you think you might have figured it out and are calling how it will end. Yeah, that's when the film takes a crazy left turn and totally throws you off track. What starts out like a Halloween movie completely becomes something entirely different, and it works. The 3rd act is what makes this movie so fun and original. The Dollman is more than meets the eye as is the story. And it really makes you think. So yes, watch this movie. Its worth it.