As the credits faded to the excellent Moving On (2019-also reviewed) being my last viewing at the Borderlines Film Festival,I noticed reviewer Anton Bitel post on a Frightfest board about a film he had seen at the Soho Horror Film Festival. Keen to continue festival viewings, I discovered it was online this year,and got set to watch the first film in the line-up.
Note:Review contains plot details.
View on the film:
Featuring clips of the late Laurence R. Harvey from The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) (2011-also reviewed) co-writer/(with Sean Mahoney & Harley Dee) lead actor/director Sam Ashurst makes clear that he is going in a similar direction of meta-Horror that Centipede II had walked towards a decade earlier.
Made during Lockdown, Ashurst cleverly spreads in-character phone calls between himself and the actors with the 10 minute short films the in-character actors are making in the belief that Ashurst is using the footage to edit a movie together, until Ashurst slips during a call with his lead actor,that he has become obsessed with lead actress Harley Dee.
Breaking Ashurst's lie about giving Dee a leading role as his obsession grows towards her, the writers take an unflinching glance at the abuse women have suffered from powerful men in the movie industry,with Ashurst barking orders at Dee to act in an increasingly degrading way,with Ashurst threatening to kill her if she does not follow the way he demands to direct her.
Unveiling the film within a film from the recordings the cast made being lined up on the screen, director Ashurst slowly cuts it down to one camera pinned on Dee following his directions. Backed by a fittingly numbing Drone music score, Ashurst holds on long, draining takes which examine voyeurism from the stilted camera aimed directly at the abused Dee,as Ashurst gets set to make the final cut.
