I don’t know how the weather is by you, but it is absolutely freezing in my neck of NJ. It’s cold enough that I’ve called off plans to take a trip into NYC for research and a movie. I have two schools of thought on dealing with inopportune conditions: watch something that takes place in far greater conditions, or watch something that makes me realize things could be a lot worse. Today is the day for the latter.

I Bury the Living is a polarizing B-Movie classic from director Albert Band. You hear stories about producer interference in films all the time. Sometimes an ending is too dark; other times, too confusing or otherwise off-putting. With this film, all three have been cited as reasons why the original ending of the film was changed. 

I Bury the Living is the story of man who discovers he has the ability to cause anyone to die with the use of a funeral plot map. It’s an effective device within the film that results in a very nice build of suspense. Originally a purely supernatural tale, the film’s ending was changed to offer a logical explanation for everything that occurred. Some hate the hackneyed twist ending, claiming it makes no sense (it doesn’t); others embrace the film for its style and performances (they’re good). There are some very disorienting and unnerving visual effects used in what’s mostly a one-room film. The transformation from cemetery office to psychological landscape is slick and stylish. The constraints of the budget do not show.

Sadly, this is a horror film that often gets dumped into 5/10/25/50/100 Scary Movie collections with a poor transfer and unexplained cuts to the running time. You could do much worse than this YouTube upload, but I’m sure there’s a better quality torrent available. The problem is how the film lacks an actual DVD release by itself. 

The trailer is available after the jump.

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I would consider myself a fan of Lucky McKee. This is the writer/director that brought forth some of the more engaging horror films of the 2000s, including May, The Woods, and Roman. He's the type of director I like to see do well in the industry because he genuinely cares about the collaborative aspect of filmmaking. He surrounds himself with a talented cast and crew and remains loyal to those he really worked well with. Angela Bettis, for example, has collaborated with him on four projects, including a jump from actress to director in the role-reversal scenario of Roman. However, McKee seems to be struggling to actually break into the studio system. His film The Woods went from being so protected and cherished M. Night Shyamalan had to change his film title to The Village to being dumped straight to DVD with all special features erased from the disc. More unnerving is his role in the 2008 drama Red.

The short version is this: about halfway through filming, McKee was removed as director of the film and replaced with Trygve Allister Diesen. Rumors of tension between producers and director abounded over the web and it was unknown how much or little of Red would actually be taken from McKee's filming. Thankfully, the finished project not only bares his credit but a clear indication of his influence on the production.

Red, based on the novel by Jack Ketchum, is the story of Avery Ludlow, a kind old man whose best friend in the world is his dog Red. One day, while fishing, a group of teenagers attempt to rob him at gunpoint and eventually shoot Red at point-blank range to punish the old man. Avery decides to seek an apology from the boys, but it seems their families have a bit too much power and skill at lying for him to resolve the issues in a civilized manner.

McKee's fingerprints are all over this film and have never been used to greater effect. Instead of exploiting the violence against Red, the film focuses on the interactions between characters. The dialog moves at a natural pace with realistic responses. There is no overacting even when the film should be reaching made-for-TV level histrionics. The film is natural. McKee's skill as a director lies not in an innovative vision, but execution so believable that any last act twist or turn he can toss at you feels like the only conclusion. This is not meant to downplay the abilities of Diesen as a director. Obviously, replacing someone on a film shoot is a difficult position to be in and the fact that the film comes off as cohesive as it does is a testament to both directors' capabilities.

The cast is a great mix of veterans and newcomers that work well off of each other. Brian Cox, as Avery, would have been in consideration for the Best Actor Oscar if this was a higher budgeted film with a wider theatrical release. His performance is likable and gruff at the same time. This is a beautiful portrait of a man who loses everything he has yet still chooses to be a good outstanding citizen. As the trio of wayward teens, Noel Fisher, Kyle Gallner, and Shiloh Fernandez accurately portray the dynamics of a group of young people knowingly acting out just because they can. From the remorseless ringleader (Noel Fisher) to the reluctant whipping boy (Kyle Gallner) to the thrill-seeker (Shiloh Fernandez), the commitment to realism in their rebellious mindset makes the circumstances of the film all the more disturbing. Also noteworthy is Robert Englund as one of the fathers, riding on the coattails of the richer family to upgrade his home at the price of silence.

The only thing that seems to be out of place in the film is the score. It's a bit too predictable for this type of film. It's almost like someone wanted a very standard score for a thriller that didn't actually watch the film. The film is quieter than that, more subtle. It did not require pounding music cues and sudden bursts of melodramatic orchestrations to get its point across.

The line of believability is blurred when the action sequences begin. As far as I'm concerned, all of the major stunt set-pieces of the film could have been achieved with a very light hand and crafty editing like the murder of Red. However, the film jumps from nuanced drama to explosive action film and back again all throughout the climax. This film didn't need all the bells and whistles of your standard high-octane thriller and the ending suffers for it. It's not that these big scenes aren't well-executed; they are simply out of place in what could have been a quiet, powerful film.

Red is an upsetting film in the best way possible. It's very easy to grow attached to Avery, making the entire arc of the story that much more important. If you are in the mood for a well-acted drama with clean execution, Red is a great choice.

Warning: The reviewed film is so stupid and poorly made that a potential viewer must not approach the content lightly. Caution must be exercised to preserve your brain power.

Even with the diminished expectations that come from a fake snuff film, The Butcher serves as an example of everything that can possibly go wrong in modern low budget horror. Four average citizens are kidnapped, gagged, chained, and fitted with helmet-cameras for their direct to video debut as victims in a snuff film. The film randomly jumps from the perspective of the director and staff to the victims. The camera inexplicably shakes as if anyone with a viewfinder is constantly seizing. The quality is grainy, the color washed out, and the sets as drab as oatmeal on dry white toast.

Anyone going into a fake snuff film knows not to expect high production values. But there is a difference between a film with a shoestring budget and a film that doesn't know what it's doing. The Butcher is clearly the latter. From the quality of sound to the believability of the effects, the film fails at every possible angle of technique. I'm almost willing to say the film would have been improved if they left the lens caps on and forgot to turn on the mics.

It's almost impossible to review a film like The Butcher. There is a clear audience for this type of film and they only care about the gore, not the film quality. Even at this The Butcher fails. The effects are cut away from with a jump to a different camera every time something interesting happens. The most you see is a puddle of blood or low-rent bruising/cuts in a reflection. I normally am against gratuitous unjustified gore, but in this sub-genre that's the name of the game. If nothing else, the room should be a hazard to the actors from the amount of goo pumped onto the floor. Karo syrup and food coloring aren't so expensive as to require a delicate hand and moderation. Toss in some dish soap and clean-up is no longer an issue.

Perhaps most offensive of all is the ending. The implausibility reaches unforetold heights as the conceit of the production of a snuff film told from multiple perspectives is rendered impossible by the last ten minutes. If the footage primarily used during the film is removed from the rest of the footage, how can it possibly have been pieced together for what the viewer sees? It can't. I'm willing to accept a pig-masked muscle-man raping his victims in any hole, natural or carved out, in a warehouse with big open windows completely surrounded by a business district, but I can't get past this ending.

Even die-hard snuff fans should avoid this film. There's a reason the film lacks DVD distribution: it doesn't deserve it. I can't imagine what possessed Netflix to carry it at all.