Truly Dreadful Film

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I actually really enjoyed this. After seeing American Movie, which I loved, I was ready to laugh my way through this, but I was surprised. The writing is good, and it has a surprise ending. I was surprised, anyway. Yes, it's a local film, it's short, it's a B movie featuring a bunch of amateur actors, but if people are going to give summer blockbusters a pass just because they feature big names and have lots of action and whizbang special effects, yet their writing sucks and they use pre-existing franchises as a crutch, then I'm going to give independent movies a pass on the low budget and lesser experience of the actors. I enjoyed it. If Borchardt's next film is as good, I'll be very pleased.

This black and white horror movie is a short film about an addict trying to get help. He joins a support group, and strange things start to happen. When the movie ends, we're still not totally clear what's been going on.A lot of the outdoor scenery looked really good. The black and white film gave this movie some great atmosphere. However, there really weren't very many memorable parts. The support group seems to be evil, coming after the addict several times and terrorizing him. They drag him through mud and beat on his car, but we aren't really sure if it happened or if he is just messed up.At the end, there is still some question about whether or not the group was actually evil. Because this movie interested me enough to learn more, I am going to seek out the documentary film showing how this was made. Hopefully, I will appreciate it more.

Coven is not a very good film. I Could give it the benefit of the doubt and say that it was shot on a budget of nothing, but I'm not that nice. Had I shot a movie this poor I would be able to realize it, and having a screening for friends and family as Mark did in American Movie would have been out of the question. I do however have to give the guy respect for completing his film which was 3 years in the making, but he made so many mistakes which I wish he could learn from, but sadly I believe he never will. His first mistake: Starring in his own film. Some directors can probably do it, but not even Quentin Tarrintino or Kevin Smith ever starred in their movies early on, they gave themselves smaller supporting roles. Had Mark decided to spend more time behind the camera and less time in front, maybe he would have been able to generate more from his actors. Instead he gets stiffly delivered lines and changing accents. Next mistake is the camera work. Again, more proof that starring in your own independent films means certain doom. Too many static shots and not enough cut aways. Do we really need to sit on a wide shot of two people having a conversation outside of a car for a solid minute? It gets really old fast and begins boring the audience, making them think about things like "I wonder where I put that twine ball" instead of focusing on the film. Cutaway to closeups of each character as they speak, then back to the wide shot, then cutaways. Mix it up a bit! Plus, had he not starred, the main character wouldn't have ended every sentence with the word "man," something that made me grow sick of American movie by the end. Mark- please stop saying man, it really shows a lack of intelligence and I know you are way smarter than that. Next comes the editing. Not tight enough. There is a lot of fat that needs to be trimmed from this film. It runs about 35 minutes, but could have easily been cut down to 27, and would have been far more effective.Alright, I'm through being negative, so here's some positive stuff: Some scenes are shot really good, like the opening establishing shots are beautiful, and the running down the road scene looks great. I especially love it when the truck pulls into view. Some of the scarier stuff in the film are shot quite well. Lots of fast zoom in and zoom outs, very Sam Raimi like.Basically all I'm saying is that Mark: quit starring in your films (I see you are starring in Scare Me, your latest effort... hmm... interesting...) and start directing your films. Being a director is more than just telling where the camera needs to be pointed. You need to give direction to your actors. Help them strive to get the performance you need to help achieve your vision. Stale delivery is unacceptable in my book. Also, stop saying man- I cannot stress that enough. See coven on the DVD of American Film. The End.

The black&white cinematography is very uneven, some shots almost impossible to make out, others kind of beautiful in a dream-like way.The actors are a bit campy in large part, some are flat-out wooden, and look, we have an obsessed drug abuser who is trying to stay non-mainstream at the heart of the story. But not only that, we have religion playing a large role (although its pretty warped religion)In short, this film is basically PI about writing instead of math, but its budget is so much smaller it has the expected lesser amount of style or graphics. Personally, I like this film, and would even if I hadn't seen Chris Smith's documentary. Recommended viewing if you are hoping to be an artistic filmmaker.