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Written and Directed by Based on a story Starring Presented by Unrated 10 Minutes |
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HEADING HOME Review
Adapting a classic Ramsey Campbell story on a shoestring budget with a ten minute running time, Jane Rose’s HEADING HOME is the perfect example of utilizing all your assets for such a small production. Serving as screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor, and director, Jane has made a wickedly macabre film that while it doesn’t offer anything new to the genre, it makes for an interesting and enjoyable slice of horror. Marie (Jenny Mundy-Castle) has kept out of her husband’s (Ean Sheehy) lab, where he is conducting mysterious experiments that are unseen to us, but from the sounds from behind the door, they are not pleasant. After obeying his many orders, she finally steps in and sees the horrors he is conducting (wisely not shown on screen). When confronted by her husband, she escapes him and meets up with a butcher. They both concoct a plan to off the deranged husband with some pretty grotesque results. I found the point of view shots of whatever these experiments were to be done well, with a nice mixture of eerie sound to add atmosphere to it, and I found the story to be overall good though a bit RE-ANIMATOR esque (this film screened at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and it’s easy to see why). Even though this is an adapted story, it shows that Jane isn’t afraid to let the gore fly, which is good for the genre. The acting was OK, with Ean Sheehy going a little over the top as the mad scientist husband. Jenny Mundy-Castle had the look as the meek wife who sneaks in on her husband but maybe played it a little too meek. Her mannerisms when she opened the door and saw his experiments were done well, but in the scenes where she was confronted by her husband didn’t totally convince me the danger she was in. There are a lot of independent short films shot on video, and while I know a lot of reviewers would automatically pass on a film shot in this format, I welcome it as long as the story and composition are well done, and both are here. As I said earlier, the use of point of view shots were very well done as were the scenes involving the bloody special effects near the end. With that said, there are some very inventive shots in here. I like the fact that even though the majority of the film was in a laboratory, it was set up in a suburban house because it felt more of a reality based setting than in some unrealistic movies where you see a HUGE underground basement lab in this little shack. In all, HEADING HOME is a ten minute throwback that serves as more of an homage to H.P. Lovecraft than it does the original author Ramsey Campbell. While the film itself is not perfect, it has generated my interest in Jane to see what other macabre tricks she comes up with next. HEADING HOME: 3.5 Out of 5 Maggots
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